It's been the wildest college admissions season yet. Admit rates below 3% for several majors at many institutions Legacy admissions clinging ON and ON An estimated 400,000+ applications to the Ivies Seemingly arbitrary admissions policies Lack of clarity on how test-optional actually works Incredible levels of stress for students Something's got to give. Like most in this field, I'm wondering what next year will bring, and hoping for positive change. Until then, I'm celebrating my students' successes this year. 2024 admissions include Penn, MIT, Yale, Northwestern, Georgetown, Rice, Cornell, UMich, CMU, Purdue, UIUC, Claremont McKenna, NYU, Emory, UVA, Northeastern, USC, Skidmore, UMD, Georgia Tech, WashU St. Louis, UT Austin, Bowdoin, U Washington, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and all the other UCs. And many more. In all the turmoil, one thing hasn't changed. You need to tell your story through every part of your app—your grades, your activities, your recommendations, and most of all, your essays. Done well, storytelling does more than inform; it persuades and compels. Ultimately, it gives the Admissions Officers an emotional reason to bat for you. And that's the most powerful factor in your candidacy (assuming you aren't the child of a billionaire legacy donor). Pic: me in Yale merch sent by one of my students. Thank you, Kiana! #collegeadmissions #collegeapplications #collegeacceptances #collegeessay #studentsuccess #college #WTFlegacy
Congratulations, Niru. Any idea why it’s so bad this year? Last year wasn’t, was it?
Thanks for sharing. How does one reach you for professional help ? I got one kid getting ready for college in 2025
Working with you was the highlight of my admissions process, thank you Nina!
Good insight! My Saachi is getting ready for 2025! Stressful.
Storytelling is a skill that can take you places (good or bad) beyond college admissions. The greatest leaders are the ones who can tell a good story and keep people inspired!
it was a tough and a perplexing one but i am so proud of Abhimanyu Iyengar and the story telling he did with his essays and putting it all together ! He got into some amazing schools like Johns Hopkins, Berkley, UCLA, Georgia Tech, Emory , Kelly School of Business,NYU Stern and Cornell. We were grateful to have so many options but boy it was a tough tough decision.
GRI Certified Sustainability Professional
5moThanks for the insights. Though my son is feeling bummed out that he didn't get into UCSD or UCLA, I'm happy that he got into the engineering program at one of the UCs.