Congratulations to the Class of 2021!
I’m very proud of the students I had the opportunity to work with in the high school class of 2021! To date, they have been admitted to 95 different universities (see full list below) despite facing unprecedented challenges in this year’s admissions process.
The diversity of options my students now have is impressive. They have received offers from some of the most selective schools in the nation, with acceptances from Cornell, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Penn, MIT and Duke. And several of my students were admitted to some of the best state universities in the U.S., including UC-Berkeley, UC-Davis, UC-Irvine, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Michigan, UNC-Chapel Hill, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Washington, and Wisconsin-Madison. The list of offers also includes some of the country’s most prestigious private colleges and universities, such as Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Georgetown, Haverford, Ithaca College, Johns Hopkins, Lafayette, Lehigh, NYU, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Tufts, University of Southern California, Vassar, and Washington University, among many others.
By almost every metric, this has been the toughest college admissions cycle in the history of American higher education, particularly at highly selective colleges and universities. Disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic and dramatic policy changes for standardized testing were among several factors that led to huge increases in applications. Plus, record deferrals from the high school Class of 2020 meant many colleges were admitting fewer students for the fall of 2021.
What was the consequence? Very low admit rates at most of the top schools in the country. For example, the Ivy League schools that reported admit rates had a common theme: dramatically lower admit rates than last year, with Harvard at a mind-boggling 3.4%.
These are daunting realities, and yet my students displayed an impressive focus, even amidst the many stresses of this pandemic year. One of the things that impressed me most about these seniors was their commitment to crafting a list of schools that truly fit their particular goals and dreams. Then, they worked hard to write essays and build an overall application that would connect with their top choices. My work with these students is designed to help them tell their own unique stories: there is no cookie cutter approach that will result in college admissions success. We found ways to differentiate each student in these unprecedentedly deep applicant pools. But it was a rewarding process for everyone, and I look forward to helping even more students in the class of 2022 with their journey.
After rising to the challenges of a tough year, the Class of 2021 for Arthur Smith Advising should be incredibly proud of their impressive results. Congratulations and best wishes!
Here’s the complete list of acceptances for the Class of 2021:
American University
Bates College
Bowdoin College
Bradley University
Bucknell University
Central Michigan University
The College of New Jersey
Clemson University
Colby College
College of New Jersey
College of the Holy Cross
Colorado College
Colorado School of Mines
Columbia College (Chicago)
Connecticut College
Cornell University
Denison University
Drew University
Duke University
Emory University
Florida State University
Fordham University
Georgia Tech
Georgetown University
George Washington University
Harvard University
Haverford College
Ithaca College
Johns Hopkins University
Lafayette College
Lehigh University
Long Island University
Massachusetts Insitute of Technology
Michigan State University
New Jersey Institute of Technology
New York University
Northeastern University
Northwestern University
Oberlin College
Ohio State University
Oxford College of Emory University
Penn State University
Princeton University
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rutgers University
Southern Connecticut State
Southern Methodist University
Spelman College
SUNY Buffalo State
SUNY Binghamton
SUNY Purchase
SUNY University at Buffalo
Syracuse University
Temple University
Tufts University
Tulane University
Union College
University of Bridgeport
University of California - Berkeley
University of California - Davis
University of California - Irvine
University of California - Riverside
University of California - San Diego
University of California - Santa Cruz
University of Colorado - Boulder
University of Connecticut
University of Denver
University of Georgia
University of Illinois - Champaign-Urbana
University of Indiana
University of Maryland
University of Massachusetts - Amherst
University of Michigan
University of Missouri
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
University of Notre Dame
University of the Pacific
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pittsburgh
University of Rochester
University of San Diego
University of Scranton
University of Southern California
University of Virginia
University of Washington
University of Wisconsin - Madison
University of Toronto
University of Utah
University of Vermont
Xavier University
Vassar College
Virginia Tech
Washington and Jefferson College
Washington University (St. Louis)
Yale University