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Ivy League Admission Tips: Crafting an Outstanding College Application

The time has finally come to apply to college. No doubt you’ve been anticipating this moment for years. Perhaps you have a list of dream schools you’d like to study at, but you know that the competition will be intense—thousands of students apply to the top schools each year.

For instance, the Ivy League colleges and universities had an average acceptance rate of 7.3% for the Class of 2024—an all-time low. That means that only one out of every 13 applicants was accepted.

So, how can you make your college application stand out and increase your chances of admission? Without a reliable strategy, you won’t be able to craft a compelling application.

Ivy League Prep is here to help! These Ivy League admission tips will help you craft a compelling application that will make you stand out.

First, let’s discuss what parts of the application are most important.

What to Focus On

College applications contain several generic fields—information such as your name, address, and high school, among others. These generic fields don’t have any real strategic value. All you have to do is make sure that the information you provide in these sections is accurate.

Other fields, however, require you to make specific choices or write brief explanations. These are the sections of the application that require special focus. You can craft a strong application theme and personal narrative by carefully filling out these sections.

For example, the activities you list—and the order in which you list them—say a great deal about what you value.

Now, let’s look at three strategic considerations for filling out your applications.

Carefully Proofread Everything

You should carefully examine your application for mistakes, looking for misspelled words, grammatical errors, typos, factual errors, inconsistencies, and unclear or wordy phrases. The application should be polished and pristine.

Admissions officers are likely to notice mistakes. However, a single mistake, depending on its nature, might not matter all that much. Particularly egregious or frequent errors, however, could really lower your chances of admission.

You should ask someone trustworthy with a strong command of English to proofread your applications.

Provide Complete and Cohesive Responses

Your application should paint a complete picture of who you are and outline your goals and interests. Each response should clearly point to your overall theme, and, wherever possible, the application should help develop your unique narrative.

For example, this means that you need to do more than include your most prestigious and noteworthy honors and awards. You must also present each honor or award in such a way that it fits in with your application’s theme and narrative. To accomplish this goal, you can explain your achievements in more detail in your personal essay or additional information section.

Highlight Diversity

You should highlight diversity wherever possible in your application. This includes underscoring your ethnic diversity, unique perspectives, rare opportunities, highly specialized abilities, or any other experience or background that is likely to set you apart from other applicants.

Admissions officers at top colleges place a high value on diversity—they want a well-rounded class formed not by well-rounded students but by a wide variety of students with diverse experiences.

If you follow these Ivy League admission tips on how to complete your college applications, you can be sure that the admissions officers will want to know more about you. Still, gaining admission to the most prestigious schools and universities requires much more than a well-written application.

Ivy League Prep would be delighted to provide you with customized guidance throughout the entire admissions process. Book an initial consultation today.

The Benefits of Having a Green Card for College Admissions

Holders of U.S. green cards are granted permanent residency in the United States, making their dreams of a life in America possible. Permanent residency status comes with a myriad of advantages, including in college admissions. U.S. universities are known for their quality and prestige, and holding a green card boosts your chances of enrolling in one of these world-renowned schools.

Easier Admissions Process

Holding a green card simplifies the admissions process for both you and the college. First, you can save time and reduce stress by eliminating the need to apply for a U.S. study visa—which is not guaranteed to be approved.

However, holding a green card also makes it more likely to be accepted by college admissions teams in the first place. The many colleges throughout the United States are highly diverse, so each has its own circumstances, but many highly ranked schools cap the number of slots for international students at 10 or 15%. If you hold a green card, you can compete for the remaining 85 to 90% of slots reserved for U.S. citizens or permanent residents instead.

Furthermore, if you’re interested in applying to a vocational college or a two-year technical institution, having a green card will prove an asset. Such schools receive far fewer international applicants than the highly ranked universities, meaning they are far less experienced with international admissions and would prefer to deal with students who do not need to apply for a visa.

