Princeton is one of the oldest universities in the nation, predating the United States itself, and is widely recognized as a bastion of leading academic work that shapes our world far beyond campus boundaries. Located on a lush suburban campus in Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton leans into its reputation as an Ivy built for those who like to go deep and drown out the global noise. The acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 was 4.4%. This followed the largest application pool in the history of the university keeping track, and a subsequent “0.2 percentage point dip in acceptance rate.”

Hello to our loyal readers who are back for the second installment of our Common App Essay “hot or not” guide, Prompt #2 edition. If you’re here after checking out our blog on Prompt #1 and deciding against it, first of all, congratulations, and welcome to the right side of history. If this is your first foray into this series, all you need to know is that we’re breaking down the pros and cons of every Common App prompt and walking through essay strategies for each one.

First off, Harvard doesn’t call majors “majors.” Instead, they like the term “concentrations.” This is one really obvious example of how Harvard likes to differentiate themselves from the thousands of colleges and universities in the United States. They don’t really need to do much to sound different, though. Harvard is undeniably an iconic university with outstanding Ivy League pedigree. It’s also one of the hardest schools to gain admission to in the country. The acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 was only 4.2%.

Dartmouth is a prestigious Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire. The acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 was 6%, which is higher than most of the Ivy League schools, but only by a percentage point or so.

Welcome! If you’re reading this first post in our “How to Write the Common App Essay” series, we know exactly why you’re here. You know what they say… the admissions blog loiterers of today are the college freshmen of tomorrow!

You’ve only recently committed to your college, or maybe you haven’t even started yet, and already you’re wondering if you should try again somewhere else.

Maybe you haven’t even set foot on campus yet. Or maybe you’ve been there just long enough to start asking a difficult question: Did I choose the right school? Maybe you’ve even been offered the Cornell Transfer Option, and this has always been the plan!

Maybe you haven’t even arrived on campus yet. Maybe you’ve been there for a few weeks. Either way, the thought has already crossed your mind: Should I try to transfer?

Stanford is one of the most coveted acceptances among top students in America, and it’s a supremely difficult nut to crack. The acceptance rate is not released in a timely manner anymore — they’ve said to reduce student stress — but it is around about 4%. At the same time that the acceptance rate has been dropping, the interests of the student body have been concentrating.