By Veronique Mintz
Disclaimer: Interviews for this article were focused on attributes of schools rather than rankings, to give prospective students a practical view of schools overall. Elite schools in this article are defined as those with an acceptance rate of 20% or less.
As Junior year comes to a close in five weeks, and national college commitment day for the seniors was May 1st, college admissions is a hot topic. Many students in the current junior class plan on applying to elite schools, and with a quick Google search comes the daunting ever-declining acceptance rates of these top schools. As Juniors tour schools, they are also looking for more leadership opportunities or summer internships/programs to make a robust college application. Although these acceptance rates are daunting, it’s important to understand why they get lower year over year. In an article for the New York Times, Grose writes, “…before the pandemic, qualified applicants made up around 75 to 85 percent of the applicant pool…. Now… ‘the number’s probably down to about 60 percent, 65 percent of applicants,…’” Most elite schools are test optional, with the exception of MIT, Georgetown, and Georgia Institute of Technology for the 2024 admissions cycle. This test optional policy opens the doors to applicants who would not normally apply if test scores were required, and consequently these applicants may be less qualified.
Juniors currently take a college class every Wednesday taught by college counselors, Carey Socol and Dana Mackey. The classes cover a range of topics from extracurriculars, testing, financial aid, comparing different types of schools, etc. Juniors take part in activities such as reviewing mock applications and college jeopardy. Before spring break, they gave presentations on a college of their choosing, exposing their classmates to schools they may not have thought of and educating them on the campus culture, classes, population, and setting of certain schools. In my college class, Finn Byrne presented on Stanford and Josie Smith presented on In the other section, Shoshi Fine presented on Carnegie Mellon and Betty Fox presented on Purdue. In an interview with Carrie Murphy, she commented on her presentation and college tours she’s been on. “I presented on the University of Rochester because my dad went there. I researched their music school, it came up on my list when I set filters, and checked a lot of my boxes. Filters: Mid-size, mid-size city, up north.”
The worst college tour she has been on is Clark University in Massachusetts. Clark is a liberal arts school, founded in 1887 “I had a lot of high hopes for it because I really liked their history with being a psychology school.” Clio Blazer interjected, “I hate Clark too.” James Hunter said the worst college tour he has been on was Chapman in California. “The campus seemed runned down. My tour guide didn’t seem very intelligent, and the people touring along with me didn’t seem very intelligent.” James brings up some important aspects to look for on college tours. Look at the people around you on the tour – are they attentive, happy, on their phones? No matter how shallow it may sound, the aesthetic of the campus greatly contributes to mood.
This past week, Junior Trip was a great way for students to explore colleges. The New Orleans Mass Incarceration group toured Tulane; the San Francisco Homelessness group explored UC Berkeley; the Austin, Texas Abortion group met with the Texas Policy Evaluation project at UT Austin. Additionally, the Montana Missing and Murdered Indigenous People group toured two schools – the University of Montana, where they visited a famous author, and Salish Kootenai College, a private tribal land-grant community college.
Overall, Juniors are being proactive in the college process, despite the stress of balancing their applications to meet the ever-decreasing acceptance rates. They will continue college class every Wednesday, starting to ask for teacher recommendations, and reading over past LREI students’ college essays. While many juniors did their tours throughout the fall and over Spring Break, some juniors will continue touring schools over the summer.
*This is a developing story