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Time of India
20-06-2025
- General
- Time of India
Want to get into Harvard or Ivy League? These 10 qualities matter most apart from your academic scores
Campus of Harvard University in Cambridge Each year, more than 60,000 students submit applications to Ivy League universities, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. However, fewer than 10% of those applicants receive offers. In 2024, Harvard University reported an acceptance rate of just 3.59%, admitting 1,937 students out of 54,008 applications, according to The Harvard Crimson. While Yale University admitted just 3.7% of applicants, Columbia University followed closely at 3.9%. Princeton University accepted 4.6%, Brown University reported an acceptance rate of 5.4%, while Cornell University had the highest among the Ivies at 8.4%, according to Class of 2028 admissions data released by Ivy Coach, a prominent college admissions consultancy. It's a no-brainer that your GPA, SAT/ACT scores, and overall academic performance form the foundation of your application, but in today's competitive admissions landscape, grades alone won't make you stand out. Ivy League admissions officers are looking beyond numbers to identify students who bring more than just academic strength to the table. Here are 10 core traits that will give you an edge over others while it comes to admission in an Ivy League college. Intellectual curiosity A 4.0 GPA tells them you're smart, but intellectual curiosity shows them you care why things work, not just how. Elite schools are ecosystems of ideas, they want students who ask bold questions, not just answer them. Pro tip: Include examples like independent research projects, unconventional reading lists, personal essays, or passion projects that reflect your hunger to learn beyond the syllabus. Grit in unflashy places Everyone highlights overcoming big obstacles, but the Ivy League often notices grit in the quiet grind, like the student who tutors others even while still working to strengthen their own math skills, or who rebuilds a school club that no one cared about. Pro tip: Use your application to highlight moments when you showed up consistently, like mentoring juniors or keeping a school club active, simply because it mattered to you. Nuanced leadership They're not looking for class presidents, but they're looking for students who lead through impact, not titles, like starting a mental health peer line, or organising a coding bootcamp in your local language. Pro tip: In your application, spotlight where your initiative created change. Use specifics like who benefited, what shifted, and why it mattered. Capacity for solitude Ivy League life is fast-paced and noisy but top students know how to step back, reflect, and redirect. Schools increasingly value introspective minds that can self-regulate, not just outperform. Pro tip: Mention habits like journaling, reflective blogging, solo travel, or personal art projects. These reveal your ability to step back and think beyond performance. Interdisciplinary thinking Future-ready students don't think in silos. The applicant who connects biology to climate storytelling or psychology to product design often stands out more than the one who's just 'good at science.' Pro tip: Share work that connects unexpected fields, like using psychology to design better tech tools or blending storytelling with environmental science. The ability to disagree thoughtfully Elite classrooms thrive on debate but they watch for how you engage, not dominate. Can you challenge ideas without burning bridges? Can you shift your stance with grace? That's rare and valued. Pro tip: Include things where you engaged in respectful debate, listened actively, or changed your point of view after hearing another perspective. Cultural agility Top colleges are global villages, they value students who aren't just diverse on paper, but can navigate diverse spaces with authenticity and ease. Pro tip: Describe when you built understanding across differences, like collaborating on a multicultural project or navigating a new environment with empathy. Original voice In an ocean of applications, the ones that echo are not the loudest, but the most true. Ivy League readers are trained to spot manufactured passion and reward those who write and speak like themselves. Pro tip: Let your personality come through in your writing by using your natural tone, sharing honest reflections, and avoiding overused templates. Strategic risk-taking Playing it safe rarely stands out. The Ivy League notices students who've made calculated risks like quitting a mainstream path, building something no one asked for, or challenging the status quo with clarity. Pro tip: Talk about a time you took a thoughtful risk, like starting something new, stepping away from a safe option, or speaking up when it mattered. Future literacy What does the future need? Ivy League schools want students who are already wrestling with that question, not just those preparing for the past. Pro tip: Demonstrate how you're thinking ahead by engaging with topics like climate change, ethical AI, or global equity through your projects or opinions. Final thought Getting into Harvard or the Ivy League isn't about ticking off achievements. It's about signaling a mindset, the kind that doesn't just react to the world but rewires it. You don't need to be extraordinary in everything, but in at least one thing, you need to be unmistakably you. Is your child ready for the careers of tomorrow? Enroll now and take advantage of our early bird offer! Spaces are limited.
