Anonymous
Post 01/30/2026 08:40     Subject: RD Acceptances at Ivies
About a dozen from TJ (including my child) and at least one (my child's friend) from our base high school got into Ivies in RD.
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2026 08:35     Subject: RD Acceptances at Ivies
DC Big3 high schools. One had 2 kids admitted to an Ivy last year who were not ED/SCEA referrals. The other had 3. I had a senior at one and a current senior at the other school.

You need to apply ED/SCEA and hope you get in or deferred. RD is an incredibly long shot.
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2026 08:34     Subject: RD Acceptances at Ivies
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:To use Harvard as an example, they accept about 2000 students per year out of roughly 48,000 applications. Until recently, they would take roughly 1000 during the SCEA round and 1000 during the RD round. However, in recent years, they have stopped sharing the breakdown between SCEA and RD acceptances. It's fair to assume that the odds of acceptance for an unhooked applicant to Harvard in Regular Decision are astronomically low.

I suspect the numbers are similar for Princeton and Yale. And Dartmouth is very tiny. Unhooked students basically have no chance at these schools in RD.

Cornell seems like the only ivy that is somewhat accessible for smart unhooked students in RD, followed by Columbia. But in reality, smart and accomplished unhooked students are generally not going to ivy schools these days.


And Harvard has its own set of feeder schools that send a lot more students than the average HS. THese are elite privates full of rich/legacy/connected parents and selective magnet schools. The average HS student has no shot.
https://www.thecrimson.com/widget/2024/11/15/top-feeders-data/


There are about six public high schools in the Cambridge / Boston area on that list



Quite wrong. Harvard often takes the valedictorian of public high schools. I’m one of them.


Haaaaahhhaaaaa!!!! Our wealthy high school (great school district) had 200 Valedictorians (700 students)—-many public high schools are like this now. We heard an admissions talk at a college acknowledging that they are aware of this.
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2026 07:54     Subject: RD Acceptances at Ivies
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:To use Harvard as an example, they accept about 2000 students per year out of roughly 48,000 applications. Until recently, they would take roughly 1000 during the SCEA round and 1000 during the RD round. However, in recent years, they have stopped sharing the breakdown between SCEA and RD acceptances. It's fair to assume that the odds of acceptance for an unhooked applicant to Harvard in Regular Decision are astronomically low.

I suspect the numbers are similar for Princeton and Yale. And Dartmouth is very tiny. Unhooked students basically have no chance at these schools in RD.

Cornell seems like the only ivy that is somewhat accessible for smart unhooked students in RD, followed by Columbia. But in reality, smart and accomplished unhooked students are generally not going to ivy schools these days.


And Harvard has its own set of feeder schools that send a lot more students than the average HS. THese are elite privates full of rich/legacy/connected parents and selective magnet schools. The average HS student has no shot.
https://www.thecrimson.com/widget/2024/11/15/top-feeders-data/


There are about six public high schools in the Cambridge / Boston area on that list



Quite wrong. Harvard often takes the valedictorian of public high schools. I’m one of them.


There are 28,000 high schools in America. 99 percent of public high school valedictorians are not getting into Harvard.
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2026 06:13     Subject: RD Acceptances at Ivies
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:To use Harvard as an example, they accept about 2000 students per year out of roughly 48,000 applications. Until recently, they would take roughly 1000 during the SCEA round and 1000 during the RD round. However, in recent years, they have stopped sharing the breakdown between SCEA and RD acceptances. It's fair to assume that the odds of acceptance for an unhooked applicant to Harvard in Regular Decision are astronomically low.

I suspect the numbers are similar for Princeton and Yale. And Dartmouth is very tiny. Unhooked students basically have no chance at these schools in RD.

Cornell seems like the only ivy that is somewhat accessible for smart unhooked students in RD, followed by Columbia. But in reality, smart and accomplished unhooked students are generally not going to ivy schools these days.


And Harvard has its own set of feeder schools that send a lot more students than the average HS. THese are elite privates full of rich/legacy/connected parents and selective magnet schools. The average HS student has no shot.
https://www.thecrimson.com/widget/2024/11/15/top-feeders-data/


There are about six public high schools in the Cambridge / Boston area on that list



Quite wrong. Harvard often takes the valedictorian of public high schools. I’m one of them.


Hmmm in 6 years of Naviance data, Harvard hasn’t taken anyone from our public high school. By your logic this must be the year right? Because there’s always a valedictorian!
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2026 02:48     Subject: RD Acceptances at Ivies
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:To use Harvard as an example, they accept about 2000 students per year out of roughly 48,000 applications. Until recently, they would take roughly 1000 during the SCEA round and 1000 during the RD round. However, in recent years, they have stopped sharing the breakdown between SCEA and RD acceptances. It's fair to assume that the odds of acceptance for an unhooked applicant to Harvard in Regular Decision are astronomically low.

I suspect the numbers are similar for Princeton and Yale. And Dartmouth is very tiny. Unhooked students basically have no chance at these schools in RD.

Cornell seems like the only ivy that is somewhat accessible for smart unhooked students in RD, followed by Columbia. But in reality, smart and accomplished unhooked students are generally not going to ivy schools these days.


And Harvard has its own set of feeder schools that send a lot more students than the average HS. THese are elite privates full of rich/legacy/connected parents and selective magnet schools. The average HS student has no shot.
https://www.thecrimson.com/widget/2024/11/15/top-feeders-data/


There are about six public high schools in the Cambridge / Boston area on that list



Quite wrong. Harvard often takes the valedictorian of public high schools. I’m one of them.


