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Is College Admissions The Next Big Sport?

Welcome to the college admissions race.

If you are applying to college, you are familiar with this competition. Students are applying to more colleges than ever before, with many students now applying to over 20 colleges.

As a result, the competition at the country’s top colleges is growing, and they are becoming increasingly selective every year. This year, Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern, Cornell and other top colleges reported record-low acceptance rates.

However, what many students and families do not realize is that applying to a large list of colleges may actually reduce a student’s likeliness of acceptance to all the colleges.

How so? Top colleges, especially those among the Ivy League, are looking for high-quality applications with few mistakes. With each application taking an extensive amount of time to complete, especially to write creative, captivating application essays, students simply cannot submit perfect applications to dozens of colleges (while also performing well in school and engaging in extracurriculars). Thus, many of these students are shocked when they receive few—if any—acceptance letters in the spring.

Students should focus solely on their personal fit and future happiness at the colleges on their list—not comparing scorecards with other students.

The Ivy Dean emphasize’s the importance of college fit and applying to a strong list of colleges that are a strategic match to the student’s academic profile, interests, and personality.

With over 40 years of college admissions experience, my students apply only to colleges where they are most likely to get accepted (many of which would otherwise be too far out of reach without my powerful Application Positioning™ strategy). The Ivy Dean’s students both submit higher quality applications and save a significant amount of time throughout the process.

To read more information about this recent trend in college admissions, you may read the full article on the Huffington Post here.

Testimonials

On paper, I am by no means a perfect student. However, thanks to my Application Positioning, I was able to maximize the strengths that I bring to a college to compensate for other factors. Thanks to The Ivy Dean Team, I will be attending Princeton University, my dream school, in the fall.

Douglas R. – Princeton University

Dee provided excellent advice and guidance throughout the application process. Her overall expertise in admissions, professionalism and warmth made the experience a great one. I was thrilled that I was accepted to several of the most selective colleges in the country and will be attending Stanford in the fall.”

Laurel P. – Stanford University
It's my pleasure to inform you that I've been admitted to my first choice college: the University of Southern California. My dream is becoming reality! I am thrilled to get the chance to belong to the USC and to start a new adventure there. It is also thanks to your great help that I've been accepted, I'm very grateful! Thank you so much for everything.
Sonia G. – From Switzerland
Our son and daughter wanted to go to colleges in the same city but they had different interests and different strengths. She matched them each with their ideal college, one Columbia University and the other NYU, and worked to get them admitted. We couldn't have been more pleased.
Niki and Roger S.
I was a serious student but also wanted a university where I could continue competitive cycling. There weren't many schools that met my needs and fit my personality. From her experience, she was able to hone right in on what became my first choice school. I graduated last year and the entire college experience was awesome.
Colin J.
My parents and I didn't know how helpful it could be to have someone who understood things from the inside working with us. Ms. Blackman was able to identify just what would make me the most attractive candidate to colleges.
Bob M. – Harvard University