Dartmouth has risen in several recent rankings of colleges and universities, a recognition of the institution’s focus on open dialogue, scholarship, and career preparation, among other priorities.
Dartmouth ranks 12th in the latest U.S. News & World Report list of top national universities released Sept. 22—up one place from last year and six places in the last three years. And among schools judged to offer the best undergraduate teaching, Dartmouth rose to 2nd.
“Recognition is never our end goal, but it is gratifying to see our undergraduate teaching celebrated,” says President Sian Leah Beilock. “Our scholar-teacher model and learning inside and outside the classroom are at the heart of a Dartmouth experience and critical to preparing students to be engaged citizens and leaders in whatever career they choose.”
In the latest College Free Speech Rankings from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, Dartmouth took a giant leap, rising to 6th this year, up from 35th in 2025 and 224 in 2024, and is the only Ivy League institution in the top 70. Dartmouth now ranks in the top 25 for political tolerance as demonstrated by “comparatively greater student willingness to host controversial speakers,” and in the top 50 for “openness” and for students feeling “comfortable sharing views.”
The FIRE rankings demonstrate the impact of Dartmouth Dialogues, which launched in 2024 and is creating a national model for facilitating hard conversations across divisive interpersonal and ideological boundaries.
And the university’s standing improved in LinkedIn’s second annual list of the 50 top colleges in the U.S. for long-term career success, moving up to 5th this year from 9th in 2025, and ranking in the top 10 for “entrepreneurship and network strength.”
The LinkedIn rankings are based on job placement for recent alumni, internships and recruiter demand, the percentage of alumni with experience as entrepreneurs or leaders, the breadth of knowledge recent alumni demonstrate, and the strength of the alumni network.
In other rankings, Dartmouth ranks in the top 20 in the recent Forbes list of America’s 500 top colleges.
The Tuck School of Business is also scoring well. In LinkedIn’s annual ranking of Top 100 MBA Programs, Tuck ranked #5 among U.S. MBA programs and #7 worldwide. Tuck also ranked 6th in the annual Bloomberg Businessweek ranking of the best business schools, including placing second for networking.
“We are always working to improve Dartmouth, and the rise in rankings across a variety of measures is one sign among many that our efforts are having an impact,” President Beilock says.
She points to the new Center for Career Design, which aims to reach all students with close one-on-one coaching, expanded internship funding, a broadly and deeply connected alumni network, and personalized guidance from custom, AI-powered tools.
Likewise, the expansion of the Magnuson Center for Entrepreneurship is creating a campuswide accelerator, catalyzing the impact of faculty research and the capacity to bring ideas to market, strengthening alumni engagement, and expanding student opportunities for immersive learning, business skills training, internships, and early-stage funding.
“We are dedicated to ensuring that Dartmouth’s innovative scholarship and research can continue to have a meaningful and positive impact on society,” Beilock says.
Dartmouth has also been recognized in another area of strategic importance—mental health.
Insight Into Academia recently named Dartmouth one of 38 recipients of the Excellence in Mental Health and Well-Being Award, which honors institutions that are “embedding mental health into the fabric of campus life through accessible services, peer support, proactive policies, and programs that build lasting resilience for their students, faculty, and staff.”
The recognition reflects Dartmouth’s commitment to promoting health and wellness on campus through initiatives such as the Commitment to Care strategic plan, which launched in 2023 to support student mental health.