Class of 2022: Expanding Dartmouth’s Worldwide Footprint

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(Graphic by Arnt Bjorkman III)

As they begin classes today, Dartmouth’s 1,169 newest students have come to Hanover from all corners of the globe. The members of the undergraduate Class of 2022 make up the most geographically diverse class to matriculate at the College, hailing from 57 countries—almost one-third of the world’s nations. 

“This is a global moment for Dartmouth. Our worldwide footprint continues to expand as prospective students, and certainly our first-year students, understand that we are an institution with a global perspective,” says Lee Coffin, vice provost for enrollment and dean of admissions and financial aid. 

In the last two years, Dartmouth has sharpened its message and expanded its geographical outreach, with admissions officers traveling extensively in the U.S. and overseas to represent the College in communities that are visited every year and in some locations that haven’t been visited before. 

“More students than ever are attracted to our excellence and our reputation for teaching,” says Coffin. “The students who begin classes this week know that they will receive an outstanding liberal arts education from some of the world’s finest scholars.”

Coffin says the admissions staff traveled more broadly overseas, visiting 50 countries and more than 1,000 high schools in the U.S. and abroad. The outreach included emerging markets in Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region, as well as expanded travel to schools in California, Florida, and Texas.

Also in the last year, faculty members have helped tell Dartmouth’s story to high school students in events on and off campus.

“Putting a faculty member in front of prospective students is one of the best advertisements for Dartmouth there is,” says Barbara Will, the A. and R. Newbury Professor of English and associate dean for the arts and humanities. “It is a terrific way for students to experience the excitement of sitting in a class with professors who are truly passionate about their work.”

Professor Steve Swayne says he participates in open house events to provide “a perspective on what study of the humanities brings to a liberal arts education.” Students often write to tell him that he’s “opened up new horizons in their educational outlook,” says Swayne, the Jacob H. Strauss 1922 Professor of Music.

In addition to the record number of countries members of the Class of 2022 call home, students come from each of the 50 U.S. states. Another record this year is the percentage of accepted students who matriculated, known as the yield. This year’s yield as students begin the school year is 61 percent, Dartmouth’s highest ever, up from 58 percent at this time last year.

Other Class of 2022 stats:

•  In schools that rank students, 96 percent of the first-year students finished high school in the top 10 percent of their class, as compared to 93 percent last year; 22 percent were valedictorians or salutatorians of their graduating class.
   
•  For the first time, students living overseas—13 percent of the class, which includes U.S. and foreign citizens—make up the largest contingent of students in the class, with ’22s from New York, California, Massachusetts, and Florida rounding out the top five locations students call home. 
   
• The top countries represented in the new class are China, Canada, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and India. Eleven percent of the new students are foreign citizens, a record high. The new students come from 910 high schools around the world, represent more than 20 Native American tribes, and speak 33 languages. 
   
• Dartmouth will provide $27.8 million in financial aid to first-year students, 15 percent of whom are eligible for Pell grants, the federal grant program that assists students from low-income families.
   
• Thirteen percent of the Class of 2022 are first-generation college students and 13 percent are legacies, including one ’22 who is a fourth-generation Dartmouth student.