Time Out
18-06-2025
- Business
- Time Out
Seven U.S. schools dominated the top 10 of U.S. News' best universities list
U.S. News & World Report just dropped its 2025–2026 Best Global Universities rankings, and America made a strong showing once again. Of the top 10 universities worldwide, seven are right here in the U.S. The rankings—drawn from over 2,250 schools in more than 100 countries—measure academic research output and reputation using 13 data-driven indicators including scholarly impact, global presence and serious brainpower. Leading the pack (no surprises here) is Harvard University in Cambridge, MA, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (also in Cambridge) and Stanford University (in Stanford, CA), bringing tech innovation and entrepreneurial edge to the table. The University of California, Berkeley lands at number six, proving that public universities can still outgun the Ivies when it comes to research heft. University of Washington, Seattle—a quiet powerhouse—takes eighth, just ahead of Yale (in New Haven, CT) and Columbia (in New York, NY), at Nos. 9 and 10, respectively. The U.K. holds its own with Oxford and Cambridge at Nos. 4 and 5, and University College London at number seven. But the U.S. still leads in presence and performance: 280 American schools made the rankings, second only to China's 397. The list uses data from Clarivate's Web of Science and InCites platforms, ensuring schools are measured by actual impact, not just name recognition. For students eyeing degrees that translate across borders—or universities with real research clout—this is the go-to list. Bottom line: If you want to study at a university with global reach, cutting-edge research, and serious prestige chances are high you'll be headed to the U.S. The 10 best global universities, according to U.S. News Harvard University (U.S.) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (U.S.) Stanford University (U.S.) University of Oxford (U.K.) University of Cambridge (U.K.) University of California Berkeley (U.S.) University College London (U.K.) University of Washington Seattle (U.S.) Yale University (U.S.)
Mint
11-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
MAGA's remaking of universities could have dire consequences
'THIS IS an economic revolution and we will win." Donald Trump's line on tariffs sounds like something from Robespierre or Engels. And as any revolutionary knows, to sweep away the old order it is not enough just to raise import duties. You also have to seize and refashion the institutions that control the culture. In America that means wresting control of Ivy League universities which play an outsize role in forming the elite (including Mr Trump's cabinet). The MAGA plan to remake the Ivies could have terrible consequences for higher education, for innovation, for economic growth and even for what sort of country America is. And it is only just beginning. The target has been exquisitely chosen. Over the past decade elite universities have lost the bipartisan support they used to enjoy. This was partly their own fault. In too many cases they succumbed to faddish groupthink about oppression, became scared of their student-customers and turned away speakers in the name of safety. At the same time, American politics became more polarised by educational achievement. Kamala Harris lost the popular vote in the 2024 presidential election. But she won Americans with post-graduate degrees by 20 points. This combination left the academy vulnerable. But the most substantive change has been within the Republican Party. Conservatives considered elite universities to be hostile territory even before William F. Buckley published 'God and Man at Yale" in 1951. Yet they also respected the basic compact that exists between universities and the federal government: that taxpayers fund scientific research and provide grants for students from poor families, and in return, universities do world-changing research. Some of the researchers may have views that irk the White House of the day. Many are foreigners. But their work ends up benefiting America. That is why, in 1962, the government funded a particle accelerator, even though some people who would use it had long hair and hated American foreign policy. And why, later that decade, researchers at American universities invented the internet, with military funding. This deal has been the source of military as well as economic power. It has contributed to almost every technological leap that has boosted output, from the internet to mRNA vaccines and GLP-1 agonists to artificial intelligence. It has made America a magnet for talented, ambitious people from around the world. It is this compact—not bringing car factories back to the rust belt—that is the key to America's prosperity. And now the Trump administration wants to tear it up. His government has used federal grants to take revenge on universities: the presidents of Princeton and Cornell criticised the government and promptly had over $1bn in grants cancelled or frozen. It has arrested foreign students who have criticised the conduct of Israel's war in Gaza. It has threatened to increase the tax on endowments: J.D. Vance (Yale Law School) has proposed raising it on large endowments from 1.4% to 35%. What it wants in return varies. Sometimes it is to eradicate the woke-mind virus. Sometimes it is to eradicate antisemitism. It always involves a double standard on free speech, according to which you can complain about cancel culture and then cheer on the deportation of a foreign student for publishing an op-ed in a college newspaper. This suggests that, as with any revolution, it is about who has power and control. So far, universities have tried to lie flat and hope Mr