Were you deferred or rejected by Dartmouth College in the Early Decision round to the Class of 2030? Dartmouth alumnus and former Secretary of State Daniel Webster, in the landmark Dartmouth College v. Woodward case before the Supreme Court, argued, “It is, Sir, as I have said, a small college, and yet there are those who love it.”

So how can you express your continued love for the school that deferred your candidacy to earn a spot in the incoming class during Regular Decision, or successfully pivot to your remaining Regular Decision schools after a Dartmouth rejection? Well, of all the places you’ll go, to paraphrase Dartmouth’s own Dr. Seuss, you’ve come to the right place to find out.

The Percentage of Accepted Dartmouth College Early Decision Applicants

First, let’s take a look at Dartmouth’s dwindling Early Decision acceptance rate through the last generation — from the most recent Early Decision cycle for which we have data, the Class of 2028, in which 17% of applicants got in, back to the Class of 2007, in which 32.4% of applicants got in. Decisions aren’t yet out for the Early Decision round of the Dartmouth Class of 2030, and Dartmouth didn’t report the ED acceptance rate for the Class of 2029.

Admissions Cycle	Dartmouth Graduating Class	Dartmouth’s Early Decision Admission Rate
2025-2026	Class of 2030	Not Yet Available
2024-2025	Class of 2029	Not Yet Published
2023-2024	Class of 2028	17%
2022-2023	Class of 2027	19%
2021-2022	Class of 2026	21.27%
2020-2021	Class of 2025	21.2%
2019-2020	Class of 2024	26.4%
2018-2019	Class of 2023	23.2%
2017-2018	Class of 2022	24.9%
2016-2017	Class of 2021	27.8%
2015-2016	Class of 2020	25.6%
2014-2015	Class of 2019	26%
2013-2014	Class of 2018	27.9%
2012-2013	Class of 2017	29.4%
2011-2012	Class of 2016	25.8%
2010-2011	Class of 2015	25.2%
2009-2010	Class of 2014	25.5%
2008-2009	Class of 2013	25.5%
2007-2008	Class of 2012	28%
2006-2007	Class of 2011	29.6%
2005-2006	Class of 2010	30.2%
2004-2005	Class of 2009	33.9%
2003-2004	Class of 2008	30%
2002-2003	Class of 2007	32.4%

The Percentage of Deferred and Denied Dartmouth Early Decision Applicants

Most years, Dartmouth lumps deferred and denied students together in their Early Decision data, not disclosing the percentage of students who are deferred as opposed to denied admission. Yet, on average, over the last several years, Dartmouth has tended to defer and deny students in relatively equal percentages.

Inside Scoop from a Former Dartmouth Admissions Officer, Ivy Coach’s Ben Schwartz

Ivy Coach’s Ben Schwartz, a former Dartmouth admissions officer, offers this inside scoop: “While it can vary from year to year, of the students who don’t earn admission in the Early Decision round, Dartmouth typically defers half and denies half. So in a year in which around 20% earn ED admission, figure 40% were deferred, and 40% were denied. We genuinely always hoped that, with a few extra months, some of our deferred students would show the upward trajectory in their coursework and activities needed to earn admission.”

5 Things Deferred Dartmouth Early Decision Applicants Should Do

After receiving word of a deferral from Dartmouth, we encourage students to take the following actions:

1. Focus on what went wrong with your Early Decision application. This way, you can avoid making the same mistakes with other universities in the Regular Decision round. But asking a Dartmouth admissions officer why you didn’t get in will only undercut your case for Regular Decision admission as it will render you a gadfly. Besides, admissions officers will rarely tell students the genuine reasons for a deferral. During Ivy Coach’s PostMortem application review, we inform you precisely what went wrong so you can avoid repeating those mistakes.
2. Write a Letter of Continued Interest swiftly, which you should email to your regional representative on the admissions staff and upload to the portal. It would be best if you did not let days go by so it gets closer to the holidays. The letter should be a love letter to Dartmouth. It should showcase how you hope to contribute your singular hook — and not well-roundedness — to The Woods through the school’s culture, traditions, activities, programs, institutes, research, and much more. It’s not about submitting just any letter. It’s about submitting a compelling letter that inspires admissions officers to root for you.
3. Prepare other outstanding applications to your Regular Decision schools if you still need to complete them. And, even if you have completed them, you may wish to rejigger them based on the corrective course recommended during Ivy Coach’s PostMortem.
4. Bring that letter to your school counselor in the New Year and ask your counselor to make an advocacy call on your behalf. But instead of just presenting you any old way, your counselor can now position you as you’ve positioned yourself in your Letter of Continued Interest. While some school counselors, particularly at top private schools, will resist making advocacy calls, sometimes citing fairness, it’s their job to fight for their students. You’re not asking them not to fight for other students. You’re asking them to fight for you.
5. Keep your grades up after the holidays and maintain the rigor of your courses. Post-deferral is not the time to show slippage in your academic performance.

