I’m finishing up my college list for the application season, but I’m not sure which of the two I should add for the final spot on my list. I want to major in engineering, which gives ND an advantage. However, Dartmouth is far better known as a name and may offer more options should I choose to deviate from the engineering path. However, ND’s acceptance rate is 10% greater than Darmouth’s, and I already have a lot of under-10%-reaches as it is.
Which should I add?
Not even close to a correct statement.
@Eeyore123
It is among those I know.
Both Notre Dame and Dartmouth are well known, respected schools. I don’t think either one is far better known than the other; I suppose it depends on whom you ask and the part of the country you’re in. I also don’t think Dartmouth offers more options, since it only offers liberal arts and (if I’m not mistaken) a single engineering department. ND offers undergraduate degrees in arts & sciences, 9 different engineering majors, business, and architecture (although I don’t know how easy it is to transfer among these programs).
Overall, Dartmouth is a bit more selective, but nobody perfectly matches an average applicant profile.
For a specific engineering student with a specific profile, in any given year, you might get into either one (but not the other), both, or neither.
Which one has the programs, location, and atmosphere you prefer?
Dartmouth is also smaller–selectivity has been highly influenced (juiced) by the common app and huge increases in applications for the same amount of spaces
Dartmouth’s academic rep is stronger, but not enough to overlook Notre Dame if the latter has an advantage in fit and/or finances.
Have you visited either one? They’re both fabulous schools, but have very different vibes.
Compare the basic required courses at both universities (I believe Dartmouth has fewer required classes, ND has quite a lot, many in humanities).
Consider your overall budget - tuition, room & board, AND travel expenses too - over the course of four years.
I would suggest applying to both (unless you already have an excessively long list), but they are so different that a visit (even to just one) may help you eliminate one or the other.
Visits aren’t possible, unfortunately.
If you want engineering, make sure you look carefully at the Dartmouth engineering curriculum. The BEng. is a 5 year program there. The 4 year program only gives you a BA in engineering, with limited majors.
Apply to both…you get one shot at undergrad college admissions.
@Groundwork2022 : Dartmouth requires courses in a wide variety of areas [aka “distrib”], although there is also a lot of freedom/flexibility in how to satisfy those requirements. True that the two schools have very different vibes.
Both schools are so excellent in terms of academics and reputation, it seems to me that your decision might come down to fit. Which is a better fit for YOU? ND is obviously a large national university and a Catholic school. How does that work for you? Dartmouth is more of a large LAC/small national university (no need to quibble on this, just a general comment). The campus has an iconic green that sits literally across the street from a quintessentially quaint New England town. Dartmouth/Hanover could not be more perfectly New England collegiate . And it’s smallish and isolated, and ridiculously cold from about October to April, or May, when classes end. You will, hopefully, be living and learning in one of these places for four years. What sounds better to you? Do you want to tailgate and go to HUGE football games in the fall? Or do you want to walk over on a bitterly cold morning to get some great doughnuts over in Hanover on a Saturday morning? Dartmouth also has a different academic schedule, with unique requirements for semesters off, etc. It’s hard to know fit without visiting, but if you can’t visit, that’s okay, a lot of people don’t visit first. I’d trust both are great places and great in terms of academics. But from what your research tells you, which place sounds more like YOU. Choose that one.
@socaldad2002
How so? I’m pretty sure I can take a gap year and apply as an undergraduate again.
ND isn’t a “large” university. It’s medium sized, with about one-third as many undergrads as a typical Big Ten university.
Are you taking a lot of AP exams? Dartmouth will not count AP credits toward the total number of classes you need to graduate.
Dartmouth’s campus is smaller & more compact.
It’s easier/faster to get to Chicago from ND than to Boston from Dartmouth.
Dartmouth’s quarter system vs ND’s semesters. Dartmouth: 3 classes per term. I’m pretty sure it’s usually 5 per term at ND.
@testprepishard “How so? I’m pretty sure I can take a gap year and apply as an undergraduate again”
My point is if you are possibly considering these two colleges to round out your list, just apply to both instead of eliminating one of them.
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Dartmouth is basically a liberal arts college. Comparable more to Amherst and Williams rather than ND. I wouldn’t say Dartmouth’s academic rep is stronger than that of ND by any rate – most of Dartmouth’s research programs are very run-of-the-mill. Dartmouth is not a research powerhouse, so obviously its academic footprint is weak. And that’s intentional: it’s more of a teaching-based school. (outside academia, idk-- the question is, do you want to become a banker?)
Dartmouth College offers an engineering major.
Question should be “investment banker”, not “banker”. Huge difference in several respects–especially income.
There are those who judge the entire school’s academic rep (undergrad, grad, PhD) based mainly on research output and faculty awards, but that’s not what i’m basing my opinion on; rather, i’m basing it on undergrad only – quality of teaching, resources, class sizes, etc. – and there I do think Dartmouth has a slim advantage.
Though, as I said, the two are close enough in quality that fit and finances should trump reputation/prestige (as they generally should).
Right, and, as I said, Dartmouth is a teaching-based school. (I was just encouraging you to define your criteria.)
Washington Monthly ranks colleges for research excellence.
For 2017, WM ranked Dartmouth 36th and NDU 54th among national universities for “research”, based on those criteria. For the reference year, Dartmouth spent $199M on research. For comparison, Amherst College spent $4.2M; Williams spent $4.4M.
FWIW, Dartmouth has one of the oldest medical schools in the USA. Notre Dame doesn’t have its own med school (although there is a branch of Indiana University School of Medicine on or near the Notre Dame campus.) Medical research sometimes accounts for a relatively high percentage of a university’s research spending.