{"id":431,"date":"2025-08-14T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hotellascolinas.com\/?p=431"},"modified":"2025-08-15T15:12:53","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T15:12:53","slug":"applicants-approach-elite-colleges-with-greater-trepidation-amid-fights-with-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.hotellascolinas.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/14\/applicants-approach-elite-colleges-with-greater-trepidation-amid-fights-with-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Applicants approach elite colleges with greater trepidation amid fights with Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some\u00a0college applicants are\u00a0reconsidering\u00a0certain institutions or\u00a0changing their application strategies\u00a0as President Trump\u00a0wages war against higher education<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Consultants hired to help students\u00a0gain admission\u00a0to elite institutions say they have seen some shifts in interest, stemming from concerns about funding, peer pressure and a waning belief in the need for a degree from specific\u00a0prestige\u00a0universities.\u00a0Applicants\u00a0have\u00a0also cited visa pauses<\/a>\u00a0and the rise in tension on campuses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my experience, it has had a huge effect,\u201d said Kanishka Elupula, a college admissions consultant at The Ivy Institute, who works with U.S. students, along with applicants from India, Japan and countries in the Middle East.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Students \u201casked me if it’s a good idea to apply, and later they told me they’re worried about it, they’re scared about it, and I know that several people have chosen not to apply to the U.S. this year. In fact, even some American students are considering applying to European universities. So there’s definitely been an effect,\u201d Elupula added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Harvard, Columbia, the University of California, the University of Pennsylvania and others have, collectively,\u00a0had the federal government pause\u00a0billions of dollars<\/a>\u00a0in grants and other funding for\u00a0various reasons, from\u00a0campus antisemitism\u00a0to\u00a0diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Only two universities \u2014 Columbia and\u00a0Brown<\/a> \u2014 have been able to\u00a0get\u00a0funding restored,\u00a0by agreeing to big payouts and changes to institutional policies, such as protest rules and admissions and hiring processes. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The funding pauses have led to concerns about\u00a0research funding, especially for graduate students. But actions against foreign students, such as a pause in visa applications and threats to force international individuals out of Harvard, have also taken their toll.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Taimur Ahmed, CEO of Ivy League Consulting and former Harvard admissions interviewer,\u00a0told The Hill he pairs students seeking to apply\u00a0to\u00a0an Ivy League\u00a0school\u00a0with current or former students so they hear recent firsthand experiences about the institutions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the former international students with\u00a0whom\u00a0Ahmed worked\u00a0lost a job after Harvard said it could no longer sponsor her visa due to funding cuts.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause she’s one of my mentors, she’s having an impact by being honest about her experiences to the students, so many students who perhaps were not Harvard-bound are just no longer applying,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

At least two of the nation’s elite universities said they are not seeing evidence of changes in admissions behavior.<\/p>\n

A Columbia official told The Hill the 2025 admissions cycle is the fourth highest ever of applicants looking to go to Columbia College and the university’s engineering program. The institution is expecting a fully enrolled incoming class, as well. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be irresponsible to attempt to draw conclusions regarding the trends among an admitted student pool of more than 2,500 students\u2014or an applicant pool of nearly 60,000 students\u2014based on a handful of\u00a0anecdotal\u00a0stories from paid consultants, who sell their services to families,\u201d the official said. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0University of California<\/a>\u00a0also boasts\u00a0of a\u00a0strong numbers for fall 2025 admissions, noting the fall 2026 window is from August to end of December.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cUnderstandably, the federal administration\u2019s actions have caused uncertainty and have the potential to inflict great harm on the UC community as well as all Americans. We will continue to do everything we can to protect vital federal investments that support students, grow research and preserve access to essential health care services,\u201d a spokesperson for the university system said. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Amid trepidation, many high schoolers\u00a0are still applying but taking different strategies as they move through the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is happening is most students are still keeping many of these universities on their college lists. But then the shift is going from, instead of applying to some of these schools, early action or early decision, they’re applying to them regular decision,”\u00a0said Allen Koh, CEO of Cardinal Education.\u00a0“And the shift has been when people have an acceptance from, let’s say Columbia or Duke. Look historically, people almost would always pick Columbia,” but now, it\u2019s a toss-up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These consultants say their advice to students is to try to drown out the noise from the media and family, as elite American\u00a0institutions will survive this moment and are still highly regarded.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Elupula said any shift in admissions could actually open doors for some applicants.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you’re willing to take the risk that any of these things could go wrong, then the good thing is, you’ll have a higher chance of acceptance into a top university, because competition from international students has fallen significantly,\u201d he\u00a0said. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Institutions\u00a0could also look to enroll more individuals to make up for\u00a0lost funding.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI had more students get off the waitlist at Brown than I’ve ever seen before. There was definitely more waitlist activity. And of course, this is anecdotal, and I’m a data person, but my anecdotal experience was that there was more waitlist activity than typical. And that would not surprise me, based on some of the funding issues the schools were dealing with.\u201d said John Morganelli, head of college admissions at Ivy Tutors Network and former Cornell Arts & Sciences director of admissions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Duke, for the first time in its history, reopened its waitlist to accept 50 additional students into the class of 2029,\u00a0he said,\u00a0although it did not say if financial pressure played a role in that decision. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat never happens, but the concept of,\u00a0‘We’re struggling with funding from a federal level, how do we make that up?’ The answer is always enrollment,\u201d Morganelli added.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some\u00a0college applicants are\u00a0reconsidering\u00a0certain institutions or\u00a0changing their application strategies\u00a0as President Trump\u00a0wages war against higher education. Consultants…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hotellascolinas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hotellascolinas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hotellascolinas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hotellascolinas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hotellascolinas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.hotellascolinas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":432,"href":"http:\/\/www.hotellascolinas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions\/432"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hotellascolinas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hotellascolinas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hotellascolinas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hotellascolinas.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}