How hard is it to get into Ivy League schools? Discover strategic ways to boost your Ivy League admissions odds

A group of Ivy League students preparing for class — Learn how to increase your chances of getting into an ivy league college

Part 1: Introduction

Part 2: What grades are needed for Ivy League admission?

Part 3: What test scores are required for the Ivy League?

Part 4: What extracurricular activities are needed for Ivy Leagues?

Part 5: How can letters of recommendation improve Ivy League admission odds?

Part 6: How to write college essays that impress Ivy League schools

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Part 1: Introduction

If your high-achieving child dreams of attending one of the eight elite Ivy League colleges, you know it won’t be easy. You don’t have to be a college admissions expert or memorize each school’s admissions statistics to know that getting accepted to an Ivy is challenging.

But your child is determined to work to make their Ivy League dream come true, and you’re eager to support them—leading you here to unearth the secrets for getting into Ivy League colleges.

The Ivy League—Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth University, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, and Yale University—was initially established in 1954 as an athletic conference. It’s since earned the reputation of being a prestigious collection of universities known for academic excellence and admissions selectivity.

Why do so many ambitious students come to us asking how to get into Ivy League colleges? The eight colleges in the Ivy League offer unique advantages to their graduates. These advantages include mentorships by world-class professors who are leaders in their disciplines, access to innovative research opportunities, and unparalleled resources for student support. Not to mention, Ivy League attendees build valuable networks of peers who will journey on to become leaders and titans of industry, joining the elite Ivy League alumni community that spans the globe and opens many career doors to new graduates.

With these enticing benefits on the table, it’s no surprise that Ivy League schools receive nearly 400,000 applications every year. And because Ivy League acceptance rates for the class of 2028 (entering fall 2024) range from 3.59% (Harvard) to 5.16% (Brown), only 15,000 or so of these hopeful students get accepted. It will take devotion, hard work, and deliberate planning if you want your child to secure one of these coveted seats.

While there isn’t a perfect formula or a guaranteed way for your child to get accepted to an Ivy League school, there are strategic ways for your child to maximize their admissions odds. Continue reading to examine the five primary admissions factors and take an in-depth look at how to get into Ivy League colleges.

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Part 2: What grades are needed for Ivy League admission?

A student’s high school GPA continues to be the most important college admissions factor, according to a National Association for College Admissions Counseling report. And, certainly, with nearly 400,000 applicants to choose from, Ivy League colleges have the luxury of accepting the best of the best.

What GPA do you need to get into an Ivy League school?

Some Ivy Leagues choose not to release the average GPAs of their accepted students, but of those that do, the average weighted GPA for admitted students is around 4.0. This means the majority of students who get into Ivy League colleges receive primarily A’s in high school, with perhaps a little wiggle room for an occasional A- or B+.

Unfortunately, because most students applying to Ivies have such high GPAs, getting all (or nearly all) A’s in high school won’t guarantee your child's admission. However, we still recommend it as the first step to getting into Ivy League colleges because it will set your child on a level playing field with other high-achieving applicants.

What types of classes will impress Ivy League schools?

High grades in a standard high school curriculum will do little to impress an Ivy League. With high competition, Ivy Leagues want to accept students who push themselves by taking advanced courses. For example, the Columbia admissions website states, “We hope your application will show strong academic performance across subjects,…and that you have taken a rigorous course load within the scope of your school’s curriculum, one that is appropriate for your goals and interests.”

Students who seek growth and excellence in high school are expected to continue the pattern in college—making significant contributions to the Ivy League community. To prove their potential, your child should take advantage of the advanced classes offered at their high school, such as honors courses, AP classes, an IB program, or dual-enrollment classes.

But here’s a word of caution. There is a limit to how many rigorous courses students should take. Spending every waking moment studying or finishing classwork for six AP classes won’t leave your child enough time to pursue their interests through extracurriculars—which we’ll discuss later—or give them a chance to be a normal human. Plus, overloading on advanced classes may cause even the smartest student’s GPA to falter. Be careful to prevent your child from taking on more than they can successfully handle.

When choosing which dual-enrollment, AP or IB classes to enroll in, your child should ask the following questions:

Does this class relate to my interests or potential career field?
Will this class challenge me in worthwhile ways?
Will I have to sacrifice a meaningful extracurricular activity to take this class?

