The 2025–2026 Admissions Cycle: What Worked, What Didn’t, and What to Expect
Let’s start with the good news.
This was a great year for many of my clients.
Ivy League acceptances. Top LACs. Public university acceptances that, given the applicant profiles, were far from slam dunks. Across the board, the students who realized the importance of the essay performed well.
It might have felt like déjà vu, except for some unique issues that hadn’t been seen in previous cycles and might portend some serious changes upcoming.
The international student problem is getting worse
I worked with international students this year who had, by any reasonable measure, extraordinary profiles. Top grades. High scores. Meaningful extracurriculars. Objectively, I would say their essays were among the best I had seen.
They didn’t get in.
Meanwhile, students with objectively weaker academic records—but with US citizenship or permanent residency —were admitted to schools that rejected my international applicants. This gap seemed to have become more pronounced this year, and in Korea, the clients of some big-name consultancies were completely shut out from the Ivies.
For international families reading this: that’s not a reason to give up. It is a reason to be strategic, to apply to a wider range of schools, and to make sure your essays are doing as much work as they possibly can. The essay cannot fix the visa status problem. But a weak essay can sink an application that a strong one would have saved.
Domestic students—especially from wealthy families—are becoming more aware of consulting
The other trend I noticed this year: more domestic applicants seeking serious essay help than in previous cycles.
This is partly a reflection of how competitive the landscape has become. Students who might have assumed they could do it on their own are realizing they can’t or shouldn’t. Also, the stigma of getting outside help has waned, and students are painfully aware that applications to T20 schools continue to rise while class sizes remain fixed.
On standardized tests: 1500 is fine because cheating is harder, and your green card is worth more than you think
The floor is lower than you think. If you have a 1500-1550, stop wasting time trying to get 1560+. Channel your energy into your essays. With the SAT and the AP test going digital, cheating has become much more difficult, and scores are finally beginning to normalize as a result. This year’s students had SAT scores ranging from 1480 to 1600. Their scores, however, were not indicative of where they were ultimately accepted.
Citizenship and permanent residency are assets. Students with green cards or US citizenship who scored 1480–1530 were admitted to schools that rejected international students with scores of 1560 and above. Given how fraught immigration issues are in the United States, I expect this situation to worsen before it gets better.
The essay is still the essay
None of what I’ve described above changes the fundamental reality of this work. There are so many factors beyond your control. Your recommendations. Your school profile. Your competition at school. The only thing you can control, thankfully, is quite possibly the most powerful aspect of the application: the essay.
And the essay, done well, can be the tipping point of your application. When it works, it works in ways that are difficult to quantify but impossible to miss. Admissions officers have said that a great personal statement makes a student unforgettable. It makes someone in a committee room pound the table with conviction and say, “This student deserves to be admitted.”
That’s what I do, helping you stand out amongst your peers.
The cycle is over. Applications for 2026–2027 open in a few months.
If you want to start, email me at j@ghostofj.com.
