Rona Aydin is the founder of Oriel Admissions, a Princeton-based college admissions consulting firm advising families nationwide on elite university admissions strategy. An Oxford University graduate, Rona leads a deeply experienced team whose distinctive 360 approach treats every part of the application - academics, testing, activities, essays, and interviews - as one connected strategy.
TL;DR: The Georgetown interview is required for all first-year applicants – Georgetown is one of the very few highly selective universities that still mandates an admissions interview (Georgetown Office of Undergraduate Admissions, 2026). It is conducted by the Alumni Admissions Program, a network of more than 7,800 alumni across 200+ regional committees, in person or … Continued
TL;DR: There is no Penn interview. The University of Pennsylvania ended alumni conversations with applicants beginning with the 2025-26 admissions cycle, announced July 16, 2025 – the final step in a two-stage wind-down that had already converted evaluative interviews into non-evaluative conversations in 2023-24 (The Daily Pennsylvanian, 2025). The stated reason was scale and equity: … Continued
TL;DR: The Harvard transfer acceptance rate sits near 0.8 percent – in a recent cycle roughly 1,900 applicants competed for 15 offers, and Harvard itself describes admitting about 12 transfer students in an average year (Harvard College Admissions, 2026). Eligibility is narrow: one to two years of full-time study at a liberal-arts-style institution, fall entry … Continued
TL;DR: The Rice interview is the only one in this tier that the school openly recommends: optional and not guaranteed, but explicitly encouraged for first-year applicants (Rice Office of Admission, 2026). It is also one you request yourself – submit your application, get portal access within about 48 hours, and reserve a slot from late … Continued
TL;DR: There is no Columbia interview. Columbia College and Columbia Engineering discontinued their alumni interview program effective with the 2023-24 admissions cycle, announced May 18, 2023, and the admissions site states plainly that interviews are not part of the application process (Columbia Undergraduate Admissions, 2026). The rationale was equity: application volume had grown so large … Continued
TL;DR: The Dartmouth interview is an alumni-run conversation you cannot request: once you apply, your contact information goes to volunteer admissions ambassadors, and an alumnus or current student emails you directly – Dartmouth explicitly advises checking your junk folder (Dartmouth Admissions, 2026). Early Decision interviews cluster around November; Regular Decision runs early December through mid-February. … Continued
TL;DR: The Cornell interview is a split policy. For nearly every applicant, personal interviews are not required and not available – Cornell says so directly (Cornell Undergraduate Admissions FAQ, 2026). The one exception is the five-year B.Arch. program in the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, where a video interview is required: a short recorded … Continued
TL;DR: The Duke interview is optional, invitation-only, and entirely virtual or by phone: after you apply, capacity-limited slots are prioritized for applicants about whom the Admissions Office needs additional information, and an Alumni Admissions Advisory Committee volunteer contacts you by email or phone (Duke Undergraduate Admissions, 2026). Early Decision conversations run late October into early … Continued
TL;DR: The Yale interview is invitation-only: you cannot request one, and because interviewing capacity is limited, Yale prioritizes conversations with applicants about whom the Admissions Committee would value additional information (Yale Undergraduate Admissions, 2026). Interviews run through two channels – the Alumni Schools Committee where local alumni volunteers exist, and Yale Senior Interviewers who meet … Continued
TL;DR: The Princeton interview is optional and works through a mechanism no peer school uses: an opt-out checkbox in the Princeton-specific Questions on your application (Princeton Admission, 2026). If you do not opt out, you may receive an email invitation from the Princeton Alumni Schools Committee for an informal 30-45 minute conversation, in person locally … Continued
TL;DR: There is no Brown interview – and unlike its no-interview peers, Brown replaced it with something you can act on. Alumni interviews, suspended in 2020, were permanently eliminated in October 2022 after a cycle in which more than 8,000 applicants requested one and never got it (The Brown Daily Herald, 2022). In their place … Continued
TL;DR: The Georgetown transfer acceptance rate ran roughly 13 percent in a recent fall cycle – 2,241 applied, 296 were admitted – making Georgetown one of the most genuinely attainable transfer targets in the elite tier (Georgetown Office of Undergraduate Admissions, 2026). The rules are distinctive: Georgetown reviews about 2,500 transfer files a year across … Continued
TL;DR: The College Admissions Transparency Index grades 50 of the most selective universities in the United States on how openly, quickly, and accessibly they disclose admissions data and how clearly they explain their process to applicants. In the 2026 edition, Yale, MIT, and Georgia Tech tie for the top score (96, A), eight universities go … Continued
Nearly every college that requires the SAT or ACT builds in escape valves: Penn's hardship waiver, Columbia's waiver route, Georgetown's international access exception, transfer exemptions at Cornell, Johns Hopkins, and UNC, and substitute-evidence paths at Harvard and Dartmouth. A field guide.
Princeton remains test optional for applicants entering in fall 2027, then requires the SAT or ACT beginning with the 2027-28 admissions cycle (fall 2028 entry) for first-year and transfer applicants. See the exact timeline, Princeton's score choice and superscore rules, and how each graduating class should plan.
Yale pioneered test-flexible admissions in 2024, letting applicants substitute AP or IB scores for the SAT, then ended the experiment in May 2026 and now requires the SAT or ACT. Learn why the model strained, which schools still run flexible tracks, and how to use the surviving menus well.