Cheaper Tuition

The biggest drawback to studying in the United States is the tuition rates, but holding a green card can slash these rates by up to 80%. If you hold a green card and are applying to schools in your state of residence, you are eligible for in-state tuition fees, which are sometimes dramatically lower. The rates depend on the schools, and while some schools do not make this differentiation at all, in many cases, green card holders can save at least some money on their tuition fees.

Ivy League schools tend to make smaller distinctions between in-state and out-of-state tuition fees, but they may still offer reductions for in-state students.

More Opportunities to Work

In addition to the high tuition fees, international students also have to grapple with restrictions on their ability to work during their studies. Generally, they are only permitted to take on-campus jobs and are limited to 20 hours of work per week. International students who have already completed one full academic year and who can demonstrate a qualifying economic hardship may apply to be allowed to seek off-campus work but are still limited to 20 hours a week.

Green card holders, on the other hand, enjoy all the same freedoms as U.S. citizens. They may find employment on or off campus and may work full time if they wish. Unrestricted work opportunities lighten the burden of tuition fees, which may already be reduced thanks to in-state subsidies.

How Can You Obtain a Green Card?

Many people obtain a green card through employment or family connections in the United States, but for prospective students with no U.S. family connections, these routes are not feasible. International residents often apply to the green card lottery that takes place annually, but applicants’ chances are slim, with only 55,000 visas being awarded among the more than 20 million who apply.

Another option, for families that have the funds, is the EB-5 program. International families who value U.S. higher education can take this route to help ensure a U.S. college degree and a better future for their children. The EB-5 program is an easy way to secure a green card in exchange for investment in a U.S. business.

As investments are inherently risky, there is no guarantee that making an investment through the EB-5 program will grant you a green card. However, if you work with an agency such as EB-5 Affiliate Network (EB5AN), your chances of success are drastically elevated. EB5AN runs EB-5 regional centers that cover 27 states as well as Washington, D.C., and has already helped countless investors obtain green cards and realize their dreams of a life in the United States.

If you think investing in the EB-5 program is the right path for you, visit the EB5AN website to learn more about how the program works and how to select a best-in-class EB-5 project. The advantages of a green card are manifold, including but also extending far beyond higher education opportunities, so an investment in the EB-5 program is an investment in a better future for you, your family, and the United States.

Ivy League Admission Tips: What to Do When Waitlisted

For many college applicants, spring is the culmination of months or years of hard work. This is when they find out if they will be attending their top-choice school in the fall. However, thousands of applicants find themselves on the waitlists for their favorite schools, which confuses and frustrates them. While some waitlisted students hold out hope for late admission, others opt for the reliability of a second- or third-choice school that accepted them.

If you find yourself on a college waitlist, don’t give up hope! Keep reading for tips on what to do to improve your chances of admission.

How Do Colleges Use Waitlists?

Schools often use waitlists to meet enrollment goals, review applicants in further detail, or replace students who retracted their acceptance. Ivy League admission statistics show that some colleges accept most applicants on their waitlists, while others accept very few or none of their waitlisted applicants.

For example, Purdue accepted 1,542 of the 3,378 students on its waitlist in 2019. In contrast, Stanford admitted eight of its waitlisted students that year, and it admitted only 30 the previous year. Knowing how your target school typically uses its waitlist may help you decide whether to wait or move on to another school.

Keep in mind that being waitlisted does not mean that you have failed as a student—the admissions committee probably liked you, but there may have been many other students who submitted stronger applications. You will likely never find out why you were waitlisted.

How to Improve Your Chances of College Admission

Remember that you can decide whether to remain on the waitlist or not. If you are no longer interested in the school, request to have your name removed from the waitlist. On the other hand, if you are serious about pursuing acceptance, you should actively demonstrate an interest in the school.

Ivy League admission, especially from a waitlist, requires persistence, attention to detail, and creativity. Most students simply wait at this stage, so this is your opportunity to stand out.

At this point, you should email or write a letter to your regional admissions counselor. Express your continued desire to attend their college and explain your reasons. Be sure to update them on any honors, awards, achievements, improved grades, or job promotions you have achieved since submitting your application. Ask your high school to send in a transcript with your current grades, and see if one of your teachers will write you a recommendation letter discussing your attributes and explaining why the college should accept you.

