Inside College Admissions:
What’s Changing & How to Get Ahead
Summary of Key Insights from the Educational Webinar featuring Anna Ren
The educational webinar, “Inside College Admissions: What’s Changing & How to Get Ahead,” featured veteran college admissions expert Anna Ren and focused on major shifts in the admissions landscape, actionable strategies, and how families can best prepare students for success.
🔍 Current Trends in College Admissions
Declining Acceptance Rates: The Class of 2025 faced historically low acceptance rates, especially at urban schools like Northeastern due to high demand and co-op programs that promise strong return on investment.
The Common App Effect: Schools that join the Common Application often see a surge in applicants, resulting in significantly lower acceptance rates.
Enrollment Cliff: A nationwide drop in birth rates means fewer college applicants in upcoming years, potentially increasing acceptance rates and leading to school closures or mergers.
🏛️ What Colleges Are Looking For
Transcript & Rigor: The most important factor. Colleges evaluate whether students took the most challenging courses available, particularly in the five core areas: Math, English, Science, Social Studies, and Foreign Language.
Test Scores: After a temporary shift to test-optional policies, SAT and ACT scores are becoming relevant again, especially for STEM applicants. Students should try both formats and choose the one that suits them best.
Essays: Personal essays should be character-driven, vulnerable, and reflective. Supplemental essays are often more heavily weighted and should not be overlooked.
Recommendations: Must show the student’s impact both in and out of the classroom. Ideally includes one STEM and one humanities teacher.
Extracurricular Activities: Colleges value consistency, leadership, collaboration, and impact. Jobs, volunteer work, and independent projects (especially passion projects) are highly respected.
Demonstrated Interest: Many colleges track visits, email engagement, and direct outreach. Applying Early Action or Early Decision can significantly improve admissions chances.
Institutional Priorities: Colleges consider internal goals such as increasing diversity, filling program needs, or admitting students with specific talents or backgrounds.
💡 Differentiation Strategies
Be Memorable: Students should aim to stand out by including specific, vivid details in essays that highlight personality and uniqueness.
Be Visible: Direct communication with admissions representatives, signing up for events, and applying early are practical ways to show interest.
Be Valuable: Applications should reflect how the student will contribute to campus life and align with the school’s programs, culture, or needs.
📌 Passion Projects & Independent Research
Passion projects are highly effective in highlighting initiative, creativity, and personal growth. They can be based on intellectual interests, social issues, or personal challenges.
Independent research doesn’t need to be published — students can share their work through websites, competitions, or recommendation letters.
Colleges like Johns Hopkins and MIT value demonstrated research ability, even outside traditional lab settings.
👪 Advice for Middle School and Early High School Parents
Encourage broad exploration and curiosity rather than focusing too early on specific majors or schools.
Academic rigor begins in middle school, especially for math and science tracks.
Character traits such as resilience, kindness, and self-discipline are increasingly important in admissions decisions.
Focus on reducing anxiety and fostering confidence by breaking goals into manageable steps.
📈 Final Insights
Elite schools no longer guarantee better job prospects. A Forbes study showed that 37% of employers are now less likely to hire Ivy League graduates compared to five years ago.
What matters more are soft skills, adaptability, and demonstrated passion — traits that can be developed through meaningful activities, strong mentorship, and thoughtful preparation.