Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College is a private Ivy League research university located in Hanover, New Hampshire.

It is situated on a terrace above the Connecticut River in the rural Upper Valley region of New England. While it functions as a research university, it maintains a heavy focus on undergraduate education. This focus is reflected in its name, as it continues to be called a "college" rather than a "university." The institution offers a liberal arts curriculum across 40 academic departments. Students can choose from 60 different majors in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering.

The university operates using a quarter system of academic scheduling. This means the school year is divided into four ten-week terms. This system allows for a specific way of organizing student life and learning. In addition to undergraduate instruction, the university includes four professional and graduate schools. These are the Geisel School of Medicine, the Thayer School of Engineering, the Tuck School of Business, and the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies.

The campus also hosts several important centers, such as the Hood Museum of Art and the Hopkins Center for the Arts.

The history of Dartmouth began with Eleazar Wheelock, a Yale graduate and Congregational minister.

In 1755, Wheelock founded Moor's Indian Charity School. His original goal was to train Native Americans in Christian theology and the Anglo-American way of life. He was inspired by his relationship with Samson Occom, a Mohegan Indian who became an ordained minister. To fund the school, Occom and the Reverend Nathaniel Whitaker traveled to England in 1766. They raised money through a trust led by William Legge, the 2nd Earl of Dartmouth.

Although the school was named after Legge, the Earl actually opposed the creation of the college.

In 1769, Wheelock sought to expand the charity school into a formal college. He moved the institution to Hanover, New Hampshire, to find better resources. On December 13, 1769, the Royal Governor of New Hampshire, John Wentworth, issued a royal charter. This charter was signed on behalf of King George III. It was designed to educate Native American youth in reading, writing, and various sciences. It also included instruction for English youth. Dartmouth became the ninth oldest college in the United States. It was also the last institution of higher learning established under colonial rule.

A major legal turning point occurred in 1819 during the Dartmouth College case. The state of New Hampshire had tried to change the college charter to make it a public university. An institution called Dartmouth University had even begun occupying the buildings in 1817. An alumnus named Daniel Webster argued the case before the Supreme Court. The Court ruled that the state amendment was an illegal impairment of a contract. This decision protected the original charter and kept the college private. This case is considered a historic moment in American law.

Dartmouth underwent a major revitalization at the turn of the 20th century. Under President William Jewett Tucker, the school modernized its facilities and faculty. This period of growth was supported by large endowments, such as $10,000 from alumnus John Ordronaux. During this time, 20 new structures replaced older buildings. The student body and faculty both grew threefold. Later, President Ernest Martin Hopkins introduced selective admissions in the 1920s. In 1972, the college made a significant social change by admitting women as full-time undergraduate students. This change also led to the lyrics of the alma mater song changing from "Men of Dartmouth" to "Dear old Dartmouth."

Today, Dartmouth remains a highly selective institution within the Ivy League. For the class of 2028, the acceptance rate was only 5.3%. The regular decision acceptance rate was 3.8%. It is the smallest university in the Ivy League, with an enrollment of about 6,700 students. The college has produced many notable leaders and scholars. Its alumni include 170 members of the U.S. Congress and 25 U.S. governors. The school has also seen 3 Nobel Prize laureates and 83 Rhodes Scholars pass through its halls.

Additionally, 51 Olympic medalists and 10 Fortune 500 CEOs are among its graduates.