Caroline Koppelman
Official Common App Essay Guide 2025-2026

We’ve spent the past few weeks breaking down each Common App essay prompt one by one, and now it’s time for the grand finale: our ultimate guide to writing the Common App essay. Sure, there are seven different prompts, but at the end of the day, every school is looking for the same thing: a story.

Caroline Koppelman
How to Write Common App Essay Prompt 7: Example ...

We’ve been waiting for this one: it’s finally time to dig into Prompt #7, the crown jewel of the Common App essay prompts.

Caroline Koppelman
Ultimate Guide to Letters of Continued Interest ...

Getting waitlisted or deferred from your dream school is hard. We know it’s hard! You feel rejected, but it’s this weird non-rejection rejection that can leave you feeling lost and confused. And while a lot of things in college admissions are totally out of your control, there is something you can do if you’ve been waitlisted or deferred to give yourself another chance. A letter of continued interest, sometimes known as a waitlist letter or deferral letter, is one of the few, actionable things you can control when admissions decisions seem so out of your control. It’s your only chance to make a good second impression, and we help students write them every single year.

Caroline Koppelman
Ultimate Guide to Getting Waitlisted 2025

Getting waitlisted is the ultimate limbo – it’s not not a rejection, but it’s not a full-on denial, either. And depending on your circumstances, you could be feeling everything from mild disappointment to full-on panic. Don’t get yourself into a tizzy just yet, because there are things you can do to give yourself a shot at getting off the waitlist and make sure that you have a plan in place for the next year.

Caroline Koppelman
Best Early Decision II (ED2) Schools 2024-2025

Hey, look, sometimes ED doesn’t work out the way we want it to, and we have to change strategies. If you just got rejected or deferred from your ED/EA option, we’d like to introduce you to our good friend, Early Decision 2. ED2 is just as binding as ED, and it signals to the school that you are serious about attending that school, and guess what? Schools like when you’re serious about them.

rejections

Rejected Early Decision I from NYU 2025-2026

Once upon a time (and not that long ago), NYU was a reliable choice for strong students looking for a college decision early. It was respected and competitive, but not in the sub-10% acceptance rate category of colleges. For the Class of 2024, the acceptance rate was . Not so, anymore. The NYU acceptance rate has plummeted in response to number of applicants — not just for NYU, but for any in the US. Most recently, the first year acceptance rate at NYU was only . For three of the undergraduate colleges, the acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 was . As a result, many students who thought that an ED application to NYU was a strong, if not safe, choice, have received surprising rejection letters.

Rejected Early Decision from Tufts 2025-2026

If you recently received a rejection from Tufts in the Early Decision round, we know that it can be a punch to your stomach. Tufts is one of those interesting schools that has had a rapidly shrinking acceptance rate that mirrors the plummeting percentages at Ivies. As a result, Tufts, which was once a great target or even safety school for strong students with high scores and well-expressed passions has become a reach — even in the ED round — for many of the best and brightest. The overall acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 was only . 

Rejected Early Decision from the University of Pennsylvania 2025-2026

If you recently received a rejection from the University of Pennsylvania Early Decision, you are not alone. Penn has experienced a historic uptick in Early Decision applications in recent years, with over students applying ED in the winter of 2024. This has coincided with a dramatic decrease in acceptance rate, which has been experienced across the Ivy League and other top-tier universities.

Rejected Early Decision from Amherst 2025-2026

If you received a rejection from Amherst’s Early Decision round, you are probably feeling pretty frustrated. You did all the right things. You took advanced courses, pursued leadership roles, and worked to craft a strong application. And yet, it didn’t work. For first-year students entering in the fall of 2024, the Early Decision acceptance rate was just under .  

Rejected from Princeton Single-Choice Early Action 2025-2026

If you received a rejection from Princeton in the Single-Choice Early Action round, this wasn’t how you wanted it to go. You should have gotten a deferral, at minimum, no? Princeton receives over 40,000 applications each year, and has admitted in recent years. The fact that 75% of admitted first-years choose to go to Princeton is an immensely impressive yield rate. This is, notably, without locking in a high percentage of admitted students through Early Decision.  

