What It Takes to Get Into the Ivy League

"MANY STUDENTS DREAM OF attending one of the colleges in the elite Ivy League for their undergraduate education.

While getting accepted to one of the eight Ivy League schools in America, including No. 1-ranked Princeton University, has long been notoriously difficult, admission at top colleges overall has become increasingly challenging as more students apply.

The average acceptance rate among Ivy League colleges in fall 2018 was 7.25%, U.S. News statistics reveal. The average acceptance rate at all other National Universities – schools that offer a full range of undergraduate majors, plus master’s and doctoral programs – was about 65% for the same time period.

Early applicants to Ivy League schools are admitted more often than regular applicants. However, the explanation for this difference is that early applicants tend to have more competitive credentials than applicants who submit their materials later, according to Ivy League admissions officials." …

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2017-05-25/what-it-takes-to-get-accepted-into-the-ivy-league

  1. Be rich
  2. Be a legacy
  3. Be really good at a rich-person sport (Lacrosse, rowing, etc)
  4. Be really rich
  5. Attend a super exclusive expensive Ivy-League feeder high school
  6. Be one of the few URMs who has access to the academic and financial support and resources needed to put together a decent application
  7. Be really, really rich.
  8. Be really smart, really accomplished, AND really lucky
  9. Be so rich that your parents can donate enough that a university with billions in its endowments will pay attention.

Or you can read the article and learn nothing more than that USNews ranks Ivy league universities very highly and that they all have low acceptance rates.

As if all 38k+ they reject are poor with no connections? Hmm.

Be poor or wealthy or middle class, just don’t be upper middle class as even if you got accepted, you won’t get much or any need based aid and your parents won’t be able to pay $75-80K sticker price every year for four years. In that case look at other colleges on top 20 list for some merit scholarships to cover difference between what colleges want your parents to pay and what they can actually afford to pay.