All Ivy League Colleges Extend Test Optional Admissions for Fall 2023…and for a few, beyond 2023

For at least one more application cycle, all Ivy League applicants will once again consider if they can demonstrate their aptitude with a standardized test score. Yale and Princeton admissions officers recently announced maintaining test optional admissions policies through Fall 2023, joining the rest of the Ivy League colleges, although with varying timeframes for the extensions.  Admissions officers at Brown,…

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Highly Selective Indeed

Throughout the Ivy League, possibly emboldened by test-optional admissions policies being one less barrier to entry, Fall 2021 applicants increased by double digits, adding subjectivity to the admission evaluation process and dropping admit rates year over year, some to record lows at Harvard, Columbia, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania.  Ivy League admit rates for the Classes of 2025: Harvard, 3.4% Columbia,…

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All Ivy League Colleges Are Test Optional for Fall 2022

Since every Ivy League college—Yale, Princeton, Harvard, Brown, Columbia, Barnard*, Dartmouth, University of Pennsylvania, and Cornell—extended their test-optional policies to include Fall 2022 admissions, current high school Class of 2022 juniors will not be obligated to submit SAT or ACT scores with their application.  Given the sudden change to test-optional policies, applicants inevitably ask whether they should submit SAT/ACT scores…

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Test-Optional Admissions for Four Ivy League Colleges

On Wednesday, June 3, The College Board announced that the online, at-home SAT will not be available for Fall 2021: The College Board will pause on offering an at-home SAT this year because taking it would require three hours of uninterrupted, video-quality internet for each student, which can’t be guaranteed for all.  After The College Board pronouncement, several universities’ admissions…

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Is COVID-19 Affecting Admissions Rates?

Below is a comparison of the admissions rates between Fall 2019 and 2020 at a sampling of the most selective universities, ranked from lowest difference to highest: COLLEGE NAME FALL 2019 ADMIT RATE FALL 2020 ADMIT RATE DIFFERENCE Brown University 7.1% 6.9% -0.2% Princeton University 5.8% 5.6% -0.2% Northwestern University 8.9% 9% +0.1% Duke University 8.8% 9.06% +0.26% Harvard University…

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Top 25 Nationally Ranked Universities Adopt Pass/No Pass-Style Grades for Spring 2020

To date, thirteen of the top twenty-five US News & World Report nationally ranked universities, all adopted Pass/No Pass-style grading systems for the spring term, due to the COVID-19 health crisis: Princeton #1, Harvard #2, Columbia #3, Yale #3, Massachusetts Institute of Technology #3, University of Pennsylvania #6, Stanford University #6, Johns Hopkins University #10, Dartmouth #12, Brown #14, Cornell…

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Congratulations to the Class of 2019!

Creative Marbles Consultancy is honored to have advised students who were accepted and will be attending the following colleges in Fall 2019: (Italicized college names are where students enrolled) Western U.S. Arizona State University, Barrett Honors College California Lutheran University Cal Poly, Pomona Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo California State University, Channel Islands California State University, Chico California State University,…

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Only 2.43% Made the Cut

By definition, “highly selective college admissions” means more applicants denied than accepted. Harvard’s admissions results put the exclamation mark on the above statement. 98% or 40,003 people, a combination of “36,119 regular decision applicants, plus the 4,882 students deferred in the early action process” were denied admissions for Fall 2018. And, before assuming that applying Early Action gives a greater chance…

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Depth Over Breadth?

“Well-lopsided” is the new catchphrase in college admissions. In CMC’s recent conversation with an Ivy League admissions officer, she mentioned that the trend for applicants are either well-rounded, with depth in each activity or well-lopsided—which means if applicants are going to focus on one activity, like a sport, Olympic training should be in view for such a candidate. In Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of…

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The “Inside” Track on College Admissions, Especially To The Ivy League

Kwasi Enin was recently accepted to all 8 Ivy League colleges – and offered these words of “wisdom” for future college applicants on The Late Show with David Letterman: In other reports, college admissions officers have recounted stories of being offered free surgical procedures from parents who are doctors in exchange for their kid’s acceptance, a single shoe being sent…

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