A Dartmouth College education is about affordability, flexibility, and an unfettered spirit within a liberal arts, Ivy League environment. For students whose families earn a combined income of $100,000 per year or less, tuition is free. Dartmouth operates on a quarter system called the D-Plan – a distinctive year-round system. The academic calendar is split into four 10-week terms per year; within some guidelines, the student chooses twelve terms in which to enroll over the course of four years. All rising juniors spend “sophomore summer” on the bucolic Hanover, NH campus, located two hours from Boston and four hours from New York City. It’s a time to study together, plan a major, and explore career options.

Almost 100% of Dartmouth’s classes are taught by faculty, and the student to faculty ratio is 8:1. When a student travels abroad to study – 60% of the 4,200 undergrads do – a Dartmouth faculty member is there to teach the curriculum. There are forty-plus Dartmouth-run Foreign Study and Language Study Abroad programs. Overall, Dartmouth offers 58 majors and the option to pursue modified majors, special majors, and multiple majors (plus minors). The Thayer School of Engineering is department-free; future engineers are able to follow their discoveries across disciplines, because “at Dartmouth, the box does not exist.”

The Dartmouth community is especially proud to announce the creation of the DEN Innovation Center and New Venture Incubator. Alumni donations amounted to $4.3 million. Students are able to come to the Center simply for advice or with a proposal to request funding for a project, ranging from social ventures to for-profit businesses. Although the Office of Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer oversees DEN, student leaders have an active role in the day-to-day management as DEN associates.

In the fall of 2015, Dartmouth will be implementing the residential housing system, where students remain affiliated with a particular dormitory cluster for all four years. Faculty members will oversee the clusters.