Considerations for Admissions to Highly Selective Colleges
What happened to the College Class of 2025?
As most know, the number of applications at highly selective colleges was way up, and the acceptance rates consistently fell by approximately 20% or more. For example, Harvard received over 57,000 applications, 42% more than last year. NYU received over 100,000 applications, up 17% from last year. The admissions rate at Harvard went from 4.92% for the Class of 2024 to 3.4% for 2025. The previous low was for the Class of 2023 at 4.5%. At NYU, the admissions rate went from 15% for the Class of 2024 to 12.8% for the Class of 2025. Keep in mind because of the timing of the pandemic last year, most admit rates were up for the Class of 2024, but this year’s numbers are, for the most part, lower than ever before.
Why were applications way up?
A. Test Optional and the fact that many students took a shot at these colleges who would not have before.
B. Students applied to way more colleges than before because of the pandemic.
They were home and had the time.
They did not get to tour colleges and really did not have a great feel for any particular campus.
This is why there were so many more applications, but that is only part of why the admit rates to many highly selective colleges fell.
C. The other reason is that so many students from the Class of 2024 at these colleges took a GAP year, and those colleges took fewer students to the Class of 2025 to make room for the 2024s. Let’s look at Wash U. Wash U’s application numbers rose 20%, but their acceptance rate only changed from 14% to 13%. That is because the number of students who took a GAP year was more significant than in previous years, but not significantly so compared to some other colleges. They took a whole class at Harvard despite any GAP year students from 2024. Imagine how much lower their acceptance rate could have been. Now compare this to UPenn. U Penn had roughly 200 GAP year students in the Class of 2024, a 300% increase from prior years. Who knows if even more took time off the second semester. U Penn’s applications increased by over 25%, and Penn admitted roughly 3202 students. This is 100-200 fewer students accepted this year relative to the classes of 2024 and 2023. At a college like Georgetown, they set an enrollment number of students at 1500 this year compared to previous years’ 1600 to accommodate the more significant percentage of GAP year students.
This was a challenging year in so many ways, and what was going on in this country as far as social justice definitely impacted college admissions. Many colleges accepted a record number of first-generation and minority students. For example, Tufts, my alma matter, accepted the most ethnically and racially diverse undergraduate class ever — 56 percent of U.S. students are students of color, up from last year’s 50 percent. This is what I like to call a COVID silver lining.
What do we anticipate for the Class of 2026?
The acceptance rate of most of these highly selective universities will fall somewhere between the acceptance rates of the Class of 24 and Class of 25.
Why?
A. Numbers of applications will still be up some because of test optional and because this year’s acceptance rates were so low. This will make students continue to apply to more universities.
B. Fewer students will take a GAP year as things open up.
C. More students will have a chance to tour some colleges in person, so they will have a clearer idea of what they like and do not like.
D. Princeton will bring back its Early Round, making some other highly selective colleges have a lower number of Early applicants.
E. Less unqualified students will take a shot at these highly selective universities next year after seeing that similar students did not yield positive results.
What can I do if I want to apply to highly selective universities? Our top recommendation is to diversify your college list. What does a diversified college list mean?
A. It does NOT mean you can just apply to 20 colleges with super low acceptance rates and assume that you will get into one because of the odds.
B. You need to have likely, target, and reach colleges.
These days, a highly selective list might look more like Likely and Reach Colleges with some wildcard or lottery colleges thrown in. A wildcard or lottery college is any college with an acceptance rate of 20% or lower, and you can not assume anything about admissions. Some will say that rate really needs to be 30%. I say that it is very dependent on each student.
C. You MUST love every college on your list, but I always tell students you can love them for different reasons. Maybe you LOVE Duke, but you can also love Furman because you will probably get some excellent merit aid at Furman, and you will not have any debt when you graduate.
Does applying early really make a difference?
Yes, for both Early Decision and Early Action!
Early Decision:
A. Admissions rates almost across the board are significantly higher for early admissions than regular admissions rates, with the exception of Georgetown, which is an anomaly and slightly harder in the early round. For example, this year's overall admit rate at Dartmouth was 6.17%, but the Early Decision admit rate was 21.2%.
B. Break down those numbers; who does that help?
Full pay students because usually students who need money are too hesitant to apply early without knowing their financial package.
Recruited athletes
First Generation students/Questbridge students — these usually full need students are often the exception to those who are afraid to apply early because they are given a full ride through the Questbridge program.
Legacy students. While collecting exact numbers on legacy acceptance rates is very difficult at many colleges, it can increase your chance of admissions by 2 or 3 times the amount of nonlegacy. Usually, that means being a primary legacy where one of your parents attended that university. Still, sometimes even a looser connection like a grandparent or an uncle can make a slight difference. Some colleges openly oppose granting any special status to Legacy, and the most notable would be MIT. Other colleges like U Penn and Cornell will only consider Legacy in their ED rounds. This year I worked with five candidates who applied to highly selective universities. They all got into more than one choice. Still, each student eventually was admitted to, and I think, is choosing to enroll at the highly selective university where one of their parents attended.
C. Strategy is essential. It is important too, first and foremost, to use your ED at the college you most want to attend! If you have two or more colleges that you like equally and would be happy to attend either, use your ED where you have the best shot. At some colleges, ED really gives you a significant advantage. Consider Colgate University this year; the ED admit rate was 61%, and the overall admit rate was only 17.2%. That means the regular decision rate was far lower than that.
Do your homework. Does this college care about Legacy? Does this college care about it only in the first rounds? Is this a Questbridge college? How much of the class does this college fill in their ED round or rounds? What is the ED or EA acceptance rate of the college you want to apply to early? All of these are important considerations. Sometimes a strategy of taking just one step down in selectivity in the ED round can really pay off.
