During the 2024–2025 admissions cycle, the University of Virginia admitted only a relatively small share of its applicant pool, with an overall acceptance rate of 16.81%. That headline number, on its own, doesn’t actually tell you very much. How is it calculated? What pressures are shaping it year over year? UVA does make portions of its admissions data public, but getting real clarity requires a closer look beneath the surface. That kind of deeper analysis is exactly what we do each year to help students approach selective admissions with clear eyes and a smart, intentional strategy.

Dartmouth is the rural Ivy. Located in Hanover, New Hampshire, a small town with classic college vibes, Dartmouth combines exceptional academics with the quintessential college experience that so many students crave. The acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 was 6%.

Stanford University is exceptionally difficult to get into, even for truly outstanding applicants. There is no number of awards, GPA, test scores, or exceptional extracurriculars that make an applicant a shoo-in for Stanford. It’s a stretch for everyone. They delay the release of the most recent admissions statistics, but we do have numbers from 2024. For the Class of 2028, the acceptance rate was only 3.61%.

MIT, or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, may well be the most famous schools in the United States and one of the most well-known globally. The acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 was 4.6%, and has held steady between 3% and 5% in recent years.

In the 2024-2025 admissions cycle, MIT’s acceptance rate dipped to 4.55%. While not their lowest ever, it reflects a growing trend of this prestigious school’s acceptance rate trending ever downwards. But what does a 4.55% acceptance rate actually mean? MIT, like many schools, publishes raw admissions data in the Common Data Set (CDS), which is used by publishers such as U.S. News & World Report, the College Board, and Peterson’s to compile their rankings. Fortunately, it also provides us with a wealth of knowledge we can draw on to help our clients develop a data-driven strategy.

Cornell is the technical Ivy. Yes, you can study literature at Cornell, but what draws people to the university is more often how they can combine a liberal arts-y education with the best education in the business in fields like mechanical engineering, hard sciences, and arenas no other Ivy League schools touch, like hospitality, labor organizing, and agriculture. The research opportunities at Cornell are exceptional, and the acceptance rate is tiny. Overall, the Cornell acceptance rate is just over 5%. This is skewed, though, as some programs are more competitive to get into and others give preference to New York State applicants, pulling the acceptance rate upwards.

In 2025, Princeton received the largest number of applications in university history, and the overall acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 was only 4.4%. This continued a trend of a “sub 5%” acceptance rate at Princeton.