Dartmouth College received 11 percent fewer applications for the Class of 2029 than last year, according to student newspaper The Dartmouth. It was the first year since 2020 that the college required applicants to submit standardized test scores.
Last February, Dartmouth became one of the first higher education institutions—and the first in the Ivy League—to scrap its test-optional policy, put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, and return to score requirements.
“We evaluate all testing in the context of the school environment in which a student is enrolled and the community in which they live,” Dartmouth admissions dean Lee Coffin wrote in a news release. “This new data point captures that important truth in a way that the previous focus—on the testing mean—cannot illuminate.”
Coffin added that Dartmouth’s applicant pool had grown by 32 percent since 2020, when the college first did away with test requirements. About 28,230 students applied for the Class of 2029, whereas the university received 31,657 applications for the Class of 2028.
The number of early-decision applicants remained steady from last year’s historic high. In addition, a record 22 percent of Dartmouth’s accepted students would qualify for a Pell Grant.