Taking rigorous courses is a must if your child wants to get into Ivy League colleges, but go about it strategically to reap the most benefits—both in admissions and in personal growth.

Can you get into an Ivy League with average grades?

As we said above, most students accepted to Ivy Leagues have exceptional grades. However, this doesn’t mean students with average grades can’t be admitted—it’s just more challenging and unlikely.

To clarify, when we say “average grades” while talking about Ivy Leagues, we refer to GPAs falling between the 3.3 and 3.7 range—still good on most other admissions scales. There might not be anything a student with a 2.8 GPA could do to get accepted to an Ivy League (except be the child of a dean). If your child’s grades fall within this Ivy definition of average, there are ways they can improve their Ivy League admissions odds:

Apply to less selective Ivy League schools. Brown currently has the highest acceptance rate, which is still very competitive at 5.16%. However, students with average grades will have a better chance of getting into Brown than Harvard, with a 3.59% acceptance rate.
Explain their grades in the Common App Additional Information section. If there is a compelling story or significant reason for why your child has less-than-ideal grades, they can choose to share it in their application.
Shine in other areas of their college application. Remember, grades are just one of the many factors Ivy League colleges use to evaluate their applicants. If your child has impressive extracurricular accomplishments, stellar letters of recommendation, and moving college essays, they can still be a competitive applicant with average grades.
Consider their chances of transferring to an Ivy League. While not a route we commonly advise students to take, a small number of students are successful in transferring to an Ivy League mid-way through their undergraduate career, including from community college. Even then, each Ivy varies in its transfer selectivity. For example, getting accepted to Cornell as a transfer student (12.67%) is a little less difficult than a freshman. On the other hand, it’s significantly more challenging to transfer to Harvard—less than 1% of transfer applicants are admitted.

All in all, having strong grades from a rigorous course load is the best way for your child to be seen as an Ivy League applicant with potential. Even then, they’ll need additional ways to differentiate themself and prove they deserve to become an Ivy League student.

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Part 3: What test scores are required for the Ivy League?

Applicants’ SAT and ACT scores carry significant weight when applying to Ivy League colleges. And it shouldn’t surprise you that most Ivy League students have exceptional test scores. Let’s take a look at the mid-range test scores of admitted students for each Ivy.

Brown University

ACT range
- 25th percentile: 34
- 75th percentile: 36
SAT range
- 25th percentile: 1510
- 75th percentile: 1570

Columbia University

ACT range
- 25th percentile: 34
- 75th percentile: 35
SAT range
- 25th percentile: 1510
- 75th percentile: 1560

Cornell University

ACT range
- 25th percentile: 33
- 75th percentile: 35
SAT range
- 25th percentile: 1450
- 75th percentile: 1540

Dartmouth University

ACT range
- 25th percentile: 32
- 75th percentile: 35
SAT range
- 25th percentile: 1440
- 75th percentile: 1560

Harvard University

ACT range
- 25th percentile: 33
- 75th percentile: 35
SAT range
- 25th percentile: 1460
- 75th percentile: 1580

University of Pennsylvania

ACT range
- 25th percentile: 34
- 75th percentile: 36
SAT range
- 25th percentile: 1510
- 75th percentile: 1560

Princeton University

ACT range
- 25th percentile: 33
- 75th percentile: 35
SAT range
- 25th percentile: 1490
- 75th percentile: 1580

Yale University

ACT range
- 25th percentile: 33
- 75th percentile: 35
SAT range
- 25th percentile: 1500
- 75th percentile: 1580

Applicants who have scores within the 25th–75th percentile range are competitive for admission. However, if your child can achieve scores above the 75th percentile, they will dramatically increase their admissions odds.

Should your child submit SAT Subject Tests to Ivy League schools?

In early 2021, the College Board announced that it would stop offering SAT Subject Tests. Reasons cited included widespread access to AP courses and the desire to reduce demands on students.

However, if your child has already taken an SAT Subject Test, they can still opt to submit that score, depending on the policies of the schools on their college list.

Among Ivy League colleges, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Penn, Dartmouth, and Yale explicitly allow applicants to submit SAT Subject Tests if they wish. Brown and Cornell are no longer recommending or encouraging the tests, but not explicitly disallowing them either.