Trump leaves them alone, just like many of the big law firms that the president has targeted. The Ivy presidents meet every month or so, but have yet to come up with a common approach. Meanwhile, Harvard is changing the leadership of its Middle East studies centre and Columbia is on its third president in a year. This strategy is unlikely to work. The MAGA vanguard cannot believe how quickly the Ivies have capitulated. The Ivies also underestimate the fervour of the revolutionaries they are up against. Some of them don't just want to tax Harvard—they want to burn it down. Resisting the administration's assault requires courage. Harvard's endowment is about the same size as the sovereign-wealth fund of the oil-rich sultanate of Oman, which should buy some bravery. But that mooted tax could shrink it quickly. Harvard receives over $1bn in grants each year. Columbia's annual budget is $6bn; it receives $1.3bn in grants. Other elite universities are less fortunate. If even the Ivies cannot stand up to bullying, there is not much hope for elite public universities, which are just as dependent on research funding and do not have vast endowments to absorb government pressure. How, then, should universities respond? Some things that their presidents want to do anyway, such as adopting codes protecting free speech on campus, cutting administrative staff, banning the use of 'diversity" statements in hiring and ensuring more diverse viewpoints among academics, accord with the views of many Republicans (and this newspaper). But the universities should draw a clear line: even if it means losing government funding, what they teach and research is for them to decide. Like Ike This principle is one reason why America became the world's most innovative economy over the past 70 years, and why Russia and China did not. Yet even that undersells its value. Free inquiry is one of the cornerstones of American liberty, along with the freedom to criticise the president without fear of retribution. True conservatives have always known this. 'The free university", said Dwight Eisenhower in his farewell presidential address in 1961, has been 'the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery". Eisenhower, who was president of Columbia before he was president of the United States, warned that when universities become dependent on government grants, the government can control scholarship. For a long time that warning seemed a bit hysterical. America never had a president willing to exert such authority over colleges. Now it does. Subscribers to The Economist can sign up to our Opinion newsletter, which brings together the best of our leaders, columns, guest essays and reader correspondence.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Education Dept. considering cuts for California universities while making ‘progress' with Harvard and Columbia, McMahon says
The Trump administration is turning its ire from the Ivies in the East to public universities in California as it continues its crusade to remake higher education in the United States. Education Secretary Linda McMahon affirmed the administration is considering significant slashes to federal funding for universities in the Golden State, which CNN previously reported, during a Tuesday conversation with Bloomberg's Akayla Gardner. 'In California, I think we saw pretty flagrant violations of Title IX, and that is why this focus that was put on them,' McMahon told CNN during the question-and-answer session Tuesday. 'We have men participating in women's sports, which is clearly against Title IX, and the president has made it very clear that he is definitely going to uphold Title IX.' The administration's focus on the West Coast marks a new phase in its effort to put America's elite universities on notice over political ideology, outside of concerns over antisemitism on campuses following the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas. Last month, President Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from the state over a transgender athlete's participation in a sporting event. A.B. Hernandez, a public high school junior in Southern California, reached the podium in all three of her events at the state track and field championships. Her participation had prompted criticism and protests from some in the community who said it prevented lower-ranked competitors from advancing. Some critics of transgender athletes claim they have an unfair advantage in sports, but while existing research hints at how hormone therapy may affect a person's physical abilities, some experts say far more data is needed to make confident conclusions about whether trans people in general hold advantages in their respective sports. Earlier this month, the California Department of Education advised schools in the Golden State to resist barring trans athletes from competing in sports at the urging of the US Department of Justice. On Monday, the state filed suit against the DOJ for making the ask. 'California state law protects all students' access to participate in athletics in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity,' State Superintendent Tony Thurmond said in a statement following the pressure from the DOJ. 