Dartmouth College's wording, checked October 26, 2026“There is a Quaker saying: Let your life speak. Describe the environment in which you were raised and the impact it has had on the person you are today.”
How to approach it
- 1Choose a few concrete details of the environment: a room, a street, a routine.
- 2Show the impact through a choice or habit you have now.
- 3Keep the focus on you, not the place.
A structure that works
One way to shape this answer. It describes moves, not sentences: the words have to be yours.
- 1The environment, through two or three precise details.
- 2One moment that shows what it taught you.
- 3Who you are now because of it, shown in a present-day habit or choice.
Where the 250 words go
| Part | Words |
|---|---|
| The moment or example | about 100 |
| What it shows or changed | about 90 |
| Why it matters, or what you bring | about 60 |
Mistakes to avoid
- A travel-guide description of your town.
- Only hardship, with no sense of what it built in you.
The checklist our grader uses for this question
When you check your Dartmouth answers, this answer is read against these 5 areas. Each comes back Met, Partly or Missing with a quote from your draft as evidence, and together with the 250 words limit they set its readiness verdict.
| Area | What a reader looks for |
|---|---|
| Answers the question | The opening sentences answer what was asked, plainly, before background or a hook; every part of a multi-part question is answered. |
| One lived experience | It focuses on one specific aspect of the applicant's life or background, shown through a moment or detail, not a list of labels. |
| How it shaped you | It shows how that experience changed what the applicant thinks, does or notices, with evidence rather than a claim. |
| What classmates will gain | It makes clear what the applicant would bring to conversations, classes or campus life because of it. |
| Dartmouth's ask | Describes the environment the applicant was raised in and its impact on the person they are today. |
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Questions
More on Dartmouth and this kind of question
- Harvard: Life experiences you will contribute · 150 words
- Yale: Essay: your personal experience · 400 words
- Princeton: Your voice: lived experience · 400-500 words
- Columbia: Your lived experience · 150 words
- Brown: An aspect of your growing up · 150-250 words
- Stanford: Your distinctive contribution · 100-250 words