For applicants who have a strong SAT Subject Test score under their belt, there is no reason not to send it to schools that will consider it. A great score might very well boost their odds of admission, especially if their GPA and other test scores are slightly below average and/or the test subject is related to a major they’re applying into (e.g. the Math Level 1 test for an applicant going into computer science.)

However, if your child’s Subject Test scores are unimpressive—or they didn’t get the chance to take SAT Subject Tests—rest assured that not submitting a score won’t harm their chances of acceptance to an Ivy League college.

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Part 4: What extracurricular activities are needed for Ivy Leagues?

When so many Ivy League applicants earn high grades and test scores, it’s challenging for a student to stand out academically. As mentioned previously, academic excellence has become standard. Students must distinguish themselves by the depth of their extracurricular activities.

What extracurricular activities do Ivy Leagues look for?

In the past, being a “well-rounded” college applicant was considered the best admissions strategy. However, in today’s competitive admissions climate, well-rounded applicants don’t stand out—there’s nothing about them that’s unique, special, or different. The far more effective approach we recommend to our students is to become a specialist in their chosen extracurricular field—to go all-in on a specific interest and be extraordinary in that small area.

Why is it more advantageous to become a specialist than to be well-rounded?

Specialists possess an “it factor.” In admissions conversations, they get referred to as the “tech entrepreneur” or the “published self-help author” or the “non-profit founder.”
Specialists elevate their college community through their developed passions, achievements, and unique experiences. A group of students who are each exceptional in different areas make the student body well-rounded as a whole, and to a higher degree than a group of moderately well-rounded students would.
Specialists have higher levels of self-awareness than students who merely dipped their toes into several different activities. They know who they are, have clear career direction, and will take greater advantage of the available Ivy League resources.

How to impress Ivy League colleges with extracurriculars

Let’s take a closer look at how your child can become a specialist in the extracurricular field of their choice. Early on in their high school career, they should focus on discovering their interests by exploring a few different activities until one stands out. Some of the ways they can explore potential interests is through reading books or blogs, listening to podcasts, watching YouTube series, volunteering, testing out school clubs, or studying a subject independently. Once an interest begins transforming into a passion, your child is ready to dive deeper.

Becoming extraordinary in a specific field doesn’t mean your child has to win national championships in their interest areas—although it’s certainly one possibility. However, the competition in certain extracurricular fields is so high that this strategy becomes unnecessarily risky. Instead of aiming to be the best in the nation, your child should pursue outside-of-the-box methods to explore their interest in new and unusual ways.

For example, say your child loves photography. They could enter competition and after competition, hoping to be crowned the best student photographer in the nation. But there are less stressful ways to become a specialist. They could organize a photography auction for charity, self-publish a book of nature photography, and start a photography business. These activities designate your child as a specialist in the field of photography while also demonstrating their initiative, creativity, entrepreneurship, and devotion to community service.

This is one example, but your child’s interests might require a different approach. When helping your child explore the ways they can become a specialist, ask the following questions:

How can they make an impact, be a leader, or achieve something new in a way that relates to their specific area of interest?
What activities would be the most personally rewarding to them?
Where can they take risks, be willing to make mistakes, or tackle challenging problems?

While brainstorming potential activities, it’s okay to receive inspiration from other exceptional students. But encourage your child to forge their own path. Your child is unique and the most advantageous activities—for both admissions success and personal growth—will always be unique to them.

How many extracurriculars do you need for Ivy League schools?

The question of how many extracurriculars your child will need for Ivy League schools is flawed; Ivy League schools do not stipulate the number of required extracurriculars.

Instead, your child should focus on choosing quality extracurriculars that allow him or her to showcase a specific passion and leadership that will further extend into their college years. As mentioned above, it’s best for your child to become a “specialist” and to demonstrate that by their choice of extracurricular activities.

In addition to choosing quality extracurricular activities, your child should focus on selecting activities that encourage him or her to impact the world. Don’t have your child sign up for any and every activity available. Extracurriculars should be carefully and thoughtfully selected based on your child’s interests and bandwidth. The last thing you want to do is have your child spread themselves too thin and wind up with a subpar GPA.

Can you get into Ivy League schools with no extracurricular activities?

In short, No. The answer to this question may seem obvious—particularly as we’ve spent ample time discussing what extracurriculars would be good and how to specialize in an area of interest.

