FAQ
Questions about the Summer Scholars programs or how to apply?
Contact the Dartmouth Precollege team at summer.scholars@dartmouth.edu
Questions about billing or financial aid?
- Email summer.scholars@dartmouth.edu, and please include a cc to dartmouth@summerdiscovery.com.
Dartmouth’s undergraduate admissions process is separate and independent from Dartmouth Precollege programs. Participation in Dartmouth Precollege programs does not affect your admissibility for Dartmouth Undergraduate Admissions. For information regarding Dartmouth Undergraduate Admissions, please visit admissions.dartmouth.edu
If you choose to include your Dartmouth Precollege experience in any college application, we encourage you to consider reflecting on your experience with Dartmouth Precollege, and how you felt you learned, grew, and developed your talents and curiosity during your time with us.
Applicants from families of Dartmouth alums do not receive any preferential treatment in the application process.
- Dartmouth Precollege Summer Scholars:
- This program is open to rising 10th, 11th, and 12th graders who are 15-18 years old at the time of the program. Students must have completed 9th grade and not graduated from high school. We offer on-campus residential, commuter, and hybrid options for U.S., international, and homeschooled students.
- Dartmouth Precollege Online:
- These courses are designed for high school or U.S.-high-school-equivalent students, including those who are taking a “gap year” between high school and college. Students should be between 13 and 19 years old, not yet enrolled in college, and no more than 1 year post-high school graduation (“gap year”).
- These courses are not intended for college students or adults.
- We are unable to accept students under 13 years of age.
- U.S., international, and homeschooled students are welcome to apply.
All students who successfully complete a Dartmouth Precollege course—including Summer Scholars, Leadership Institute, and Online courses—will receive a Dartmouth-branded certificate of completion. Certificates will be emailed to participants after the program concludes: at the end of your coursework for online courses, and after all summer sessions for Summer Scholars and Leadership Institute courses (typically around August or September).
Dartmouth Precollege partners with Summer Discovery, an expert in precollege summer programs. Summer Discovery manages the application process, program enrollment and payments, as well as the residential components of the program.
For technical issues with the application, including trouble logging in or creating new login credentials, contact dartmouth@summerdiscovery.com.
Applicants should only apply for courses they are interested in attending. The number of courses listed on your application has no bearing on admission. However, if applying during the rolling period (if there is one), when the number of available seats in courses fluctuates, we recommend that applicants list more than one course; having alternatives in the event a course you selected closes between the time you apply and when review of your application begins will streamline the review of your application.
For most parts of the application, the applicant cannot edit after submission but the admissions team may be able to do so (examples include updating current courses taken, midterm grades, or test scores). Be sure to carefully review your application before submitting, to be sure you have answered all questions required and all uploaded documents are legible. Contact info@summerdiscovery.com if you have any additional questions.
Dartmouth Precollege is committed to expanding access to high-quality academic experiences for students from a wide range of backgrounds.
At this time, financial aid is not available for our on-campus precollege programs. These residential programs are self-funded and reflect the full cost of instruction, housing, dining, and campus services.
However, we are pleased to offer need-based financial assistance for our Dartmouth Precollege Online programs. Online programs allow us to reach a broader and more diverse group of students while maintaining academic rigor and instructional quality, and financial aid is designed to support students for whom program cost may otherwise be a barrier to participation.
We encourage students seeking financial assistance to explore our online offerings and to review eligibility criteria and application instructions carefully. Our goal is to ensure that motivated students can engage meaningfully with Dartmouth Precollege, regardless of geographic location.
Academics FAQ
No. Applicants are only reviewed for the courses and sessions listed on their original application, and are admitted to specific courses based on interest and academic fit. Given the intensive nature of our programs, missing just one day of a class is equivalent to missing several weeks of a regular semester course.
Our instructors are mostly Dartmouth affiliates – meaning tenured faculty, staff, teaching faculty, alumni, emeritus faculty, postdoctoral scholars, advanced PhD students, or lecturers and senior lecturers who teach Dartmouth undergraduate and graduate students during the academic year – selected for their expertise in their field as well as their experience with and interest in teaching precollege students. Our instructors design custom courses that provide a deep dive into their area of expertise and reflect current academic research and scholarly trends.
Students are usually not required to do any reading or fulfill course assignments prior to the start of the program. Most students will receive a syllabus from their instructor when the course begins. However, students might receive an invitation to their course’s Canvas site before the program begins, if the instructor uses Canvas as their course learning platform, or to optional reading before the course begins. Instructors may also reach out in advance to learn more about you as they finalize their course plans. If students have questions about their instructors, contact Summer.Scholars@Dartmouth.edu
Summer Scholars courses are not for credit. The non-credit structure allows students to challenge themselves academically without worrying about grades. Students who successfully complete a course will be provided with a certificate of completion.
