Looking Beyond The Ivy League

From access to world-class facilities, powerful alumni networks and competitive internship opportunities, top universities put graduates in good standing to achieve their career goals.

With Ivy League acceptance rates as low as 4.5%, other universities offer highly competitive alternative programmes, career pathways and resources which are more suited towards individual students looking to find their best-fit university overseas.

“What students don’t realise is that there is a world of choice beyond the Ivy League universities as well as Oxford and Cambridge,” says Rebecca Pretorius Country Manager for Crimson Education, South Africa. “Picking a university is an extremely personal process, one that requires you to think about numerous factors and their overall importance to your happiness, education and success.”

Crimson Education, a global mentoring company, specialises in building the candidacy of students for acceptance to international universities. The company’s driving motivation is to support students from around the world to dream big about their education and future careers.

With steep competition from every corner of the globe, students have a lot to demonstrate; “Overseas universities, particularly in the US, look for well-rounded candidates with academic competency and an ability to make an impact outside the classroom,” says Pretorius.

This is why admission mentoring with Crimson covers all aspects of the candidacy building and application, including school academics, standardised and admissions tests, personal statement and essay-writing and extracurricular and leadership. Through a team mentorship model, students connect with Crimson admission strategists, tutors and mentors to assist them with the complex application process for top universities abroad. Each students’ team is made up of alumni and students from top universities and colleges, which include Harvard, Columbia, and Oxford.

“The key to success is preparation and planning. Students and parents often underestimate how long it takes, what’s involved and how competitive it is to successfully apply to an international university. Universities abroad are very competitive – many years of academic and extracurricular preparation go into a strong application. When successful, the educational and funding opportunities open to enrolled students are significant,” says Pretorius.

The Crimson team supports students applying to universities across the US and UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Austria, Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands. They also assist students with applying to institutions in Denmark, Finland and Sweden, as well as China.

With a presence in 30 cities, the company launched in South Africa in 2018, with their head office in Johannesburg and a satellite office in Cape Town. Crimson offers regular webinars with educational experts, Crimson alumni and former Ivy League admissions officers, on a range of relevant and interesting admission and application topics. For more information, visit www.crimsoneducation.org, email southafrica@crimsoneducation.org.

Fun facts for finding your best-fit university:

• The University of Chicago has produced more Nobel Prize winners in economics than any other university.
• Kings College London played a major role in the discovery of the structure of DNA and spearheaded the research that led to the development of radio, television and mobile phones.
• University of Michigan has one of the largest alumni networks in the world, including the CEO of Google.
• 5% of students enrolled at a Dutch university of applied sciences or research university came from abroad.
• University of Edinburgh’s highest ranked degree is linguistics, currently placing in the top five worldwide.
• Northwestern University’s famous alumni include Stephen Colbert, Meghan Duchess of Sussex and Pharrell from across their journalism and theatre faculties.
• University of Manchester’s nursing degree is ranked fourth in the world.
• University College London had 29 Nobel laureates and encourages interdisciplinary study.
• Nearly 359 000 international students study at German higher education institutions.
• Williams College is the number one liberal arts college in the US, adopting the infamous tutoring system of Oxford and Cambridge. Tutorials usually consist of you, another student or two, and a professor in a small setting.
• University of Bristol graduates are among the highest paid in the UK.
• Imperial College London focuses on the four future proofed fields of science, engineering, medicine and business.
• Students interested in conservation and zoology should consider Duke University. Their Lemur Centre is home to the largest and most diverse population outside of their native Madagascar, more than 240 rare Lemurs.