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. 

Let’s talk about Boston College. With a 13.9% acceptance rate for the Class of 2029, BC is a competitive and academically rigorous private liberal arts school in the Jesuit Catholic tradition. While some have misconceptions about its religious affiliation, BC welcomes — and actively seeks — students of all backgrounds, whether they practice another faith or none at all. Jesuit values champion intellectual curiosity and service to others, so while over half of the student body does identify as practicing Catholicism or being raised as Catholic, the more notable self-selective qualities of the community are not active church attendance or adherence to any particular denomination but rather scholastic excellence and passion for social justice.

Hello, aspiring Yalies! If you’ve landed on this blog post, you probably already know all about Yale, but, if you’re in the researching and exploring your options phase, we’re here to tell you everything you need to know before submitting your application. You’ll want to approach the Yale supplement as thoughtfully as possible for two reasons: it’s fairly lengthy as supplements go, and the bar for admission is incredibly high.

The University of Pennsylvania is an iconic and storied Ivy League university in the heart of Philadelphia. Founded by Benjamin Franklin, the university has innovation and idealism at its core. While admission has long been coveted, the 21st century has seen the acceptance rate plummet parallel to demographic changes (more people going to college) and the strong draw of Penn’s unique perspective on education and purpose. The acceptance rate for the Class of 2030 was 5.8%. This was a small, about 1%, uptick from the previous admissions cycle (2024-2025). We do not take this small adjustment as a meaningful trend change, as it just keeps getting harder to get into Penn.