'We will continue to follow the law and ensure the safety of all our athletes.' A day after Trump's threat to withhold federal funding from California over Hernandez's participation in the event, the Justice Department announced it was investigating whether the state's School Success and Opportunity Act – which in part prohibits public schools from blocking transgender students from participating in school sports – violates the federal Title IX law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs or activities that receive federal money. California has 'blatantly (refused) to be in compliance with the Title IX regulations,' McMahon said Tuesday. Trump signed an executive order in February titled 'Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports' to ban transgender women from competing in women's sports, leaning in part on Title IX compliance. Ahead of the signing, a White House official said the action would take the opposite position on Title IX from the Biden administration, which established a rule that schools are violating Title IX when they ban transgender students from participating on sports teams. The Trump administration's position on Title IX, the official said, is 'if you're going to have women's sports, if you're going to provide opportunities for women, then they have to be equally safe, equally fair, and equally private opportunities, and so that means that you're going to preserve women's sports for women.' Singling out one state for massive cuts would be an unusual move, but Trump has long feuded with Democratic-led California – most recently in a legal battle after the president deployed the National Guard to respond to protests in Los Angeles despite Gov. Gavin Newsom's objections. Newsom broke with the position of most Democrats on the topic in March when he told a podcast the participation of transgender athletes playing in women's sports is 'an issue of fairness' and that he 'can hold in my hand' both sides of the debate. Newsom has a long record of supporting LGBTQ rights. He ordered the city and county of San Francisco to start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2004 after being elected mayor of San Francisco. Senate Democrats in March blocked a GOP-led bill that would have banned transgender athletes from women's and girls' sports at federally funded schools and educational institutions. Federal agencies have now been told to start identifying grants that the administration can withhold from California, CNN reported Friday. Sources said the administration is specifically considering a full termination of federal grant funding for the University of California and California State University systems. The UC system is the state's third-largest employer, and both systems are major engines of research in the biotechnology and medical fields, among others. McMahon indicated formula funding could be on the chopping block for the California schools. Formula funds are federal grants that are set based on a predetermined formula determined by Congress, according to the Department of Education. 'That is one of the tools and the opportunities that we have with California and I think it's right that we make them aware that that is a risk that they run,' McMahon said, confirming reporting from Politico. Months of tumult for higher education institutions have followed Trump's January inauguration, with the administration threatening Columbia University's accreditation and Harvard's new international students just last week. But Tuesday, McMahon appeared to commend the schools' administrators and 'progress' at the institutions. The education secretary suggested the Trump administration believes Harvard has taken steps to combat antisemitism on campus, even though it remains embroiled in a number of lawsuits with the Ivy League school. 'We are, I think, making progress in some of the discussion, where even though they have taken a hard line, they have, for instance, replaced their head of Middle East Studies,' McMahon said. Her comments also come after Trump told reporters Harvard is 'starting to behave,' declining to elaborate further. McMahon continued, 'They have already put in place some of the things that we talked about in our negotiations with Columbia. For instance, none of us is suggesting that on college campuses there shouldn't be, you know, there shouldn't be discussion. There could be orderly and nonviolent protests. I mean, college ought to be about the exchange of ideas and debate and all of that. It has to be done peacefully.' And asked whether Harvard should expect additional actions from the administration, she said, 'At this particular time, we're continuing with the things we've already talked about.' McMahon also noted 'really good, open, honest discussions' with Columbia University. She said she has met once in person with the school's acting president, Claire Shipman, and they have spoken by phone twice. 'I think we've made great progress,' she said. Though the discussions began on the issue of antisemitism, McMahon said, 'We wanted to look at other aspects of, you know, the programs that they had on campus, how they were vetting their students. Did they believe that a lot of the uprisings on campus came from outside agitators or students that were on campus. What were some of the ways that they were managing those activities on campus?' McMahon said a consent decree – an agreement approved by a federal judge used as a monitoring system – was also on the table. 'We've discussed the consent decree and so our negotiations have gone, you know, back and forth. That's a good part of the negotiations,' she said. She expressed openness to some universities eventually getting federal funding back – and said it was a 'goal.' 'That's part of the negotiations, of course, that we have that are ongoing. It would be my goal that if universities – colleges and universities – are abiding by the laws of the United States and doing what we're expecting of them, that they could expect to have taxpayer-funded programs,' McMahon said.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
All the US presidents who attended Ivy League universities
