Another round of college admissions has come and gone, and as we begin gearing up for the next round, we’re going to take some time to look over how the last year went. It’s good to take some time to review, both to understand the broader state of college admissions, and how our students did.
Of course, we’re also going to take this as a chance to highlight some of our student’s successes. We’re quite proud of how our students succeeded in admissions this past year, and want to share their joy with you. In this article then, we’re first going to discuss broader trends in admissions, and then delve into specific student cases. Let’s get started!
College Admissions in 2025
Not every college has published their acceptance rate for this year yet; we may have to wait up to another month to get that information. Some have, however, and the results we are seeing there are unsurprising. Acceptance rates overall are down, not universally, but incrementally, following a pattern we have seen over the past years. This was not another shift like Covid, where college applications and acceptances fluctuated wildly, but a confirmation of what we all expected: it’s going to be hard to get into an elite college.
While a number of top colleges have been in the news lately, any impacts from those headlines won’t show up in admissions yet; applications were already in before the recent governmental policy shifts impacted Columbia and Harvard, so it remains to be seen how exactly those will impact where students choose to apply.
The return to more schools requiring SAT or ACT scores doesn’t appear to have shifted the admissions needle much. There has been a shift at some schools, true, but the overall trend of admissions becoming more competitive continues. We are advising all of our students to take standardized tests; while a great many schools do remain test optional, there are simply more options available if you have standardized test scores.
The final trend we have seen is that the overall number of applications submitted is still increasing. This isn’t a sharp increase, but a steady continuation of past trends. We are seeing students apply to more colleges on average, so even as the overall pool of applicants doesn’t grow quite as much (though it is still growing slightly), the total number of applications received by colleges continues apace.
Ivy Scholars Admissions Results in 2025
So how did our students fare in this admissions cycle? Quite well, on the whole. Here is a table showing Ivy Scholars’ students acceptances to a number of top universities, when compared to the overall acceptance rate those schools had this year (or in some cases last year, where data was unavailable):
You will notice that not every top school is represented here; this is because in several cases, we had too few students apply to a school to gather any statistically meaningful data. Sure, the one student we had apply to Dartmouth got in, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to claim a 100% success rate. Similarly, the one student who applied to Caltech was not accepted, but we aren’t going to declare that a total failure either.
We also noticed some interesting things anecdotally, which imply broader trends for admissions, based on the concerns of our students. First, as always, we encouraged our students to apply early as possible; as always most did. We saw slightly fewer acceptances early this year, but a marked increase in waitlists and deferrals to the RD round.
We aren’t sure specifically why this is; colleges are notoriously reticent to share details of their admissions process. Our belief, however, is that more schools are becoming concerned with yield, and are increasing reliance on the waitlist to manage this. We also believe that as more students are applying early, admissions officers are increasingly overwhelmed. Thus students who are not clear admits or rejects are deferred in increasing numbers, to give admissions officers more breathing room to review applications.
The next thing we’ve seen comes from students themselves. Many of our students are interested in maximizing their potential for merit aid, and this year we saw a significant increase in students applying for merit scholarships at state schools. Thus we had students who applied to some elite colleges, and also to some great but perhaps less famous schools as well, with the idea that they could evaluate the scholarship offers from both when it came time to decide where to attend.
As economic uncertainty increases, we are working closely with students and parents to find the best colleges to match their own situation and needs. In some cases, that means looking to see which elite schools will offer some need-based aid, in spite of an upper-middle-class background. In others, that means finding great merit-based scholarships at highly ranked state schools. We did both this year, and are looking to do the same going forward.
Individual Cases From 2025
Now that we’ve looked at our overall admissions results from the 2024-25 round of admissions, we’re going to look at some individual students we are particularly proud of. In these cases, we are proud of the work that they did, the results they saw, and how much we were able to help them. We have anonymized these accounts, to protect our student’s privacy.
Zaniya – Journey to BS/MD Programs
BS/MD programs are some of the most competitive in college admissions; even more so than the most elite Ivy League schools. With an average acceptance rate of just over 1%, these programs only admit the students that are the best fit for them; to learn more, see our guide to these programs here.
Zaniya knew from the start that she wanted to aim at these programs, and worked with us to help her become the kind of student they wanted to admit. This began with helping her find and connect with excellent extracurriculars; we helped her research and begin a podcast, apply to summer internships that allowed her to conduct research in a laboratory setting, and helped her find an internship with a nonprofit in her city, volunteering her time to help them in their mission serving underresourced students.