Participants will be in class with their instructor starting at approx. 9 a.m. daily; this schedule changes slightly between MWF and TuTh class days, based on the normal Dartmouth class schedule. After a break for lunch, participants return to the classroom for the afternoon instructional period, during which time they work on assignments and projects under the supervision of their instructor and potentially other staff, such as course assistants. After the class day is over at approximately 4:15pm, participants will join co-curricular workshops or activities from 4:30 to 5 p.m. After dinner, participants may spend the early evenings working on assignments, joining an activity arranged by residential staff, or just hanging out with new friends. Curfew, at which time all participants must be in the program residence, will be defined at the program orientation.
Given the intensive structure of our program, students are enrolled in only one course per session. However, students can apply for and participate in more than one session.
Participants are expected to attend all classes. In the event a participant becomes ill or is injured, the Summer Scholars and Summer Discovery staff will work with the participant and course instructor to identify alternative ways for the participant to stay engaged, if possible.
Participants who need to request academic or housing accommodations such as notetaking assistance or a dorm room closer to the entrance should contact the Summer Discovery team as soon as possible after you have confirmed you are attending to discuss your needs. Once we have more details about your accommodation request(s), we will facilitate additional conversations as needed with the ADA Coordinator at Dartmouth.
Dartmouth is committed to diversity and access and works under the Americans with Disabilities Act as amended and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act to achieve this. Please bear in mind that whatever accommodations you may have at your current school may not automatically transfer to the DSS setting (and any DSS accommodations may not be the same as those provided if you later attend Dartmouth as an undergraduate). As we build your access plan, we may request documentation to support the request. Assuming the documentation is current and complete, the process may take several weeks, so do not wait until you arrive to request accommodations.
Campus Life FAQ
For more details on campus safety, visit Summer Discovery's Safety and Security principles.
Approved parents or guardians of Summer Scholars participants can request to check participants out of the program in the evenings or on weekends, times that do not impact class attendance. These short-term release requests should be submitted at least 24 hours before the desired check-out time, so that the requests can be coordinated by program staff in a timely manner. However, we recommend that families check with participants to be sure that checking them out of the program does not mean the participant misses an excursion or activity they wish to attend.
No. Other programs may use the residence hall before and after our programs are held. Summer Scholars students are expected to move in on arrival day and leave on the designated departure day. If you need additional accommodations before or after the official start and end dates of your program, you will need to make your own arrangements.
Enrolled participants will submit a personal profile in the spring. This profile provides information about your likes and dislikes, personality traits, interests, and sleeping habits. As most participants come alone, we use this information to match you with a roommate(s) with similar interests and age. Attending with a friend? All roommate requests must be noted on your personal profile. Only mutual requests will be honored.
For Summer 2025, our two-week courses offer a commuter option. A commuter option is not available for the Leadership Institute course. See the Costs & Aid page for more information about the cost of the commuter option.
Learn more about the program fee for a commuter option
All campus residence halls require a campus ID or code to access, and access is restricted to building residents and staff. Guests are not allowed in the residence halls. If participants wish to spend free time with guests or participants in other programs, they must do so outside of the residence. In the event the program residence is shared with another program, Summer Scholars participants are not allowed on floors of the building assigned to other programs, and participants from those programs may not visit our floors. However, common areas of the building on the main floor can be used by any resident of the building.
All participants are required to provide medical information and permission from their parent or guardian for program staff to facilitate medical care in the event of illness or injury. A camp nurse is staffed to the program and lives in one of the program residences. Program staff will stay in close contact with family as care is arranged. For students whose families live locally, they may be checked out of the program so that the family can arrange care. For those not from the local area, program staff will provide transportation to medical facilities as needed.
Participants are not able to go into athletic facilities or go outside of the designated Home Area on their own; they may do so only if accompanied by a member of the program staff or if they are checked out of the program by an approved parent or guardian. More details about unstructured time will be provided upon admission to the program.
The Home Area is a designated area where participants are allowed to visit when not in classes; this area includes both campus locations and parts of Downtown Hanover. More information and a map of the area is provided to enrolled students and reviewed during the program Orientation session at the start of the program.
No.
Yes, the residence hall has free washers and dryers on the first floor of the building. These facilities are shared by all residents of the building. Residential staff will lead a laundry tutorial on request for those who need guidance, and laundry soap will be provided by the program.