If you’re a premed looking for a medical school that will support both your research and clinical aspirations, the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, located in Hanover, New Hampshire, may be the perfect fit for you. Geisel is a major research powerhouse and the fourth-oldest medical school in the United States. Moreover, Dartmouth Medical School has produced several firsts in the country—examples include the first clinical X-ray in America and the first stethoscope for medical education.
The admissions standards for Dartmouth Medical School are tough: just 92 students matriculate per year, and the majority of applicants will have GPA and MCAT scores that dovetail with the Geisel average metrics. However, if you are able to hone in on why Geisel is the best fit for you as an aspiring physician and what you yourself will contribute to the diverse student body, you may find yourself as one of the lucky few receiving a Geisel acceptance letter.
In this guide, we’ll cover the various MD programs offered by the Geisel School of Medicine, admissions requirements, strategies for writing outstanding Dartmouth secondary essays, and guidance for your interview day.
Dartmouth has a variety of programs through which students can achieve an MD degree:
For the 2023–2024 academic year, the tuition at Geisel is $67,532. Including room, board, and other expenses, the estimated first-year cost of attendance is $92,531.
Although these costs appear high, Geisel offers need-based financial aid in the form of both loans and scholarships for those students who need it. Over 85 percent of medical students at Geisel typically receive some form of financial assistance, and around 60 percent receive scholarship aid.
With an acceptance rate of 2.4%, gaining admissions to Dartmouth Medical School is no easy feat. In a typical year, Geisel receives 7,000 to 8,000 applications, interviews around 700 to 800 applicants, and matriculates 92 first-year students.
Dartmouth Medical School sets the bar high when evaluating prospective students’ GPA and MCAT scores. Statistics for Geisel’s most recent class include:
Note that you must earn an MCAT score of 503 or higher in order to receive a secondary application from Dartmouth. For the 2023–2024 application cycle, you must have taken the MCAT between January 2021 and September 2023.
Here are the specific academic requirements you’ll need to fulfill in order to apply to Geisel:
Although these requirements are crucial, it is equally important for applicants to focus on the school’s mission statement. Per the admissions website, the admissions committee seeks individuals who reflect and contribute to the institutional mission, which includes Geisel’s five guiding principles: “Create Leaders and Leadership; Students and Faculty First; Revitalize Education and Research; Reach Out and Connect Diverse People & Ideas; We Win Together as a Team.”
The best place to highlight your alignment with the school’s mission and your unique qualities is in your secondary application. To differentiate yourself from other applicants with equally strong test scores and academic achievements, focus on strengthening the qualitative aspects of your application: the essays. We have this portion of the application detailed further below so you can knock it out of the park.
The Geisel School of Medicine values compassionate, collaborative, intellectually curious, and resilient future physicians. To showcase these qualities, focus on extracurricular activities and experiences that build relevant skillsets and align with their mission.
Below is an admissions timeline that you can use to apply to Geisel School of Medicine:
Although you can submit your AMCAS application until November 1st, the earlier you submit, the better.
The goal of your secondary application is to convince the admissions committee that your interests and aspirations dovetail with the school’s offerings and mission statement. The essays provide a valuable opportunity to stand out among the many competitive applicants, allowing you to seal the deal and receive an interview invitation.
The Dartmouth secondary application consists of three essays. For each essay prompt, we’ve provided sample responses based on composites of successful students to show you how it’s done.
Question 1: Please indicate your plans for the upcoming academic year. If in school, please list your courses. If working, let us know something about the nature of your job. If your plans or courses change subsequently, you need to inform the Admissions Office by email at Geisel.Admissions@dartmouth.edu. (No word limit)
The prompt is straightforward and requests that you provide information on either your senior year of undergraduate studies or your experiences during the time between your undergraduate and graduate studies. More than likely, you will be allotted 250 words to complete your statement and therefore, you should keep your answer succinct.
If you are approaching your senior year, try to hit these points:
If you are taking a gap year, use this an opportunity to directly address your values and priorities during this period in your life by answering the following questions:
I will spend nine months working as an English teacher in Indonesia as a recipient of a Fulbright scholarship. I will be living on a small beach island off the coast of Java as one of only two expatriates living in this province. Through this opportunity, I will work alongside Indonesian teachers to learn about the public school system, I will teach students the English language and critical reasoning while learning Bahasa Indonesia in return, and I will engage with my community in cross-cultural exchange. This experience will allow me to immerse myself in a new environment that empowers me to gain new skills while connecting with individuals from different backgrounds and forming a community across the world. My Fulbright experience will begin in August 2021 and will complete in May 2022. In May 2022, I plan to travel through the Southeast Asia region and to return prior to medical school matriculation.
Why does it work?
Question 2: Please reflect on your primary application and share something not addressed elsewhere that would be helpful to the Admissions Committee as we review your file. (No word limit)
Question 3: Please tell us specifically why you are interested in Geisel. (No word limit)
Question 4: Geisel School of Medicine values social justice and diversity in all its forms. Reflect on a situation where you were the “other.” (250 words)
Gain instant access to med school secondary essay examples for every single prompt required by every medical school in the United States and Canada. Subscribe today to lock in the current investments, which will be increasing in the future for new subscribers.
Interviews for Dartmouth occur on Thursdays between September and March. During the 2023–2024 application cycle, all interviews will be held virtually. The admissions committee typically extends invitations to about 11% of total applicants.
Dartmouth uses a traditional interview format, interviewing each applicant twice; one interview is often with a current medical student and the other interview is often with a medical school faculty member. The interviews typically last thirty minutes each. Because the interview process follows a traditional approach, you should have well-thought-out answers to “Why Dartmouth?”, “What is your most significant experiences that highlight your conviction towards medicine?,” and “What makes you stand out from other applicants?”
Our research has shown that a number of questions tend to pop up each year during Dartmouth interviews. Making sure you’ve considered your responses to these questions goes a long way to making a solid impression on your interviewer.
From this list, we can see that some questions may be specific to your application—for example, “Which research experience do you want to talk about?”—however, in addition to preparing answers to questions like “Why Dartmouth,” we can see much of what they ask is about getting to know you as a person. Think about your experiences and think about how those experiences can be eloquently conveyed while being punctuated with elements specific to Dartmouth and their values.
The question, “Describe your life 15 years from now,” may seem simple enough, but within it is an opportunity to target qualities Dartmouth is looking for in applicants. Remember, Dartmouth is big on research and happens to be located in a small town. Do you see yourself making a home there? If so, what would you contribute to the community? Is there something that fascinates you research-wise that only Dartmouth can offer? If you approach your interviews in this manner, you’re setting yourself up for success and leaving a positive impression with the admissions committee.
During your interview day, you will also participate in an information session with the admissions and financial aid team, a 20-minute group exercise, and remarks from the Associate Dean of Admissions. You will also have opportunities to connect with current students on a separate day, which will help you determine if Dartmouth is the best fit for you.
Invited to a med school interview? Congrats! There's no need to land in waitlist purgatory or the rejection pile. Learn how to craft memorable, acceptance-worthy responses using the resource below.