Colleges with two rounds of ED often fill a considerable percentage of their classes ED. Wash U filled 60% of their class in their ED 1 and ED 2 rounds. Tufts also historically fills a large portion of their Class in ED1 and 2, but it is normally closer to 50% or under. A few years ago, though, it also accepted almost 2/3 of its class early.
Early Action:
A. Applying early in any form shows demonstrated interest. There are some colleges this is more important to than others. I don’t have statistics there, but I know, for example, at colleges like Tulane, the University of Michigan, and Case Western, when students apply early, they have an easier time being accepted.
B. Applying early is VERY Important if you need Financial Aid. Colleges have a finite amount of money they hand out, and many will say if you need merit money in particular, you need to apply early. Again here, Tulane is a good example. They ask you to apply early to be considered for scholarships.
C. At some colleges like Michigan, the Honors College application opens up as you get accepted, so you want to apply early, so there are more spots. There are three deadlines, and there are simply very few spots left by the last deadline.
D. Some colleges have rolling admissions, and it is easier to get in the earlier you apply. They simply run out of space. This is particularly true at some international universities like the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. They have rolling admissions into what course you want to study, and once a course is full or getting full, it is much harder to get accepted.
What does matter to the highly selective colleges in admissions?
A. Top Course rigor and GPA are just necessities even to be considered. Keep in mind this does not make you stand out. It just makes you part of the party.
B. Test scores.
Even now, with most colleges’ test optional, we are led to believe a significant test score matters because very few colleges gave us any data on who they admitted test optional. Of the ones that did, they admitted more students with test scores than without. For example, at U Penn, 66% of ED applicants submitted test scores, and 75% of students accepted ED submitted test scores. Jeff Selingo spoke to about a dozen selective colleges over the last few weeks and found that about half of their applicant pools applied without test scores.
In every case I heard so far, students with test scores got accepted more often. In some cases, the admit rate was twice as high for students with test scores vs. those without.
Emory: Admit rate 17% (with tests) vs. 8.6% (without tests)
Colgate: 25% (w/tests) vs. 12% (w/o tests)
Georgia Tech: 22% (w/tests) vs. 10% (w/o tests)
Vanderbilt: 7.2% (w/tests) vs. 6% (w/o tests)
These numbers tell us that submitting a test score helps.
At highly selective colleges, a great SAT or ACT score only helps to confirm what the rest of your strong application already shows. It can not add anything if the rest of your application is not strong, and keep in mind at a college like Harvard, over half of those applying might have a perfect score.
In this new test optional world, AP courses and thus scores will become even more prevalent and necessary. More AP classes are being created, and earlier classes are also being developed. The College Board has to find ways to stay profitable.
SAT subject tests have been canceled, which will only put more pressure on AP scores. This is especially true for international universities, as fewer than a handful of US colleges still required subject tests before this year. Not every high school offers AP classes, and most highly selective international universities want either AP scores or SAT Subject test scores. It will be interesting to see what international Universities will ask for if a student’s high school does not offer AP courses.
C. Majors
Certain majors are way harder to get into than others. Computer Science, for example, is probably the hardest major in the country right now.
Know your college. At certain colleges, they are looking for certain majors. Maybe sometimes look to colleges where your major is less popular, but the college wants to build it up.
D. College Fit is critical.
Read a college’s mission statement to start. Colleges have very different cultures and missions. Rice, for example, has as part of its mission that it aspires to better the world. Columbia hopes to advance knowledge and learning at the highest level. This is very consistent with the culture of both universities. Rice values community service and helping others. Columbia values intellectualism. Know your colleges and what is important to them.
Do your homework, and research each college!! This is MOST important. Everyone has GREAT grades. You need to show you are more than just your grades. Colleges want students who will be successful on their campus. You need to show them that you are a good fit for the culture and community of their institution.
E. Colleges value unique talents. Be it athletics, musical ability, or debate skills. You name it.
Reach out to coaches, band leaders, etc., and see if they need someone for their team or band. I have had students who play a specific instrument get a bump in admissions because they play an instrument that the university band needs a replacement for next year.
F. Diversity matters
Racial diversity, Socioeconomic diversity, geographic diversity, and different majors and interests. — How are you different? How does having you at their college benefit others in the class or university?
G. Full pay matters. I believe even sometimes in need blind institutions and especially in WL situations.
H. Your recommendations are more important than ever before. Not only do they have to be good, but they also need to align with what you are writing in your applications.
An admissions officer from Pomona College presented at one of the break-out sessions at our IECA National Conference last year. He spoke about a student who had excellent grades and test scores. He said the student had a good application and good recommendations, but what the recommenders commented on had nothing to do with what the student wrote about in his essays. They choose to deny this student. Make sure you provide your teachers extra information about you so that what they write matches up with what you are writing. Check out my blog post on how to get good recommendations.
I. MOST importantly, this is about building a class.
Are you someone they need or want to make their class complete?
Why is it important to speak about admissions to highly selective universities? Most students do not apply to them. It is important because what happens in admissions to highly selective universities has a trickle-down effect that affects admissions to all other colleges. If top students get shut out of the highly selective universities, they will take places in the class of colleges that are the next tier or two down in selectivity. That will, in turn, leave fewer spots open for students who fit the current profile of the college and so on and so on.
For the Class of 2025, while applications were way up at highly selective universities, applications to less selective universities and applications by First Generation students and those who cannot afford to pay for applications were down. Read my blog post from February 21st of this year. The divide between those students who are applying to the highly selective universities and the rest of the students is growing larger. The highly selective institutions are growing wealthier and more invincible every year, and many colleges are struggling to keep their doors open. Something needs to be done to protect our most vulnerable students and institutions. This is too large of a topic to continue with today. Please reach out with any questions.