Is UPenn or Dartmouth harder to get into?

In most conversations, Penn is usually seen as at least as selective as Dartmouth, and often a bit harder overall because it draws a very large, broad applicant pool across multiple highly sought-after programs. Dartmouth is also extremely hard to get into, but its smaller size, more distinct rural setting, and narrower self-selection can make the comparison feel slightly different. In reputation terms, no one would view Dartmouth as an easier “safe” reach, but Penn tends to come up more often as the tougher admit in casual comparisons.

For students drawn to pre-professional paths like business, finance, nursing, or interdisciplinary options tied to a large university, Penn attracts huge interest from applicants who are very focused and credentialed. That especially raises the pressure around schools and programs with their own strong identities, so Penn often feels more competitive in the public imagination.

Dartmouth tends to appeal more to students who want a smaller undergraduate-centered experience, close faculty interaction, and a tight residential community in a rural location. That creates a more self-selecting pool: a lot of applicants love Dartmouth specifically, but fewer people apply just because it is a famous Ivy in a major city. Because of that, people often talk about Dartmouth as slightly less intense than Penn in raw selectivity, even though it remains one of the hardest colleges in the country to enter.

So if your question is purely about general reputation, Penn usually has the edge as the harder admit, but only by a small margin in how people talk about them. In practical terms, both belong in the same top tier of reaches, and the difference is nowhere near large enough to build a college list around selectivity alone.