Brown University vs. Dartmouth College
Prestige does not separate these two, and treating them as interchangeable small Ivies will cost you. They run on opposite philosophies. Brown hands you the controls: the Open Curriculum scraps distribution requirements, so you chase whatever pulls you, stitching social science and computing and the arts into a concentration nobody assigned. Providence wraps around campus, a walkable city you can actually escape into, and Greek life barely registers. Dartmouth, the smallest Ivy by a wide stretch, pours its energy into teaching undergraduates. You'd live in Hanover, rural and cold, with the White Mountains at your back and Baker Library's tower over the green. Fraternities and sororities run the social calendar there, so know yourself before you sign on. Engineers still get a real program through the Thayer School. The D-Plan settles it: that year-round quarter calendar pushes you off-campus for whole terms to intern or travel, and if that rhythm sounds like freedom rather than disruption, Dartmouth earns its spot on your list.
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Acceptance Rate
Total applicants, admitted students, and enrolled students for the most recent admission cycle.
Early Decision
Brown offers binding Early Decision. Applying early can meaningfully change your odds — but ED commits you to enroll if admitted.
Admit rate by application plan
% admitted~3.7× higher admit rate applying early.
Standardized Tests
Brown requires standardized test scores for all applicants.
SAT Accepted?
ACT Accepted?
Test Optional?
SAT Scores
ACT Scores
Class Rank
Where Brown's enrolled first-years placed in their high school graduating class.
Based on the 29% of enrolled students who reported a class rank. Brown does not publish an average GPA.
Admissions Factors
How Brown weighs each part of your application.
Rigor of High School Record
Academic GPA
Standardized Test Scores
Application Essay
Recommendations
Extracurricular Activities
Character / Personal Qualities
Talent / Ability
First Generation
Level of Applicant's Interest
Class Rank
Volunteer Work
Work Experience
Geographical Residence
State Residency
Alumni Relation
Racial / Ethnic Status
Religious Affiliation
Cost of Attendance
Estimated full-time annual cost from Brown's Common Data Set.
Private universities charge the same tuition regardless of state residency.
Financial Aid
Need-based aid statistics for full-time first-year students.
Major Distribution
Bachelor's degrees awarded in the past year by academic major.
Student Diversity
Racial and ethnic breakdown of enrolled undergraduate students.
Student-Faculty Ratio
The number of students for every one faculty member, indicating the average level of access students have to instructional staff.
Campus Life
On-campus housing and Greek life participation rates.
Enrollment by Gender
Since some students did not report gender, totals may not fully reflect the student body.
Acceptance Rate
Total applicants, admitted students, and enrolled students for the most recent admission cycle.
Early Decision
Dartmouth offers binding Early Decision. Applying early can meaningfully change your odds — but ED commits you to enroll if admitted.
Admit rate by application plan
% admitted~5.7× higher admit rate applying early.
Standardized Tests
Dartmouth requires standardized test scores for all applicants.
SAT Accepted?
ACT Accepted?
Test Optional?
SAT Scores
ACT Scores
Class Rank
Where Dartmouth's enrolled first-years placed in their high school graduating class.
Based on the 44% of enrolled students who reported a class rank. Dartmouth does not publish an average GPA.
Admissions Factors
How Dartmouth weighs each part of your application.
Rigor of High School Record
Academic GPA
Standardized Test Scores
Application Essay
Recommendations
Extracurricular Activities
Character / Personal Qualities
Talent / Ability
First Generation
Level of Applicant's Interest
Class Rank
Volunteer Work
Work Experience
Geographical Residence
State Residency
Alumni Relation
Racial / Ethnic Status
Religious Affiliation
Cost of Attendance
Estimated full-time annual cost from Dartmouth's Common Data Set.
Private universities charge the same tuition regardless of state residency.
Financial Aid
Need-based aid statistics for full-time first-year students.
Major Distribution
Bachelor's degrees awarded in the past year by academic major.
Student Diversity
Racial and ethnic breakdown of enrolled undergraduate students.
Student-Faculty Ratio
The number of students for every one faculty member, indicating the average level of access students have to instructional staff.
Campus Life
On-campus housing and Greek life participation rates.
Enrollment by Gender
Since some students did not report gender, totals may not fully reflect the student body.
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Brown vs. Dartmouth: frequently asked questions
Is Brown or Dartmouth harder to get into?＋
Effectively a tie, with Dartmouth's headline rate a hair lower. Dartmouth admitted about 6.0% of applicants in its most recent cycle and Brown about 6.3%, both ranking among the most selective rates in the country. The pools differ sharply in size: Brown drew roughly 42,800 applications to Dartmouth's 28,200. Admitted-student academics run a touch higher at Brown, whose middle-50% SAT spanned 1470–1550 against 1440–1550 at Dartmouth.
What's the difference between Brown's open curriculum and Dartmouth's D-Plan?＋
They fix different problems. Brown's Open Curriculum frees what you study; the D-Plan frees when. Brown imposes no general-education or distribution requirements, so undergraduates design their own concentration path, which suits its breadth (the social sciences lead at about 27% of degrees, with computer science close behind near 13%). Dartmouth keeps a liberal-arts core but runs a year-round quarter calendar that sends students off-term to study, intern, or travel, and its social sciences dominate even more heavily at about 30% of degrees.
Is Brown or Dartmouth better for computer science?＋
Brown has the larger CS footprint, but Dartmouth offers the undergraduate engineering. Computer science ranks second at Brown, about 13% of degrees conferred. At Dartmouth, computer science accounts for about 10%, and engineering (anchored by the Thayer School) adds another 8%, a track that never surfaces as a separate concentration in Brown's degree mix. Both run an 8:1 student-faculty ratio, so class access tracks closely.
Is Brown or Dartmouth bigger?＋
Brown wins on size, and Dartmouth holds the title of smallest Ivy. Brown enrolls about 7,196 undergraduates to Dartmouth's roughly 4,715. Both keep students close to home: about 98% live on campus at Brown, and essentially all do at Dartmouth, and each reports an 8:1 student-faculty ratio. The gap shows up in overall scale, not class size.
Does Brown or Dartmouth have a bigger Greek life scene?＋
Dartmouth runs the larger Greek scene by a wide margin, and it sits far closer to the center of campus life. About 26% of Dartmouth men join a fraternity and 29% of women a sorority, against roughly 3% each at Brown. Pair that with rural Hanover and near-total on-campus residency, and Greek organizations anchor much of Dartmouth's social calendar, whereas Brown's social life disperses across student groups and the city of Providence.
Is Brown or Dartmouth cheaper after financial aid?＋
Net cost lands in roughly the same place. Both schools stay need-blind for domestic applicants and meet 100% of demonstrated need, with about 49% of first-years receiving need-based aid at each, averaging near $72,838 at Brown and $73,208 at Dartmouth. Dartmouth pushes further on its own terms, eliminating loans and waiving the parent contribution for families earning $65,000 or less. Brown's sticker tuition and required fees run about $77,552 to Dartmouth's $71,525, though aid determines what families actually pay.
Source: Brown University Common Data Set 2025-2026. Figures transcribed 2026-06-07. Esslo aggregates publicly reported data and is not affiliated with Brown. Banner photo by John W. Schulze, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).
Source: Dartmouth College Common Data Set 2025-2026. Figures transcribed 2026-06-07. Esslo aggregates publicly reported data and is not affiliated with Dartmouth. Banner photo by Gunnar Klack, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).