How to Apply to Engineering at Dartmouth: Apply to the College, Not to Thayer; Earn the AB First and Then the ABET-Accredited BE, for Domestic and International (Including Chinese) Applicants and Transfer Students

Undergraduate engineering at Dartmouth College is offered by the Thayer School of Engineering. Thayer’s undergraduate page quotes a professor: “Students are not admitted into engineering — they are admitted to Dartmouth,” and states that there is no direct application process to Thayer for high school or transfer students; everyone applies through Dartmouth’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions. Engineering degrees also come in two steps: first the Bachelor of Arts (AB), then the Bachelor of Engineering (BE). This guide follows Dartmouth’s website and is organised for U.S. domestic applicants, international applicants, applicants from China and transfer students. Computer Science has its own guide on this site and is not part of Thayer, so it is not covered here.

1. Engineering degrees and majors

• AB (Bachelor of Arts): engineering students first earn the AB. Dartmouth lists majors in Engineering Sciences, Biomedical Engineering and Engineering Physics (offered jointly with Physics and Astronomy). The major requires at least seven prerequisite courses in math and science, at least nine engineering sciences courses and the liberal arts requirements for the AB. AB students must keep at least a 2.00 GPA in the courses required for the major.
• Modified majors: engineering sciences can be modified with biology, chemistry, computer science, earth and planetary sciences, environmental sciences, public policy, studio art or another discipline; other majors can be modified with engineering sciences or human-centered design. Minors are offered in engineering sciences, human-centered design and materials science.
• BE (Bachelor of Engineering): Dartmouth says the BE is a professional degree accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET under the General Criteria, with no applicable program criteria. It requires at least nine courses beyond the engineering sciences AB requirements, at least six with significant engineering design content. It generally takes one to three terms after the AB; most students add a fifth year, though the pre-engineering page says about a third of majors complete both degrees in four years. The BE page lists 114 degrees awarded in 2025–2026.
• Areas of study: the BE page lists recommended course groupings in Biological, Biomedical, Chemical, Climate or Sustainability, Computer (including a Computer Engineering: AI grouping), Electrical, Energy, Environmental, Industrial and Systems, Materials Science, Mechanical and Mechatronics/Robotics engineering. These are course recommendations, not separate degrees.
• Partner School Dual-Degree Program: a path for students at partner schools to study engineering at Dartmouth, applied for through Thayer.
• Co-op: the pages we read do not describe a co-op program; Thayer says its engineering career services office helps with full-time jobs and leave-term internships.

2. Admission and choosing a major

• No major on the application: Dartmouth Admissions says students do not need to declare a major until sophomore year. The writing supplement prompts we read (below) include no major-selection question; whether the Common App itself asks about intended major is not published on the pages we read.
• Declaring the engineering major: meet your engineering faculty advisor to develop a plan, then submit the declaration through DartWorks. Requests can be denied and resubmitted with advisor guidance. No more than two transfer courses may count toward the major.
• Entry requirements: the pages we read state the course requirements and the 2.00 GPA minimum for AB students, but no enrollment cap for engineering majors; ask the Thayer undergraduate program director.
• Getting into the BE: you must first be admitted to and earn the AB (or a partner-school bachelor’s). Current Dartmouth AB students with an engineering sciences major or modified major apply through Thayer’s BE application and are automatically admitted if they apply by the deadline: January 18 of the senior year for fall entry, and at least two terms before for winter, spring or summer start. They also submit a BE program plan through DartWorks and the Thayer Plan app.
• Aid for the fifth year: students finishing the AB plus BE within four years apply for aid through Dartmouth’s Office of Financial Aid; those adding a fifth year apply to Thayer for partial-tuition scholarships, hourly employment as teaching assistants, fellowships and loans. BE students who accept partial-tuition scholarships must serve as paid hourly teaching assistants if called upon. BE candidates arrange their own off-campus housing.

