Our blog is devoted to helping students and their families successfully prepare for admissions and standardized testing.

Being waitlisted, and then ultimately rejected, from your top-choice college is a hard pill to swallow. But, you always have the option of applying again as a transfer student. Ivy Link experts share tips on how to maxiumize your chances.

Another elite college has opted to drop its test-optional policy! Stanford is giving students a break for the 2024-25 cycle, but future applicants will need competitive test scores.

Don’t let the summer slip by! Start on your Personal Statement today with these tips from Ivy Link experts.

While it’s important to get some rest and relaxation over the summer, there’s also plenty of time for your student to build upon their academic and extra-curricular profile. Here are some tips for rising 10th, 11th, and 12th graders.

While most students end up using the Common App, there are some advantages to using the Coalition app for others. Check out our breakdown to learn more.

While note a record-breaking year, Williams nonetheless enjoyed a significant bump compared to the last admissions cycle.

After a dip in applications for the class of 2027, this past cycle saw a student pool increase of 10%!

Since 2021, Princeton has withheld all of it’s admissions stats until well after a given admissions cycle.

Like last year, there isn’t much data to “round up”, but here’s what Cornell has made public.

As expected, UPenn isn’t sharing much this year.

In a surprise announcement last week, Harvard reversed its previous commitment to test-optional admissions through the 2025-26 cycle. By setting this precedent, we expect to see additional top colleges do the same...

Brown enjoys the third highest application pool in its history.

On the eve of Ivy Day 2024, Ivy Link founder, Adam Nguyen sat down with The Philadelphia Inquirer to discuss the potential impact of the 2023 supreme court decision on affirmative action, and how students might get around that ruling by way of their essays.

Just about every college has a plethora of exciting opportunities for their students, but are those the right opportunities for you and your goals? Here are some tips to help narrow down your college search.

We’ve been warning you for more than a year, and now the time has finally come. Here’s a reminder on what to expect on the new digital SAT.

A foundational principle at Yale is under fire: legacy admissions.

While other top universities are revising their testing requirements, Duke is changing how they weigh both test scores and the Personal Statement.

If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again…except, it’s a little trickier with college admissions.

Brown joins the growing number of elite colleges reinstating test requirements for undergrad admissions. Here’s what you need to know.

Mark your calendars for March 28 – Ivy Day, when Ivy League colleges release admissions decisions, a tradition stemming from an annual ceremony featuring ivy stones and student speeches celebrating academic excellence.

May 1, traditionally known as National College Decision Day, faces uncertainty this year as colleges extend deadlines due to delays in the rollout of the updated FAFSA, impacting financial aid offers and potentially causing a ripple effect across institutions.

There’s a right way and a wrong way to conduct effective research, and that goes for colleges as well!

Dartmouth's reinstatement of standardized testing signals a shift in elite college admissions, challenging test-optional policies and underlining the importance of early test preparation for aspiring students.

While ‘Thank You’ notes are a dying art form in most other contexts, it’s alive and well for alumni interviews. Here are a few tips to turn a positive first impression into a lasting one.

A less common option for prospective college students, but it has it’s benefits!

A campus tour is a nice start, but you can get a lot more out of a campus visit if you plan ahead!

Will colleges take into account your ability to pay for your education? The answer is both yes…and no.

Pop-ups asking you to opt-in to data usage are so commonplace these days that many of us click ‘Yes’ without a second thought. This is especially true for sites we might consider benign, like college websites, but opting in could make an impact on your acceptance chances.

Alumni interviews aren’t terribly common, but if you get asked to do one you need to put your best foot forward. Here are some tips from Ivy Link advisors.