Rejected Early Action or Early Decision from the University of Michigan 2025-2026

If you just received a rejection from Michigan in the Early Action or Early Decision round, or if you are pondering what to do after a postponement, we can help. This moment is understandably frustrating and overwhelming, but there are things that you can do to turn your application experience around and get into a seriously impressive school. First, though, let’s dig into Mich a little.

Rejected Early Action from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 2025-2026

Receiving an Early Action rejection from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is understandably early-shaking. This is not the way things were supposed to go. You knew MIT is exceptionally hard to get into — but you expected a deferral, at least. The big question in this moment is: what comes next? 

Rejected Restrictive Early Action from Harvard 2025-2026

If you recently learned that you were rejected Restrictive Early Action by Harvard, you aren’t alone in your frustration. We are widening the scope for this post, though. Harvard defers most REA applicants, yet very few deferred applicants get in. This guidance, then, applies for both rejected and deferred REA applicants. First, though, some statistics.

Rejected Early Decision from Cornell 2025-2026

If you recently received a rejection from Cornell in the Early Decision round, you are not alone in that outcome, nor in the massive disappoint you are probably feeling. Cornell has had an overall acceptance rate just under 9% for the past two admissions cycles, with the acceptance rate staying somewhere under 10% for 5 years. The Early Decision acceptance rate, by comparison, has been about double the overall acceptance rate for that period of time.

Rejected Early Decision from Columbia 2025-2026

If you recently received a rejection letter from Columbia College or the Fu School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) in the Early Decision round, you are in your right to be quite upset. You worked hard, you did the ‘right’ things, and you took a big swing — and it didn’t pay off. An ED rejection can be deeply upsetting because it also used up your most powerful tool in the college admissions process. Early Decision offered your best chance of getting into a top school, and you can’t get that back. In this post, we’re going to dig into what may have gone awry with your Columbia application and what you can do now to improve your chances of getting into a dream school. First, let’s break down what may have happened with Columbia. 

Rejected Early Decision from Brown 2025-2026

If you recently found that that you were rejected from Brown in the Early Decision round, you’re allowed to be really frustrated, sad, and confused. You worked hard. You did all the things you felt you had to do to be a competitive applicant. And yet, it didn’t work. You aren’t alone, though. The overall Class of 2029 first year acceptance rate for Brown was only . The ED acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 can feel sky high at 17.9%, which was the highest ED acceptance rate in over 5 years, but you need to take that number with a massive handful of salt. Let us explain why 17.9% isn’t actually 17.9%, and help you take your best next steps.

Rejected Early Decision from Wake Forest 2024-2025

If you’re reading this, you probably received disappointing news from Wake Forest in the Early Decision round, or you’re planning ahead in case that’s how things work out. Wake Forest offers both Early Decision I and Early Action application options, but we’re focusing on EDI here because you will most likely receive a response with time (albeit rushed) to make big changes to your college application strategy in the Regular Decision and Early Decision II round. The EA decisions for Wake Forest come out after most Regular Decision and EDII deadlines, so it’ll be too late to implement our advice in this post (an incentive to plan ahead!).

Rejected Early Decision by Vassar 2024-2025

Receiving a rejection in the Early Decision round always hurts. You probably had this vision for your college application experience where you’d do your work early, you’d get in early, and you would be done early. But now Vassar said “no” early decision and you’re facing a pile of applications and looming deadlines, and possibly no strong sense of what needs fixing. Well, that’s why we are here to help. First, though, let’s break down what went wrong with Vassar so we can rebuild on firmer footing. 

Rejected Early Decision from Pomona 2024-2025

We know getting rejected is tough, and an early decision rejection from your dream school can hit especially hard. Pomona’s acceptance rates are no joke—7% overall and 13% for ED. But keep in mind, that doesn’t mean you were “twice as likely” to get in during ED, and approx. 1,400 other students also got similar news. You’re far from alone in this, and we want to remind you: not getting into Pomona doesn’t define your future. You’re still headed for a fantastic school where you’ll thrive.