3. Prerequisites and credit

• At application: the admissions and Thayer pages we read do not list required high school courses for engineering; ask Dartmouth’s admissions office.
• Major prerequisites (seven to eight): three math courses (MATH 3, MATH 8, and MATH 11 or MATH 13); two physics (PHYS 13, 14); one chemistry (CHEM 5); and one or two computing courses (ENGS 20, or COSC 1 and COSC 10). If prerequisites are completed by the end of sophomore year, the major can be completed on schedule; five math, science and engineering courses in the first year are recommended but not mandatory.
• AP and placement: one AP credit in math (Calculus AB) allows MATH 8 in the fall; two (Calculus BC) allow MATH 11. Students with AP may be invited to advanced physics (PHYS 15–16) or chemistry (CHEM 11). For chemistry, students who show prior experience through AP, IB or A-level exams automatically receive credit for CHEM 5; those who place into CHEM 11 by placement exam only receive CHEM 5 credit after completing CHEM 11.
• Students placed in MATH 1: the sample plan is MATH 1 (or ENGS 1.01) in the fall, MATH 3 in the winter and MATH 8 in the spring, with PHYS 13–14 in sophomore year.
• Other BE courses: one applied math course (ENGS 91, 92, 93, 96 or 100); the engineering common core of four or five courses including ENGS 21 Introduction to Engineering; two engineering distributive core courses; two gateway courses from different disciplines; six engineering and computer science electives; and the two-course design capstone ENGS 89 and 90.

4. Deadlines, materials and fees

• Rounds: Early Decision (binding) is due November 1 with decisions in mid-December. For Regular Decision the pages disagree: the timeline says January 1 while the QuestBridge text says January 2; check the website. Decisions come in late March or early April, with a May 1 reply deadline. The Common App opens August 1. The timeline page shows no year, so confirm the dates are for fall 2027 entry.
• Application fee: $85 for first-year applicants and $90 for transfer applicants, non-refundable; waivers are available for financial hardship.
• Materials: the Common App; the Dartmouth writing supplement; a Secondary School Report with transcript, school profile and counselor evaluation; two teacher evaluations; and SAT or ACT scores. A peer recommendation is recommended and an art portfolio is optional.
• Writing supplement (labeled for the Class of 2031, updated July 22, 2026): three prompts — why Dartmouth (100 words or fewer); one of two prompts (250 words or fewer); and one of six prompts (250 words or fewer).
• Testing: the SAT or ACT is required (the page says the requirement was reactivated beginning with applicants to the Class of 2029), with no preference between them and automatic superscoring. Students attending high school outside the U.S. can meet the requirement in one of five ways: SAT or ACT scores; three AP exams; predicted or final IB Diploma results; predicted or final A-Level results; or final results from an equivalent standardized national exam (examples: WASSCE, CAPE, French Baccalaureate, CBSE, ICSE, KCSE; school-based exams do not count).
• Interview: interviews are not required for first-year applicants; an alumni interview invitation is optional.

5. U.S. domestic applicants

• Cost: Dartmouth lists one price, with no in-state or out-of-state split and no separate engineering tuition or fee on the pages we read. The 2026–27 estimate: tuition $71,697, fees $2,426, housing $13,032, food $8,746, books and supplies $1,005 and miscellaneous $2,040, for a total of $98,946 (including a $519 first-year orientation fee). Group health insurance is $5,216 extra (aid recipients who buy it receive at least half its cost in additional scholarship); the basic computer package is $1,700; and aid awards include a travel allowance (the cost of attendance includes at least $250 for travel). The admissions page lists a $78,590 average scholarship offer for the Class of 2030. The fifth-year BE cost breakdown is on Thayer’s BE tuition page, which we did not read.
• Aid: admission is need-blind and aid meets 100% of demonstrated need, entirely in scholarships, grants and Federal Work Study (Thayer’s page). The pages we read describe no engineering-specific scholarship for incoming students; Thayer lists endowed and named fellowships (such as the Mazilu Fellowship, limited to U.S. citizens and permanent residents, and the E.E. Just Undergraduate Fellowship), mostly for enrolled students.
• Applying for aid: the timeline page says financial aid application materials are due November 1 for Early Decision and February 1 for Regular Decision; the full document list is not given on the pages we read.
• In-state preference or guaranteed admission: none is described on the pages we read.

6. International applicants

• Same process: international applicants use the same Common App and holistic review, with attention to the national curriculum, available extracurriculars and access to standardized testing.
• Need-blind: Dartmouth practices need-blind admissions for all applicants, including international students, and meets 100% of demonstrated need. The policy page is a January 2022 announcement; we do not quote the income thresholds in it, so check the current financial aid pages.
• English tests: required if your first language is not English and your curriculum has not been delivered in English for at least two years: TOEFL, IELTS, Duolingo or Cambridge English. At-home TOEFL and IELTS Indicator are accepted; TOEFL MyBest and TOEFL Essentials are not. There are no minimum scores; Dartmouth says most successful applicants score above 7 on the IELTS, above 135 on Duolingo and above 185 on Cambridge English, and above 100 on the TOEFL taken before January 21, 2026 or 5 or above for TOEFL taken from that date. An InitialView interview is not required but may be submitted. No country-based exemptions are listed.
• Aid: the document list for first-year international aid applicants is not given on the pages we read; ask Dartmouth’s Financial Aid Office. Thayer’s page says international students adding a fifth year for the BE submit the CSS Profile (Dartmouth code 3355) and parents’ tax forms or income statements directly to the Financial Aid Office. Proof-of-funds requirements are not described either.
• Already enrolled at a university at home: you may apply as a transfer or first-year student; if you apply as a first-year, credits from your home university do not transfer, and you should include that transcript and your reason.