Don’t Overdo It

Be careful not to pester the admissions office by calling them every day or sending them a stream of emails, and do not mention everything you have done since applying. Further, name-dropping or sending recommendations from prominent individuals is not advised.

Instead, aim to make an excellent second impression, presenting your information in an impactful and concise manner. Describe your most important recent accomplishments in one email to your admissions counselor. Write down your questions in a list so that you can ask them during a single phone call to the admissions office.

Create a Back-Up Plan

Last, make sure you have a back-up plan. Regardless of how many students a college accepts from the waitlist, there will always be students left on it. It’s also important to note that colleges sometimes make waitlist decisions as late as early fall, but deposit deadlines for most schools are around May 1.

Sending a deposit to your second-choice school will ensure that you still have a college to attend if you aren’t accepted from the waitlist. However, you will lose the deposit if you are removed from the waitlist and enroll at your first-choice school. If you weren’t accepted into any other colleges, you could still send in more applications. Some schools have later application deadlines. Other alternatives include taking a gap year or enrolling in a community college and then taking another shot at applying to your preferred school.

There Is Always Hope!

Waiting is hard, and being waitlisted can make you feel hopeless, but there are several things you can do to improve your chances of acceptance. Follow these Ivy League admission tips, and keep a positive attitude. Most importantly, make the most of any outcome. Even if you aren’t accepted into your preferred school, you can still pursue the career you want. There is always hope.

Things You May Have Missed in Your College Admission Planning Process

The college admissions planning process can be overwhelming. Important tasks can sometimes be missed as you work to stay on top of your homework, prepare for standardized tests, take part in all-important extracurricular activities, and enjoy some much-deserved down time.

Don’t fret. There are ways to ensure critical details do not slip through the cracks and keep you from feeling inundated with so many things to do.

Time Management Strategies

Managing your time effectively is one way to avoid slip-ups and will be critical to your college planning process. Your priority will always be to study hard and prepare for tests. Use that time wisely and then put these time management tips to work to regain precious minutes in your day:

Plot out study time at home in one-hour segments. At the end of each 60-minute block, enjoy a break of five or 10 minutes to relax. But be careful not to get distracted by long phone, text, or IM conversations.

Prioritize tasks and assignments weekly. Plan your work in advance. Don’t procrastinate. Work in increments so you are not pulling everything together the night before a due date. Your project will turn out better and it won’t feel like so much work. The time closer to the due date should be used to strengthen your project and double-check the finer details.

Focus on getting seven to eight hours of sleep a night. This is especially beneficial the night before standardized tests (usually Friday nights for Saturday tests). You will be able to work more efficiently and effectively with plenty of rest. Exhausted after a long day at school? Take a power nap–30 minutes or less. This will provide you with needed energy in a minimal amount of time.

Taking Advantage of Summer Break

The summer before students enter their senior year in high school is a crucial time for them to focus on the college application process. This is an ideal time to start brainstorming ideas for your admissions essays. Each of the three typical applications—the Common Application, the Universal Application, and the Coalition Application—publish essay prompts so students have a guide for drafting their essays. Individual schools also release their specific prompts at the beginning of the year. Find and use these prompts so you can work efficiently on your essay drafts. Once drafted, make sure you find someone who can proofread them for grammar, content, and clarity.

In addition to working on your essays, summer is also a time to focus on these elements to a successful college application process:

  • Prepare a final version of your resume and include a detailed account of your most recent activities from the summer (new clubs or teams).
  • Streamline your college choices. Narrow your list to a few options.
  • Take note of all upcoming deadlines for the colleges or universities on your list.
  • Keep prepping for the SAT or ACT through the summer so you are ready to take the test in the fall.
  • Read more books and be prepared to tell admissions interviewers about them. They will ask what you have been doing over the summer.

