A few years ago, we had a student who didn’t earn admission in the Early Action round at Harvard. The student was deferred. But Ivy Coach, you had a student who was deferred? How could it be? It happens occasionally, but it always works out in the end. This student did ultimately earn admission to Harvard in the Regular Decision round after we helped them submit a powerful Letter of Continued Interest. The student also earned admission to each of the seven other Ivy League schools, Stanford, Duke, and a host of other highly selective universities. 

So the student we were most worried about that year — because it was our one student who didn’t earn admission to their dream school in the Early round — ended up with better news just a few months later. We ultimately had to convince the student to choose to matriculate to Harvard over Stanford because dreams can change after a deferral.

Students Who Get Into All Eight Ivies Should Celebrate — But Should the Press?

Similarly, this past admissions season, a student from the Bronx High School of Science, Malena Galletto, made headlines for gaining admission to all eight Ivy League schools and then some. As reported by The New York Post:

Her first acceptance email came in December – a ‘Yes’ from the University of Albany. 

“I was like, ‘Yes, I’m going to college!” Galletto recalled.

Acceptances kept rolling in from colleges across the country, including The University of Michigan, New York and Columbia universities, Boston and Georgetown universities, Barnard and Vassar colleges, and more.

But Galletto held her breath until March 28, the day when all eight Ivy League colleges emailed prospective students to say if they’d been accepted or rejected. 

“The first one I opened was from Cornell [University], and when that was a ‘Yes,’ it was life changing…But when I opened Harvard [University], I was absolutely screaming,” Galletto said.

This is an example of a heartfelt story of triumph that we at Ivy Coach think the press should celebrate. But does this imply that there are instances in which an eight-Ivy sweep should be condemned? It sure does! Let’s unpack why.

How Ivy League Applicants Can Impact Admissions for Others

Ms. Galletto clearly did not know how competitive of an applicant she would be when she decided to apply Early to the University of Albany. It’s no wonder she kept the fight going for an even better acceptance — and all that hard work sure did pay off. But so often, students who get into all the Ivies do so in the Regular Decision round after receiving an Early acceptance from Harvard, Yale, Stanford, or Princeton. In other words, they apply to schools they have no intention of attending simply for bragging rights.

So what’s the harm? These so-called “feather for one’s cap collectors” take away slots from deserving students who applied in the Regular Decision round. Amid unprecedented competitiveness at the elite college admissions level, admissions officers don’t like to waste any slots of students who won’t matriculate, as this adversely impacts yield rates (and thus their ranking on the US News list). And college acceptance is a zero-sum game. So, every admitted student takes away a slot from another.

It drives us nuts when the press praises students who got in Early to their top-choice school but still decided they didn’t have enough feathers in their caps yet. 

Students Admitted to Harvard Won’t Consider Vassar

Sorry, Vassar. We appreciate that a student admitted to Harvard in the Early Action round may wish to apply to Yale in the Regular Decision round. And we are not against a student submitting applications to 20 colleges — not in the least — unless they earn admission to a school like Harvard, Yale, Stanford, or Princeton in the Early Action round if they didn’t apply through a binding Early Decision program. 

A couple of years ago, we had a student admitted Early Action at Stanford who also wished to apply to UPenn. We questioned if the student would attend UPenn if accepted, but we said we understood because the student was applying to Wharton. However, we told him we did not understand his intent to apply to several other highly selective colleges. We told this student that submitting applications to these schools would only take slots away from other students and add feathers to his already lovely cap. The student ultimately listened to us and applied only to Harvard and UPenn (Wharton) in the Regular Decision round. The student ultimately attended…Stanford. Shocker!

Nonetheless, congratulations are in order for Ms. Galletto. She managed to do the impossible without intentionally taking away slots from well-deserving students. Well done! Ivy Coach salutes you.