college material Lifestyle Dying to climb the Ivy? How to survive the race for a top spot By Will Kenton Published Oct. 18, 2026, 6:00 p.m. ET See more of our coverage in your search results.
Make New York Post a Preferred Source New York Post may receive revenue from affiliate and advertising partnerships for sharing this content and/or when you make a purchase. Top schools are still hard to get into. The classes of 2031 at Harvard and Columbia will get between 50,000 and 60,000 applicants this fall, and the acceptance rate for those universities is historically around 5%.
To make matters worse for the world’s 15 and 16-year-olds, the admissions landscape continues to change. Universities are revising standardized testing requirements, evaluating how applicants use artificial intelligence and looking for evidence of intellectual curiosity, initiative and personal development beyond the classroom.
For parents hoping to give their children the best chance of attending Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia or another highly selective university, these changes raise important questions. How early should students begin preparing? Which activities matter most? And how can families help their children stand out without turning their teenage years into an endless exercise in résumé building?
The answer begins well before senior year, when college applications are due. According to Christopher Rim, founder and CEO of Command Education , some parents want to start college prep in fifth or sixth grade. He says that’s a bit early, but “it’s wild that parents starting as early as middle school [are] already thinking about this, but that just shows how competitive it is.”
“I would say the first thing is let your kid really be a kid. Allow him or her to explore different projects, different sports, different activities,” Rim tells the Post. Though successful, high-achieving parents want the same for their kids, Rim recommends letting them “get involved without pressuring them, without holding them to one activity that they picked three years ago.”
The challenge is that admissions decisions are not determined by a single formula. Academic performance, standardized tests, recommendations, extracurricular commitments and personal essays can all influence the outcome. Universities also consider applicants within the context of their schools, communities and available opportunities.
Parents can support these efforts by helping their children plan coursework, identify academic weaknesses and establish study habits. They should also recognize that the most demanding course schedule is not necessarily the best one if it prevents a student from succeeding or pursuing other meaningful interests. It’s equally important for students to discover what genuinely interests them.
For many families, this process begins during freshman year of high school, although middle school can provide opportunities to explore academic subjects, sports, music, community service and other activities without the immediate pressure of college admissions.
Early exploration gives students time to discover their strengths and pursue interests that may eventually develop into sustained commitments.
One significant development is the return of standardized testing requirements at several highly selective institutions.
For the 2026-27 application cycle, Yale University requires applicants to submit either SAT or ACT scores . The university previously permitted applicants to s…