What do you mean "quite wrong" ?? The data showing all of the top feeders being elite schools is right there on the website. The people on this forum give me a brain aneurysm. Brains slower than the average toddler.
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2026 02:45     Subject: RD Acceptances at Ivies
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:To use Harvard as an example, they accept about 2000 students per year out of roughly 48,000 applications. Until recently, they would take roughly 1000 during the SCEA round and 1000 during the RD round. However, in recent years, they have stopped sharing the breakdown between SCEA and RD acceptances. It's fair to assume that the odds of acceptance for an unhooked applicant to Harvard in Regular Decision are astronomically low.

I suspect the numbers are similar for Princeton and Yale. And Dartmouth is very tiny. Unhooked students basically have no chance at these schools in RD.

Cornell seems like the only ivy that is somewhat accessible for smart unhooked students in RD, followed by Columbia. But in reality, smart and accomplished unhooked students are generally not going to ivy schools these days.


And Harvard has its own set of feeder schools that send a lot more students than the average HS. THese are elite privates full of rich/legacy/connected parents and selective magnet schools. The average HS student has no shot.
https://www.thecrimson.com/widget/2024/11/15/top-feeders-data/


There are about six public high schools in the Cambridge / Boston area on that list



Quite wrong. Harvard often takes the valedictorian of public high schools. I’m one of them.


How many times do you DCUM idiots need to be reminded that 1 special case does not represent the majority?

Also, who gives a sh!t if you were admitted to Harvard when they accepted 30% of their applicants. This is 2026, and the kids at Harvard now are smarter than you will ever be.
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2026 02:42     Subject: RD Acceptances at Ivies
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:To use Harvard as an example, they accept about 2000 students per year out of roughly 48,000 applications. Until recently, they would take roughly 1000 during the SCEA round and 1000 during the RD round. However, in recent years, they have stopped sharing the breakdown between SCEA and RD acceptances. It's fair to assume that the odds of acceptance for an unhooked applicant to Harvard in Regular Decision are astronomically low.

I suspect the numbers are similar for Princeton and Yale. And Dartmouth is very tiny. Unhooked students basically have no chance at these schools in RD.

Cornell seems like the only ivy that is somewhat accessible for smart unhooked students in RD, followed by Columbia. But in reality, smart and accomplished unhooked students are generally not going to ivy schools these days.


And Harvard has its own set of feeder schools that send a lot more students than the average HS. THese are elite privates full of rich/legacy/connected parents and selective magnet schools. The average HS student has no shot.
https://www.thecrimson.com/widget/2024/11/15/top-feeders-data/


There are about six public high schools in the Cambridge / Boston area on that list



Quite wrong. Harvard often takes the valedictorian of public high schools. I’m one of them.
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2026 02:37     Subject: RD Acceptances at Ivies
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:To use Harvard as an example, they accept about 2000 students per year out of roughly 48,000 applications. Until recently, they would take roughly 1000 during the SCEA round and 1000 during the RD round. However, in recent years, they have stopped sharing the breakdown between SCEA and RD acceptances. It's fair to assume that the odds of acceptance for an unhooked applicant to Harvard in Regular Decision are astronomically low.

I suspect the numbers are similar for Princeton and Yale. And Dartmouth is very tiny. Unhooked students basically have no chance at these schools in RD.

Cornell seems like the only ivy that is somewhat accessible for smart unhooked students in RD, followed by Columbia. But in reality, smart and accomplished unhooked students are generally not going to ivy schools these days.


And Harvard has its own set of feeder schools that send a lot more students than the average HS. THese are elite privates full of rich/legacy/connected parents and selective magnet schools. The average HS student has no shot.
https://www.thecrimson.com/widget/2024/11/15/top-feeders-data/


There are about six public high schools in the Cambridge / Boston area on that list
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2026 02:34     Subject: RD Acceptances at Ivies
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:More likely due to better applicants.


+1 Most Ivies (except for Cornell which is bigger) are enrolling 2500 kids a year or less. There are like 30,000 high schools in the USA, and there are overseas applicants too. Why do you think that it would be normal that a HS has students accepted each year at Ivies, unless your school is a magnet school or a kid with a lot of rich/connected/legacy applicants?

I should have mentioned students do get in but only at ED or REA. In fact kids from RD are even more qualified than those apply at REA or ED. But they do not get in.


You don’t know who’s more qualified. The reason there are schools with no admits to Harvard or Yale is simple. They chose who they thought were the most impressive applicants.

The rejected kids will find another quality school and do just fine.
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2026 01:47     Subject: RD Acceptances at Ivies
Anonymous wrote:Little mention of Brown in this thread. Any thoughts on Brown ED vs RD?


Heavily school-dependent. If you are in MoCo, they LOVE MoCo public school kids in ED. There are so many MoCo ED admits this year, its shocking. At the DMV privates, its really just crickets from most in comparison.
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2026 01:41     Subject: RD Acceptances at Ivies
Little mention of Brown in this thread. Any thoughts on Brown ED vs RD?
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2026 00:56     Subject: RD Acceptances at Ivies
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Checking the Class of 2025 at my public MCPS HS, we had 2 students get accepted to Ivies on RD. One to Cornell and one to Columbia.


Is that 2 students out of hundreds?


2 out of 4 who applied RD to ivies at my HS
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2026 00:52     Subject: RD Acceptances at Ivies
Anonymous wrote:Checking the Class of 2025 at my public MCPS HS, we had 2 students get accepted to Ivies on RD. One to Cornell and one to Columbia.


Is that 2 students out of hundreds?
Anonymous
Post 01/30/2026 00:24     Subject: RD Acceptances at Ivies
Checking the Class of 2025 at my public MCPS HS, we had 2 students get accepted to Ivies on RD. One to Cornell and one to Columbia.