Dartmouth College, Medical School Admission
Dartmouth College, Medical School Undergraduate Program
Dartmouth College, Medical School Application

The Facts

Dartmouth College is a rather moderately sized, private institution located in the town of Hanover, New Hampshire, and has a combined graduate and undergraduate population of over 15,000 students. The college's Medical School, however, is significantly smaller, and is home to about 300 graduate medical students. The average age of enrollment is around 24, and it is fairly rare for any of the students to enter the school directly from their undergraduate education. The school is perhaps best known for its commitment to teaching and sharing knowledge, its amazing clinical care program, as well as for its emphasis on collegiality and research; in fact, the medical school was recently ranked number four in the nation. The school offers no joint degrees, however, there is a "New Directions" program in place that combines small group discussions with problem-based learning, classroom presentations, and independent study. The school seeks to give students an international experience, along with supplying students with the focus they need to be successful.

Admission to Dartmouth College's Medical School is extremely competitive among the many students who apply; last year, over 4,730 students applied for admission to the school, and approximately 270 of those students were accepted. Eventually however, only about 84 of the admitted students actually enrolled for the coming semester. The admitted students had average MCAT scores of 10.7 in Biology, 10.5 in Physics, and a 10.4 in Verbal, as well as an average undergraduate GPA of about a 3.7. Students are notified of their admissions status on a rolling basis, and there is currently no early application program in place.

The Medical School has 1,982 faculty members, all of whom share a passion for teaching and come from very diverse medical and academic backgrounds. The school has very small classes, and students receive large amounts of one on one attention from their professors.

Graduates are often accepted to some of the best residency programs in the country, including the college's own excellent Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, which sponsors 34 ACGME accredited residency and fellowship training programs.

Clinical Programs

Students begin their clinical training their first year when they are paired with a faculty mentor for the On Doctoring course, in which they learn nearly every facet of the doctoring profession including ethics, patient care, and basic diagnostic and treatment skills. The Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center was recently ranked as one of the country's best teaching hospitals, and students also train at the highly ranked White River Junction VA Hospital. Students are also able to complete their clerkships at one of the Dartmouth-affiliated programs in Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, New Mexico, and even New Zealand.

What's Good

"The school really takes care of its own, and when the going gets tough, there are plenty of people you can go to."

"The clinical programs are fantastic, and its nice that they allow you to go to various affiliates throughout the world."

"I really enjoy the focus on individual learning and motivation. It helps a lot with your focus and personal motivation."

What's Bad

"Sometimes I wish we were in a more urban setting so there were more immediate networking and research opportunities."

"The tuition is extremely high here, and you don't have any time to get a job to pay for it right away."

"It can be difficult to get a significant amount if financial aid, which is definitely a pain."

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