More Tips for Effective Planning

Utilizing time management tactics and taking advantage of your summer break should put you on a smooth path forward in your college application process. Here are a few other ways you can make sure everything is in order:

Keep in contact with your school’s college counselor. When you need a recommendation written, be sure to approach your counselor with time to spare—approaching them a week before the recommendation is due will probably lead to a weaker recommendation than you might get if they have more time to write it.

Don’t lose track of the big picture. Don’t let your schedule of day-to-day activities overshadow longer-terms needs such as college visits and testing schedules. Make sure, for example, that you space out your testing dates so you are not handling too much test preparation at any one time.

Include parents. Parents, universities are beginning to offer admissions events focused on your needs, too. Take advantage of events, if they are offered, like the parents-only reception at Catholic University or the mock class for parents at Wake Forest University.

Hire expert help. You and your parents might also consider hiring some expert help in navigating the college admission process. If you go that route, rely on the expertise of a professional college admissions counselor. Find someone who has experience in making admissions decisions, not just a volunteer in the admissions office who performs admissions interviews once a year. Hire someone who has been “in the trenches” of the college admissions process.

Use these tips and you will be able to stay on track with your college applications.

Ivy League Admission Tips: All You Need to Know About the College Interview

You’ve completed your college applications and sent them in. Now, your next step is the college interview. You should prepare well for the interview, so we’ve gathered some Ivy League admission tips to help you get ready for this important event.

Why a College Interview?

College interviews are not always required, and many large universities don’t interview their applicants. However, the interview can be a decisive factor for the admission decisions of some colleges.

If you’ve been waiting to hear back after applying to a college and haven’t been offered an interview, you should call and ask for one. Find out if an interview is required, what types of interviews are available, and if the interview will influence the admission decision.

Interviews are generally conducted on campus or in your local area with an alumnus. Never turn down an interview if you are offered one. If you are given contact information for a representative in your area who can set up an alumni interview, be sure to call or email them right away.

Remember, your interview could be a decisive factor in your application’s success. Submitting your application early will improve your chances of obtaining an interview.

How to Prepare for a College Interview

Here’s an essential Ivy League admission tip: get to know yourself before the interview. What are you passionate about? What are your goals? Interviewers will often ask why you want to attend their school. What do you bring to the table? What sets you apart? Why is being admitted important to you?

Further, spend time reading books from different genres. Know what your favorite books are and why, but don’t be afraid to talk about the ones you don’t like. Also, don’t forget to read about current events.

More than likely, you’ll also be able to ask questions of your own. Be sure to do your research about the college you will be visiting, and ask questions about its unique characteristics.

Ask a friend or family member to conduct a mock interview with you so you can practice your body language and conversational skills. Also, pay attention to your tone of voice. Finally, make sure that you greet your interviewer with a firm handshake.

What to Wear

Another important Ivy League admission strategy is to choose your outfit carefully. Overly casual clothing such as sandals, jeans, and T-shirts should be avoided. Dress modestly.

Men, pick some nice pants—casual is fine as long as they aren’t jeans—and a shirt with a collar. A tie and a sports coat may add that extra touch. And make sure that your clothing is freshly laundered or ironed. Your clothes should also fit well.

Ladies, choose between a skirt or pants—whichever is more comfortable. Remember that knee-length or longer is a good guideline for your skirt. Add in a blouse that isn’t too revealing, and throw on a jacket if you want to dress up a little more. Avoid flip-flops and tennis shoes.

If you want to come across as a serious, dedicated student, your appearance needs to convey those qualities.

Dos and Don’ts

Highlight your interests and achievements during the interview, but remember that you won’t have time to cover everything.

Plan to arrive 10–15 minutes early. If you aren’t familiar with the area, give yourself ample time to find the interview location.

Don’t fidget, pick at your clothes, or stuff your hands into your pockets.

Keep your language professional.

Don’t chew gum during your interview.

Do turn your cell phone off before going to your interview. Be aware that you may be observed from the moment you step into view.

Do maintain eye contact when responding to or asking questions.

