Anonymous
Post 09/09/2025 11:16     Subject: What is the easiest T25/30 private to get into?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Notre Dame
WashU
Emory
Georgetown
CMU
Tufts
BC
NYU (non-Stern)

For all - non Business /non-eng


Not ND unless you're Catholic and apply REA. My daughter really wanted to go there and was waitlisted RD with a 3.9 from a top private. She was accepted to several Ivies and other top20s. In retrospect we misplayed this as the only kids who have gotten in over from her school over the last 4 years were baptized Catholics who applied early. I'm sure it varies by high school but this was our experience.


ND is only 80% Catholic, so some non-Catholic students are getting in. ND says they don't track demonstrated interest, but those non-Catholic students must show somehow that they are serious about ND. The yield rate is crazy high for a school without ED (that isn't Harvard or MIT).

No, but if you really think about the yield and no ED, it is still very underrated by US News. Also an undergraduate-centered education. Comparable to any non-SCEA Ivy.
Anonymous
Post 09/09/2025 11:15     Subject: What is the easiest T25/30 private to get into?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Notre Dame
WashU
Emory
Georgetown
CMU
Tufts
BC
NYU (non-Stern)

For all - non Business /non-eng


Not ND unless you're Catholic and apply REA. My daughter really wanted to go there and was waitlisted RD with a 3.9 from a top private. She was accepted to several Ivies and other top20s. In retrospect we misplayed this as the only kids who have gotten in over from her school over the last 4 years were baptized Catholics who applied early. I'm sure it varies by high school but this was our experience.


ND is only 80% Catholic, so some non-Catholic students are getting in. ND says they don't track demonstrated interest, but those non-Catholic students must show somehow that they are serious about ND. The yield rate is crazy high for a school without ED (that isn't Harvard or MIT).


Many of the athletes are the non-Catholics. Plus those admitted REA. My kid is a pretty devout Presbyterian (church youth group leadership etc). Wrote about faith, etc. Did not get in RD despite admits to one of HYP and several other Ivies. Certainly there are kids who do get in RD who aren't Catholic. Just saying that it is a very hard admit and should be no one's back-up!!
Anonymous
Post 09/09/2025 11:08     Subject: What is the easiest T25/30 private to get into?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Notre Dame
WashU
Emory
Georgetown
CMU
Tufts
BC
NYU (non-Stern)

For all - non Business /non-eng


Not ND unless you're Catholic and apply REA. My daughter really wanted to go there and was waitlisted RD with a 3.9 from a top private. She was accepted to several Ivies and other top20s. In retrospect we misplayed this as the only kids who have gotten in over from her school over the last 4 years were baptized Catholics who applied early. I'm sure it varies by high school but this was our experience.


ND is only 80% Catholic, so some non-Catholic students are getting in. ND says they don't track demonstrated interest, but those non-Catholic students must show somehow that they are serious about ND. The yield rate is crazy high for a school without ED (that isn't Harvard or MIT).


It’s the religious essays…. Iykyk
Anonymous
Post 09/09/2025 11:03     Subject: What is the easiest T25/30 private to get into?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Notre Dame
WashU
Emory
Georgetown
CMU
Tufts
BC
NYU (non-Stern)

For all - non Business /non-eng


Not ND unless you're Catholic and apply REA. My daughter really wanted to go there and was waitlisted RD with a 3.9 from a top private. She was accepted to several Ivies and other top20s. In retrospect we misplayed this as the only kids who have gotten in over from her school over the last 4 years were baptized Catholics who applied early. I'm sure it varies by high school but this was our experience.


ND is only 80% Catholic, so some non-Catholic students are getting in. ND says they don't track demonstrated interest, but those non-Catholic students must show somehow that they are serious about ND. The yield rate is crazy high for a school without ED (that isn't Harvard or MIT).
Anonymous
Post 09/09/2025 11:00     Subject: What is the easiest T25/30 private to get into?
BC definitely yield protects in RD. You can get in with a 3.6 EA but all the 3.9 kids who got into Ivies RD from my son's private were waitlisted RD by BC. BC knows they will never attend.
Anonymous
Post 09/09/2025 10:59     Subject: What is the easiest T25/30 private to get into?
From easiest to hardest, us news t30
USC>NYU>ND>Georgetown>WashU>CMU=Emory>Cornell>Vanderbilt>Rice etc.
Anonymous
Post 09/09/2025 10:57     Subject: What is the easiest T25/30 private to get into?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If California resident, California community college then transfer to UCLA or Berkeley.

