How to stand out to colleges when attending a competitive high school

This branded content article is sponsored by IvyWise

The college admissions landscape has always been challenging for students, but these days, it’s harder than ever — and it’s never too early, or too late, to start perfecting your strategic plan.

Students are tasked with creating college applications that need to be exceptionally strong, especially for those at competitive high schools. Every student is evaluated against others in their school when applying to college, so getting a student to stand out through their application — and rise above their competition — is imperative.

“College admissions officers review applications in the context of an applicant’s high school and region, so they have high expectations for students from competitive high schools,” Dr. Kat Cohen, founder and CEO of IvyWise, the world’s premier educational consulting company, told The Post.

Dr. Cohen and the IvyWise team are well-versed in the NYC high school landscape, as they have worked with students from the most well-known schools, including Brearley, Chapin, Collegiate, Dalton, Horace Mann, Riverdale, Spence, Stuyvesant, and Trinity — as well as top high schools in the wider tri-state area and boarding schools popular among the New York elite. IvyWise is not just an NYC powerhouse: they work with students in over 80 countries, so they know precisely how students will be read, not only in the context of their high schools and region, but also in the context of the wider pool of global applicants. This is how IvyWise students get into selective schools at much higher rates, multiple times over the overall admit rates.

Many of the colleges and universities that have traditionally been popular among NYC students have seen stark decreases in their acceptance rates over the past few years — making expert guidance all-the-more critical. For example, Northeastern’s admit rate plummeted from 18.05% for the class of 2024 to 5.64% for the class of 2027 (class of 2028 data is not yet available). Similarly, those looking to stay in the city at NYU will find that challenging, too: their admit rate decreased from 16.20% for the class of 2024 to 8% for the class of 2028.