Don’t use fillers such as “you know” and “like.” You have important things to say and a limited time to say them. Also, avoid using phrases like “honestly” at the start of your sentences.

Do be yourself and relax. Remember, there’s no need to act. Relaxed doesn’t mean casual, though, so don’t tip your chair back and put your feet on the desk in front of you.

Do arrive clean and well-groomed. Make sure you’ve showered—you don’t want your aroma to be your lasting impression.

After the Interview

Don’t forget to follow up! After you’ve returned home from your interview, write a thank-you note to your interviewer. That note will set you apart from other applicants.

Ivy League Admission Tips: Finding the Best College for You

Choosing among the thousands of U.S. colleges available to students today is no small feat, and it can seem daunting without a plan. On the other hand, having a road map to follow can make this difficult decision much easier. These Ivy League admission strategies can help you navigate the college application process and decide which school will best help you achieve your dreams.

Step 1 – What Do I Want/Need?

To determine which college is best for you, you must know your academic and extracurricular ambitions, financial and living arrangements, and preferred type of school.

Academic Goals

What do you love to do? Have you chosen a major? Are you interested in a liberal arts school, a business school, or something more technical?

Consider what kind of student you are. Can you flourish at a school that requires more self-motivation, or do you need stricter requirements? Do you prefer to work independently or in a team?

Extracurricular Interests

What level of involvement will you have with the school while you’re not in class? Are you hoping to be part of an athletic team, social club, performance group, or community service project?

Would you prefer an urban, rural, suburban, or small-town setting?

Living Arrangements

Do you plan to live on or off campus?

Do you own a car? If not, you’ll need to make sure the college you choose is in a city that provides public transportation or an area that can be easily traversed without a vehicle.

Would you prefer to be near or far from home?

Financial Considerations

Public colleges are typically less expensive than private schools, but graduates of private colleges frequently earn more. Still, attending a more prestigious school may or may not result in greater career or financial success.

Will you need to get a job? If so, you’ll have to choose a college with on-campus jobs or in a location with off-campus jobs.

Campus Culture

Some colleges have tens of thousands of students, while others may not be much larger than a high school. Which would you prefer?

What level of political activism are you comfortable with?

Do you love to be a part of campus social life, or are you content with just getting your degree and making a few friends?

Would alcohol or drug use on campus make you uncomfortable?

Step 2 – Research

Once you’ve considered your needs and interests, you can begin to identify your preferred schools. Another Ivy League admission tip is to use the official school websites and other resources such as CollegeNavigator, Unigo, and the College Board to compare different colleges. Ideally, you should be able to narrow down your list to about ten schools.

Keep in mind that there is no substitute for a campus visit when it comes to getting a feel of the college’s culture.

Once you’ve narrowed down the list to about ten schools, it will be time to apply. The application process will likely shrink your list further, but hang in there—you won’t be done yet.

Step 3 – Once You’ve Been Accepted

There is still much to consider once you have your acceptance letters. You are typically allowed three to four weeks to make a decision. That is the time to take an even closer look at each school. The following questions can be useful if you have to make a difficult decision:

Academics

Which schools present knowledge in a way that is best suited to your learning style?

Is the material presented by an assistant or adjunct instructor or a full-time professor? Are the professors sufficiently qualified?

Did the classes you attended during your first campus visit hold your attention?

While it’s true that the college’s practical and cultural aspects are important and should be weighed in your decision, the education you’ll receive is your primary reason for attending the school.

Financial Factors

Which schools offer better financial aid packages? You’ll need to consider how much debt each option will leave you with after graduation.

Which schools allow for living arrangements that you can afford?

Campus Life

A second campus visit can go a long way towards helping you make a decision. This visit is a great time to address anything you may have missed during your first visit.

Though friends, family, and others will express opinions about where you should attend college, the decision is ultimately yours. Follow these Ivy League admission strategies to decide which college is the best fit for your goals and interests, personality, and financial situation.

How Duke Created the Class of 2019

DURHAM, NC – There are many traits needed to be a successful admissions officer at Duke, all with unique dualities of their own.

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