5 Things Deferred Dartmouth Early Decision Applicants Should Not Do

After receiving word of a deferral from Dartmouth, we encourage students to avoid taking the following actions:

1. Reach out to the Dartmouth admissions office to find out why you didn’t get in. The reason doesn’t matter, and it’s improbable they’ll tell you the genuine reasons why you were deferred in any case.
2. Send weekly updates to Dartmouth on all that you’re up to and all you’re achieving. All you can do is submit that one compelling Letter of Continued Interest. Any further contact by you will only render you less likable, and it will drown out the power of your letter. Don’t be a gadfly. It won’t serve you.
3. Complain to your high school counselor. Don’t make it seem like it’s their fault you didn’t get in. You applied to an Ivy League school, one of the most selective universities in America. Besides, your high school counselor can be your greatest advocate in Regular Decision.
4. Upload nonsense to your Dartmouth portal. Dartmouth doesn’t want to see your dental records. They don’t want to see lots of additional letters of recommendation. They already received four — from two teachers, your school counselor, and a peer!
5. Pitch a tent outside the admissions office or take out a bus advertisement imploring Dartmouth to admit you. Don’t send them a video. And don’t send them cheesecake either. Hey, you’d be surprised by the crazy things deferred students do!

Chances of Getting into Dartmouth After Being Deferred

Historically, 5-10% of students whose admission is deferred by Dartmouth in the Early Decision round ultimately earn admission in Regular Decision, a figure slightly lower than most elite universities.

With Ivy Coach’s assistance, over the last 30 years, 66% of students who first approached us after a deferral have gone on to earn admission. Hey, they don’t call Ivy Coach “The Dartmouth Whisperer” for nothing! Bo knows baseball. Ivy Coach knows Dartmouth.

What To Do After Being Rejected By Dartmouth

Dartmouth tends to defer and reject students in relatively equal proportions, meaning that if you’ve come face to face with a Dartmouth rejection letter this admissions cycle, there are tons of students who are in the same boat as you. So what’s your next move? Instead of throwing in the towel, now is the time to think strategically and pivot focus to your remaining Regular Decision applications.

Your first and best move is to reach out to Ivy Coach to set up a PostMortem for rejected students. During this war meeting for rejected students, Ivy Coach’s Ben Schwartz, a former Dartmouth admissions officer, will spend time crafting a competitive strategy to help you optimize your odds of admission to Regular Decision schools via a singular hook. And what’s a singular hook? It’s the game plan you’ll present on your applications that shows how you’ll take advantage of everything your future campus has to offer. Admissions officers need to feel assured that you’re worth taking the gamble of admitting, and a singular hook is a surefire way to give them this assurance.

PostMortem

During our PostMortem, we:

• Help you to pivot into Regular Decision applications. We will review every section of each application, including both the essay and non-essay portions, to evaluate what went wrong and how best to strategically reorient. Yes, this means you will have to redo your RD applications, even if you think they’re already finished. This is a hard pill for some to swallow, but nothing short of a complete overhaul typically suffices for optimizing admissions odds. Presenting as well-rounded, for example, is a strategy many students shortsightedly adopt (even though it hasn’t worked since the 1980s!). No matter what went wrong, we’ll correct your mistakes and help you pivot to the only effective strategy for elite college admissions: the singular hook.
• Comb through the little things that went awry. You might have filled your application with unnecessary bragging or boasting, which served to make you unlikeable. Dartmouth has fairly rigorous academic standards to which it holds its applicants, so perhaps you failed to fall within the middle 50% of GPA for admitted students? Whatever the case, you can right the wrongs of your ED application in the Regular Decision round via the power of the singular hook!
• Rework your Regular Decision list. With Dartmouth off the table, it’s time for a reality check. You might consider applying for an Early Decision II (ED II) school that, while less selective than Dartmouth, maintains a balance between prestige and admissions feasibility. You might also consider an out-of-the-box school that hadn’t been on your radar before. Maybe trade in those mittens and earmuffs for a surf board and apply to a Californian school, or if you’re committed to a campus in the wilderness, you might consider a liberal arts college. 

Application Assistance

Following your PostMortem, which forms the foundation of your Regular Decision pivot, we will:

• Makeover your Regular Decision applications. You’ve already received our crash course in post-rejection admissions strategy. Now it’s time to put the pedal to the medal. While no one can rewrite history (like the mistakes you may have made in high school course selection or extracurricular engagement), we can put you in a much more competitive position for Regular Decision schools.