However, it’s worth pointing out that the activities you’re involved in do not have to be associated with your school to “count” for college admissions. Nonetheless, if you mean you’ve done no outside activities and only have your GPA and (if applicable) SAT/ACT scores to carry your application, your chances of getting into an Ivy League school are effectively zero.

Do Ivy Leagues verify extracurriculars?

Since acceptance into an Ivy League is so competitive, you can expect that the school you’re applying to may audit your application to confirm your background information and your activities and level of involvement. For instance, Yale explicitly states that it conducts random audits to confirm application details. Similarly, Brown values integrity and will audit a sampling of admitted students who choose to matriculate. The bottom line is that adding fraudulent information to your college application is never a good idea.

What are the best summer activities to get into Ivy Leagues?

Every year, ambitious students panic about how to spend their summer months, thinking they have to enroll in prestigious summer programs or volunteer abroad to boost their Ivy League admissions odds. But impressing Ivy League colleges with summer activities is simpler than you might think—continue developing into a specialist.

Summer offers a rare opportunity for your child to devote their full attention to the area of their interest. Instead of checking off boxes to “look good” to Ivy Leagues, they should prioritize activities that allow them to pursue and deepen their passions.

One way to do this is to develop a capstone project requiring significant time, dedication, and sacrifice. A few examples are conducting independent research, starting a non-profit, developing an app, or creating a prolific Youtube channel. These self-initiated activities demonstrate creativity and initiative to Ivy League colleges.

Attending summer programs, volunteering, or taking college courses are all respectable summer activities as well—as long as they relate to your child’s specialist area. Earning college credit or volunteering just for the sake of having credit and volunteer hours won’t impress Ivy Leagues. But demonstrating a longstanding commitment to their interests by earning impressive, relevant accomplishments is a surefire way to maximize your child’s Ivy League admissions odds.

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Part 5: How can letters of recommendation improve Ivy League admission odds?

The letters of recommendation your child submits to their hopeful Ivy League colleges reveal how your child relates to and impresses the adults in their life. What opinions have their teachers, counselors, and advisors formed of their character and potential? Applicants might look great on paper but be intolerable in the classroom. Positive recommendation letters prove to potential Ivy Leagues that your child is the type of student they want in their community.

What makes a good letter of recommendation for an Ivy League?

The best letters of recommendation will help your child stand out from the rest of the applicant pool by employing four main strategies.

Using clear and powerful language instead of vague or weak statements.
Exuding enthusiasm instead of reservation about your child’s potential.
Incorporating detailed stories of interactions with your child instead of general platitudes.
Revealing insight into your child’s character outside the classroom instead of merely reciting their grades and class achievements.

Recommendation letters following these guidelines will effectively communicate your child’s potential to Ivy League admissions officers.

Who to ask for Ivy League letters of recommendation?

First and foremost, it’s imperative for your child to follow the admissions instructions when selecting their recommenders. Each Ivy League college specifically requests two recommendations from teachers and one from a counselor. But, you’re probably also wondering: should they submit additional letters to boost their admissions odds? When in doubt, reach out to your child’s admissions officer to see if an extra recommendation will strengthen their application or come across as superfluous.

When deciding which teachers should write letters of recommendation for their Ivy League applications, your child should prioritize teachers who:

Possess an in-depth knowledge of their character, ambition, and potential for success
Have unique stories to share that demonstrate your child’s best qualities
Taught your child recently (for instance, during junior rather than freshman year)
Share a close relationship or mentorship with your child

Some students wonder if choosing a teacher who’s an Ivy League alum would give them an admissions advantage. Unless the teacher meets the qualifications listed above, the answer is: probably not. Always choose a recommender who can speak enthusiastically and comprehensively about your child over one with an Ivy League connection who doesn’t know them well.

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Part 6: How to write college essays that impress Ivy League schools

After years of rigorous coursework, test prep, and in-depth extracurriculars, your child arrives at the final obstacle lying between them and their Ivy League dreams: their college application essays. Often viewed as the most dreaded part of the admissions process, college essays don’t need to be unbearable. In fact, if you follow a strategic approach, they might be rather enjoyable.

What are Ivy Leagues looking for in admissions essays?

College application essays serve an important role in the admissions process—they bring the applicant to life. Without them, applicants would be two-dimensional collections of GPAs, test scores, and activities lists.

