Cornell is both a large top-tier research university and one of the prestigious Ivy League schools that are famed for both academic intensity and the social clout they offer graduates. Cornell is unique, however, as an Ivy. They are the only Ivy that is also a land grant university, giving New York State applicants a higher rate of admissions for some programs. They are the only Ivy to have an undergraduate school focused on labor relations, the only one with a hospitality program, and the foremost agriculture program in the country. For the fall of 2025, the in-state first-year acceptance rate was 13.25%. That same year, the out-of-state acceptance rate was 9%. One year later, for the Class of 2030 enrolling in the fall of 2026, we’re still not sure what the acceptance rate was as they have not released those numbers. We expect it to be within 1% +/- of the Class of 2029.  

USC has built a culture where learning rarely stays confined to the classroom. Film students make films. Engineering students build prototypes. Business students launch companies. Journalists report real stories. Musicians perform professionally. Researchers collaborate with faculty long before graduation. The expectation isn't that students wait until they have a diploma to begin doing meaningful work.

Are you an outdoorsy type looking for an intellectual, tight-knit community? Sounds like you might be a potential polar bear, aka a Bowdoin student. The elite liberal arts school in Brunswick, Maine, is a favorite of those seeking a challenging yet still laid-back small-school experience.

Calling all future Jumbos! Today, we’re talking about Tufts University, a college best known for its combination of academic ambition and quirky, fun-loving school spirit. Located in Medford, MA (the “greater Boston” area), Tufts is a mid-sized university whose students praise it for offering a welcoming community alongside impressive scholastic opportunities; Tufts describes itself as the best of both worlds, where undergraduates benefit from “the resources of a major research university and the attention of a liberal arts college.”

Amherst has been a top school academically for a long time, but as a super selective powerhouse it kind of snuck up on people. The acceptance rate has dropped nearly three-fold over the past two decades, and it is now just as hard to get into Amherst as an Ivy League institution. Amherst is very different from an Ivy, though, and that isn’t a dig. This small, private undergraduate college is ideal for students looking for a hands-on experience in a tight-knit community tightly connected to the outdoors. That acceptance rate for the Class of 2030 was only 6.78%.

Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island is widely known as the ‘artsy Ivy’. It is the only Ivy League school with an open curriculum, and is known for seeking out and embracing students who aren’t simply brilliant — but also who are committed to thinking differently, living impactful lives, and lifting others up. Providence offers the perfect backdrop for the Brown experience, a small city with a strong creative ethos (it doesn’t hurt that the city is also home to RISD, an iconic school of art and design). Given the nontraditional open curriculum, we aren’t surprised the Brown receives fewer applications than most of the other Ivy League school: just under 48,000 for the Class for 2030. The acceptance rate, however, is still precipitously low. Brown admitted 5.3% of first-year applicants in the 2025-2026 application cycle.

The University of Richmond is lowkey having a moment. Don’t get us wrong, it has always been an impressive Virginia-based private liberal arts school, but ten years ago we didn’t work with many students who had it at the top of their college lists. In the past couple of years, that has changed. The University of Richmond has seen an explosion of popularity. Now, we get multiple students every year who are dreaming of becoming a Spider (yes, that is their mascot, very Tom Holland of them).

Slide the Common App to the side, and let’s talk about the second most common application that we help our students with. The University of California system has its own application, and it is an important one to understand if you are dreaming of an education in the Golden State.

UVA students tend to be independent without being isolated. They're ambitious, but they also seem comfortable taking responsibility for their own education. They don't wait for somebody to hand them opportunities. They figure out where they want to go, then start moving in that direction.

Who cares if they say it is ‘where fun goes to die?’ If you hope to attend the University of Chicago, you are probably someone who craves a challenging, dynamic, and intellectually stimulating community for your college years. UChicago is an elite private research university on Chicago’s South Side, but if you are reading this, you probably already knew that, smarty-pants.