OP is asking about PRIVATE.
If public included, UVA in-state.

Public isn’t included because they are easier admits and none should be top 20 anyhow.
Anonymous
Post 09/09/2025 10:57     Subject: What is the easiest T25/30 private to get into?
Anonymous wrote:Notre Dame
WashU
Emory
Georgetown
CMU
Tufts
BC
NYU (non-Stern)

For all - non Business /non-eng


Not ND unless you're Catholic and apply REA. My daughter really wanted to go there and was waitlisted RD with a 3.9 from a top private. She was accepted to several Ivies and other top20s. In retrospect we misplayed this as the only kids who have gotten in over from her school over the last 4 years were baptized Catholics who applied early. I'm sure it varies by high school but this was our experience.
Anonymous
Post 09/09/2025 10:56     Subject: What is the easiest T25/30 private to get into?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Notre Dame
WashU
Emory
Georgetown
CMU
Tufts
BC
NYU (non-Stern)

For all - non Business /non-eng


This list is not super helpful. BC, for example, does a ton of yield management and accepts a lot of the class ED, so it's not at all a sure thing for SCEA students. Tufts also does a lot of yield management. Georgetown demands very high scores but is definitely easier than Penn/Cornell/Brown if your kid has them. ND is a good backup for SCEA kids, but for students who are not a great fit, it's a bad fit.

Since the ND yield is a ridiculously high 60% with no ED, it is really not a good backup unless you go crazy showing demonstrated interest. Good luck with that without applying EA.
Anonymous
Post 09/09/2025 10:55     Subject: What is the easiest T25/30 private to get into?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Notre Dame
WashU
Emory
Georgetown
CMU
Tufts
BC
NYU (non-Stern)

For all - non Business /non-eng


This list is not super helpful. BC, for example, does a ton of yield management and accepts a lot of the class ED, so it's not at all a sure thing for SCEA students. Tufts also does a lot of yield management. Georgetown demands very high scores but is definitely easier than Penn/Cornell/Brown if your kid has them. ND is a good backup for SCEA kids, but for students who are not a great fit, it's a bad fit.


This is not helpful because all of these schools are lottery picks for top students without a hook.
Anonymous
Post 09/09/2025 10:53     Subject: What is the easiest T25/30 private to get into?
Anonymous wrote:Mainly for RD as DS is SEAing elsewhere?

No, the question should be about ED2 since you either will get in SCEA and be done or not (treat deferral as a rejection for these purposes). WashU or Chicago.
Anonymous
Post 09/09/2025 10:51     Subject: What is the easiest T25/30 private to get into?
For boys, Brown is a deceptively easy admit.
Anonymous
Post 09/09/2025 10:50     Subject: What is the easiest T25/30 private to get into?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:From a strong private? Chicago. You can be middle of the class.


Only if ED. OP said their kid was SCEA elsewhere, so Chicago ED 2 is an option maybe. . . .


Agree ED2 Chicago is the obvious option.

But OP SCEA ... doubt it they are not aiming for an ivy in RD ...
Anonymous
Post 09/09/2025 10:49     Subject: What is the easiest T25/30 private to get into?
Anonymous wrote:Notre Dame
WashU
Emory
Georgetown
CMU
Tufts
BC
NYU (non-Stern)

For all - non Business /non-eng


This list is not super helpful. BC, for example, does a ton of yield management and accepts a lot of the class ED, so it's not at all a sure thing for SCEA students. Tufts also does a lot of yield management. Georgetown demands very high scores but is definitely easier than Penn/Cornell/Brown if your kid has them. ND is a good backup for SCEA kids, but for students who are not a great fit, it's a bad fit.
Anonymous
Post 09/09/2025 10:49     Subject: What is the easiest T25/30 private to get into?
Anonymous wrote:If California resident, California community college then transfer to UCLA or Berkeley.


They are only top schools in the public sense. They aren't top 25/30 schools for undergrad.