7. Applicants from China

• Gaokao: the pages we read do not mention the Gaokao, and we found no China-specific page. The fifth testing option is final results from an equivalent standardized national exam; predicted national exam results do not count, and the page says that if you will not receive national exam results until after February, you must choose a different option. Whether the Gaokao qualifies, and how to submit it, is not published; contact Dartmouth Admissions.
• Transcripts: the Secondary School Report includes the transcript. The pages we read do not say whether Chinese-language transcripts need translation or notarisation.
• Testing and English: SAT/ACT, three AP exams, IB or A-Levels can be used for the testing requirement; see Section 6 for English tests.

8. Transfer students

• Eligibility: anyone who has matriculated at a college and completed two years or fewer of college coursework (even one term) applies only as a transfer; students with a bachelor’s degree are ineligible; those whose college courses count toward high school graduation, including associate-degree work, apply as first-years.
• No direct Thayer application: engineering transfer students also apply through Dartmouth’s transfer admission, enter as AB students and can pursue the BE afterwards.
• Timeline: the 2027 transfer application opens in January 2027 and is due March 1 (with the $90 fee or waiver and financial aid materials); the last testing date is in February; decisions come in mid-May and the intent-to-enroll deadline is in late May. The entry term for transfers is not stated on the pages we read.
• Materials: the transfer application with essays; the final secondary school report and transcript; a college report and college transcript (updated with final grades in May or June); two college instructor evaluations; and standardized test scores — testing is required for transfers, with a waiver available if you did not take tests for first-year admission, your scores are over five years old, or testing would be a hardship. Admitted students submit syllabi so the Registrar and departments can review credits. Interviews are not available for transfer applicants.
• How many: in recent years Dartmouth has enrolled between a handful and two dozen new transfer students.
• Credit: online and community college courses are not typically transferable, and the Registrar and departments review courses individually. Thayer says up to four courses may be transferred into the BE program (two toward AB and two toward BE) and no more than two transfer courses may count in the major. Specific math and physics prerequisites for engineering transfer applicants are not stated on the pages we read; consult the major prerequisites in Section 3 and the Thayer undergraduate program director.

Checklist

U.S. domestic applicants:

• Submit the Common App, writing supplement, transcripts and two teacher evaluations by November 1 (Early Decision) or January 1/2 (Regular Decision; the website gives both); the SAT or ACT is required
• Take as much math (with calculus), physics and chemistry as your school offers; no major is chosen on the application and you declare in sophomore year
• For aid, submit materials by November 1 (Early Decision) or February 1 (Regular Decision)

International applicants (including China):

• Same timeline as domestic applicants; students outside the U.S. may use SAT/ACT, three AP exams, IB, A-Levels or final national exam results; ask Admissions how the Gaokao may be used
• If your first language is not English and you have not had two years of English-medium instruction, submit TOEFL, IELTS, Duolingo or Cambridge English
• International students are need-blind too; confirm the aid document list with the Financial Aid Office

Transfer students:

• Apply by March 1, 2027; you enter as an AB student and apply for the BE afterwards

Sources: Dartmouth College, Thayer: undergraduate; Bachelor of Arts (AB); Majors and modified majors; Bachelor of Engineering (BE); Thayer: undergraduate admissions; Pre-engineering advising; Undergraduate engineering FAQs; Thayer: financial aid; Apply to Dartmouth: process and timelines; Testing policy; English language proficiency; Universal need-blind policy; Cost of attendance 2026-27; Majors and minors; Application fee; Writing supplement; International students; Eligibility guidelines; Testing for transfer applicants; Transfer enrollment; Transferability of college credits. The timeline page shows no year, the writing supplement is labeled for the Class of 2031, and the transfer page says the 2027 transfer application opens in January 2027; check Dartmouth’s website to confirm the dates are for fall 2027 entry.