Sixteen US presidents were educated at colleges and universities in the Ivy League. Joe Biden was the first US president since Ronald Reagan to not attend an Ivy League school. Donald Trump has recently taken on Harvard University, the alma mater of eight US presidents. Long before President Donald Trump engaged in a war against Harvard University, the Ivy League has been a breeding ground for world leaders, including many US presidents. Among the eight Ivy League schools, Harvard has educated the most US presidents — eight — followed by Yale, at five. On the other hand, a few of the Ivies have not yet seen one of their students go on to become US president: Brown University, Cornell University, and Dartmouth College. Most presidents in recent US history, including President Trump, graduated from an Ivy League school. In fact, from the end of Ronald Reagan's term in 1989 until the beginning of Joe Biden's in 2021, the presidency was occupied by Ivy League alums. Trump has had a fraught relationship with some universities since he signed an executive order during his first term prompting higher education institutions to take tougher action in combating antisemitism. Since October 7, 2023, US colleges and universities have been at the center of controversies regarding student protests against the war in Gaza, with Columbia University gaining national attention in April 2024 when students formed on-campus encampments demanding the school divest from Israel. Since January, the Trump administration has made attempts to block Harvard University from receiving federal funds and enrolling international students, citing the university's failure to meet "both the intellectual and civil rights conditions that justify federal investment," as members of the administration wrote in an April 11 letter addressed to the university's leadership. It came after the university refused the administration's demands to change hiring and admissions policies, among others. Harvard's president, Alan Garber, wrote in a letter to students and staff in April, "No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue." Here's which presidents were Ivy-League educated, and where they attended university. Princeton University The Ivy League's ties with the US presidency go back to the nation's founding. In 1771, founding father and fourth US president James Madison, who was president between 1809 and 1817, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University, then called the College of New Jersey. Woodrow Wilson, who was president between 1913 and 1921, also graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1879. University of Pennsylvania The ninth US president, William Henry Harrison, who served the shortest presidency in US history in 1841, attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied medicine, but he withdrew before his expected graduation date of 1793. In 1968, Donald J. Trump graduated with a Bachelor of Science in economics from Penn's Wharton School, which he had transferred to from Fordham University two years prior. Columbia University After graduating from Harvard College — Harvard University's undergraduate school — in 1876, 26th US president Theodore Roosevelt attended Columbia University's Law School, from which he eventually withdrew. His fifth cousin and the 32nd US president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, attended Columbia's Law School in 1904 after graduating from Harvard College a year prior, but also withdrew from the program. In 1981, Barack Obama, then a junior at Occidental College, transferred to Columbia University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1983. Yale University The 27th US president, William Howard Taft, graduated from Yale University in 1978. His father, Alphonso Taft, who graduated from Yale in 1833, had founded the Skull and Bones secret society during his time at the school — his son, as well as two other US presidents, would become members of that society. In 1941, 38th US president Gerald Ford graduated from Yale Law School. In 1973, Bill Clinton, who was the president between 1993 and 2001, graduated from the same program. George H. W. Bush, who was president between 1989 and 1993, graduated from Yale with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics in 1948. His son and 43rd US president, George W. Bush, graduated from the school with a Bachelor of Arts in History in 1968. Both of the Bush presidents were members of the Skull and Bones secret society founded by William Howard Taft's father. Harvard University Harvard University also has ties to the US presidency dating back to the nation's founding. The first US vice president and second US president, John Adams, attended Harvard University, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1755 and a Master of Arts in 1758. His son and sixth US president, John Quincy Adams, graduated from Harvard College in 1787. In 1845, Rutherford B. Hayes, who was president from 1877 to 1881, graduated from Harvard Law School. The 26th US president, Theodore Roosevelt, graduated from Harvard College with a Bachelor of Arts in 1880, as did the 32nd US president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1903. In 1940, the 35th US president, John F. Kennedy, graduated from Harvard with a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs. In his college essay, he famously expressed his desire to attend the school from which his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, graduated in 1912: "To be a 'Harvard man' is an enviable distinction, and one that I sincerely hope I shall attain." In 1975, George W. Bush graduated from the school with an MBA, the only US president to have earned this degree. In 1991, Barack Obama graduated from Harvard Law School, the most recent US president to attend the school. Read the original article on Business Insider