Once that was done, her mentor worked with her to figure out the best schools and programs for her to apply to. BS/MD programs are incredibly competitive; even the best prepared students may not get in. A balanced list of reach and safety programs is therefore always the best choice when you are aiming for these programs, and that is what we did with Zaniya.
She applied to a mix of programs; some Ivy+ schools, some top tier state schools, and some pure safety schools. We always believed she was going to a great school, but you need a net if you aim for the stars.
We helped her craft ideal applications; polishing her essays, describing how she dedicated herself to her extracurriculars, and introducing herself to these colleges. We also helped her with the separate BS/MD applications; which go over and above what colleges ask for. Writing essays, managing strict timetables, and preparing for interviews.
Zaniya’s hard work paid off, as colleges recognized the talent and effort she possessed. She was admitted to almost every school she applied to, and several BS/MD programs as well. We are so happy to see what she has accomplished, and look forward to all she does going forward.
Christian – Excellence and Entrepreneurship
Christian came to us in very different circumstances; he had previously worked with another consulting company, and was greatly dissatisfied with the work they provided. For that reason, he came to Ivy Scholars, to see if we could better help him on the road he was set to walk.
This gave us far less time to work with him; we jumped right into the thick of college applications with Christian, and hit the ground running. Christian wanted to pursue a degree in business, and one which offered a focus on entrepreneurship specifically; he had begun his own business in high school, and wanted the tools and techniques to build on that which only a top tier entrepreneurship program could provide.
Christian already knew which programs he wanted to apply to, so his mentor jumped right in and they got to work on essays. Our goal was to help Christian tell his story, and highlight his experiences with business to date. We helped him discuss what he had done, and how his plans for the future would be best supported by the kinds of entrepreneurship programs he was applying to.
Christian’s hard work paid off; we helped him apply to a number of top business schools, and he was admitted to several. Notably, he was admitted to USC’s Iovine and Young Academy, which is one of the top options for entrepreneurship in the country for undergrads.
Diya – Applying Strategically
Diya was one of our Laurel Scholars students; these are deserving and talented students who lack the resources to afford our paid program. We offer them the same support and resources all of our paid students receive, and help make sure they get into a college that will give them the financial support and academic opportunity they need to prosper.
In Diya’s case, she came to us at the end of her junior year, and we started by helping her prepare for the SAT. Her scores were quite good coming in, but getting a great scholarship often depends on having great test scores as well as grades and extracurriculars, so we worked with Diya to make sure she scored as well as she was able. Mastering the SAT isn’t just about intelligence, but practice. Taking tests is a skill on its own, and mastering it takes effort.
Once this was done, she and her mentor began to examine college and major strategy. Diya was interested in pursuing biomedical engineering, but didn’t have much experience in high school in that field. She did, however, have some truly impressive geology experience, including conducting research with professors. Geology is also a less popular field than engineering, while still being in the hard sciences.
Not every student we work with applies in this manner, but for some students to some programs, it makes sense. Her mentor helped her craft applications by school and program; some applying directly to engineering programs where changing majors was difficult, others applying to study geology. She wrote essays explaining what she had done and accomplished, and showcasing her truly impressive extracurricular accomplishments.
Her hard work paid off; she was admitted to a range of programs, but decided to attend UT Austin after receiving a generous scholarship offer. We are quite glad for her, and look forward to seeing what she accomplishes going forward.
Final Thoughts
Every year, we work with a great many students to apply to their dream schools, from the nation’s top colleges to their local flagship state school. This year, we are quite heartened by how successful our students have been. We helped students get into Dartmouth and Yale, Columbia and UPenn, the US Airforce Academy and Georgetown, UChicago and Duke, UCLA and UC Berkeley. These are all great schools, and we are quite certain all of our students will go on to do great things at them.
As we bid farewell to our current group of students, we wish them well in all their endeavors ahead, and hope the best for them. We turn now to welcome in a new group of students, eager and excited and trepidatious about the future, but willing to work hard to get into the college that will make their dreams come true. If you want to learn more about how we help students, or to embark upon your own journey with us, then schedule a free consultation today. We have a long experience helping students get into some truly wonderful schools, and are always happy to hear from you.