What Not to Do After Being Rejected by Dartmouth

Knowing what not to do after your rejection is just as essential know what to do

1. Submitting your Regular Decision applications without changes. Why dig your heels into the sand now that you have definitive evidence that something was wrong with your initial application? History will repeat itself if you don’t accept that something needs to change.
2. Reaching out to Dartmouth Admissions. This is the last thing you should ever do. Don’t waste their time with pointless inquiries, cold calls, emails, smoke signals, etc. You’ll only make them feel indignant about rejecting your application! A rejection is the final word. Unless you earn admission next year as a first-year applicant (if you choose not to attend college next year) or later join Dartmouth as a transfer applicant, you will not be a member of Dartmouth’s Class of 2030.
3. Being a Choosey Beggar. We all know the saying “beggars cannot be choosers.” Well, in the position you’re currently in, you’re unfortunately in no position to be selective with the schools you apply to in the RD round. Sure, you might consider applying to Cornell. But exclusively Ivies? That’s not a winning strategy. You should consider the alternatives you might have ignored before, including a couple of safety schools.
4. Don’t blame your school counselor for an admissions decision that rests in your hands. High school counselors aren’t always perfect (this couldn’t be more true than in the case of advocacy calls with college admissions officers, which many counselors refuse to do). But that doesn’t mean you should push away your one built-in ally during this process!

Dartmouth College Deferral and Rejection FAQs

What does Dartmouth College value that’s not necessarily important to other Ivy League schools?

Among other things, Dartmouth wants to know that students will be happy in the mountains of New Hampshire. They want to know you’ll appreciate the outdoors. The school’s unofficial motto in recent years is “Welcome to The Woods” for a reason. So no matter your hook, which you must showcase, it’s vital to demonstrate how you’ll take advantage of the outdoors. Will you be canoeing down The Connecticut with the Dartmouth Outing Club? Will you be spending overnights on the Second College Grant? Let’s hear it!

Is it really possible to earn admission to Dartmouth College after a deferral?

Just about every year, we at Ivy Coach help students who first come to us after their deferral earn admission in Regular Decision. In fact, Ivy Coach’s managing partner was deferred in the Early Decision round at Dartmouth and ultimately earned admission. As the old Hair Club for Men commercial went, “I’m not only the Hair Club president, but I’m also a client.”

Does Dartmouth admit fewer deferred students than other top universities?

Arguably, Dartmouth admits slightly fewer deferred applicants than other elite universities since most elite universities admit 10% of deferred students, whereas Dartmouth admits 5-10% depending on the year.

When does Dartmouth return attention to deferred Early Decision applicants?

Dartmouth’s admissions office typically returns their attention to the deferred pool of applicants around two weeks before Regular Decision notifications are released. So figure around March 15, 2026.

Does Dartmouth College courtesy defer some students?

Yes, like most highly selective universities, Dartmouth will defer some students they have no intention of ultimately admitting during Regular Decision. Examples of courtesy deferrals can be legacies — the progeny of Dartmouth alums — or strong students from a high school with a good relationship with Dartmouth who failed to stand out on non-academic measures. Why would Dartmouth defer the latter group of students? That’s easy. So as not to scare away Regular Decision candidates from the school.

What’s the point of maintaining good grades and test scores now that I know Dartmouth College is no longer on the table?

Don’t let your deferral or rejection set you back. Stellar academic performance your senior year is still your number one tool to secure admission at any highly selective school. And anyways, your application will definitely not receive any further consideration if you let your grades slip, and your Regular Decision round will surely go south.

Does Dartmouth allow appeals of rejections?

No, Dartmouth does not allow appeals of rejections. If you were rejected in the Early Decision round to Dartmouth, your file will not be considered in Regular Decision. This is a final verdict. You can re-apply as a first-year applicant next year or apply as a transfer in the future, but you will not be a member of Dartmouth’s Class of 2030 this coming fall. The sooner you accept this reality, the better!

When should I get to work on the rest of my Regular Decision applications?

As soon as possible! If you’ve been rejected from Dartmouth, it’s natural to go through a brief mourning period. Take some deep breaths. Then, remember that you haven’t yet exhausted your Regular Decision options. Plus, if you’ve taken Ivy Coach’s advice during your PostMortem, you should now have a clearer sense of how presenting a singular hook on your remaining applications will optimize your odds of admission elsewhere.

Ivy Coach’s Help After Dartmouth Deferral or Rejection

If you need help navigating a Dartmouth deferral or rejection to give yourself the best chance of admission in Regular Decision to Dartmouth or another top school, reach out to Ivy Coach by filling out our complimentary consultation form, and we’ll be in touch. In the case of a Dartmouth deferral, you’d work directly with former Dartmouth admissions officer Ben Schwartz of Ivy Coach.