Your child’s college essays help Ivy League admissions teams understand their personality and what makes them interesting. It’s a chance to explain and showcase the creative ways they became specialists in their specific extracurricular fields. In this sense, college essays tie the different pieces of your child’s application together—producing a comprehensive picture that sets them apart from other applicants.

In their college essays, your child wants to highlight their absolute best qualities—the ones that will help them be successful as an Ivy League student. These include intellectual curiosity, passion, creativity, initiative, leadership, and the unique “it factor” they’ve developed through their extracurriculars.

An effective college essay will reveal how interesting and memorable your child is. It will inspire the application reader to call the director of admissions and exclaim, “We HAVE to accept this student!”

How to choose the best topics for Ivy League college essays

When applying to Ivy Leagues, your child will write the 650-word Common App essay, plus whatever supplemental essays the Ivies request. The Ivy League supplemental prompts have a wide range—from quirky and unexpected to straightforward and to the point. This means that in order to be successful in applying to multiple Ivy Leagues, your child will want to start brainstorming essay topics well in advance.

The key to writing amazing college essays is to anchor broad activities, experiences, ideas, or relationships into specific anecdotes or stories. This makes an essay more interesting and memorable. For example, your child could summarize their relationship with their grandmother, but it might make for a boring essay. On the other hand, they could recount a specific moment when she greeted them after school with a favorite snack and patiently listened to the details of their day. When thinking about college essay topics, going specific is always the best strategy.

In order to further establish them as a specialist—which they’ve already worked so hard to do through their extracurriculars—your child will want to choose essay topics to continue this theme. This doesn’t mean their essays have to focus directly on their field of interest, or even on their specific activities, however.

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Impactful college essays can be written on any topic, such as a memorable afternoon, an unexpected family trip, a surprising friendship, or a passion for Costco. But no matter what the essay focuses on, it should connect with the larger picture of who your child is. Can they use the anecdote of a memorable afternoon in the park to illustrate the way they approach every day with curiosity and creativity—simultaneously connecting with their specialism in photography?

Whatever your child chooses to write their college essays about, the topic should be highly personal and specific to them. Consider this—if their closest friends found their essay on the ground without a name, would they be able to read it and know your child wrote it?

How to write an Ivy League essay with style

Even after choosing the perfect topic, there are still ways Ivy League college essays can go terribly wrong—most of them to do with writing style or skill. To help your child avoid the most common essay-writing mistakes, they can follow these writing tips.

Open the essay with a “hook.” Memorable essays begin with specific and surprising imagery that piques the readers interest and makes them invested to see where the essay is going. Effective essay hooks might be bits of dialogue, a quote, or descriptive sensory details of the event, to name a few.
Establish a unique voice. Your child doesn’t want their college essay to be formal or stuffy. At the same time, they don’t want to make the mistake of being too casual. Here’s a helpful rule of thumb—use a more polished version of their regular way of speaking, as if they were meeting a new mentor for the first time and trying to put their best foot forward while still being authentic.
Use specific details to keep the reader engaged in the story. This is why using an anecdote to connect to bigger themes is important—so your child can envision scenes or moments in their head and describe them in the essay.
Illustrate moments of growth, reflection, and revelation. Demonstrating self-awareness and the desire to continually improve will show Ivy Leagues your child is the type of student they want in their community.
Write confidently, but stay humble. It may seem like a paradox, but it isn’t. Your child has become an expert in their chosen field, and they should be confident in their accomplishments. At the same time, they can recognize they still have much to learn and much improve—after all, that’s why they want to attend a world-class Ivy League school.

Using these writing tips will help your child produce impactful, interesting college essays that maximize their Ivy League admissions odds.

Looking for supplemental essay examples? Click here to access sample essays for every supplemental essay prompt from the top universities and BS/MD programs in the United States. 235+ essays and counting.

(Suggested reading: How to Write Amazing Ivy League Essays)

Final thoughts

Getting into an Ivy League is never easy and never guaranteed. It takes years of consistent hard work, culminating with an intense college application process. But ask anyone who graduated from an Ivy League—former Presidents, leaders of industry, world changers—and they’ll say that attending these elite schools was a life-changing experience.

If your child is dedicated to following these strategies for how to get into Ivy League colleges, they’ll grow as an individual, form strong career direction, and increase their chances of making their Ivy League dreams come true.