Against many expectations stemming from the current situation with COVID-19 and lockdowns which are still in place in many countries, universities around the world have never seen a larger pool of applicants. This led to plummeting admissions rates and 2021 was the most competitive year for university admissions in history and this trend is only expected to continue now that we are nearing 2022.
Top universities have seen a 30-60% increase in the number of applications, accelerating the surge in applications that we have been seeing in current years. For example, only 8 years ago NYU had an acceptance rate of 35% which in 2021 dropped to an extremely competitive 12.8%.
Considering that most of our students come from developing countries and financially challenged circumstances, they rely heavily on scholarships that most often need to be either full-ride or full-tuition. Receiving these scholarships has been incredibly difficult during these past two years as universities have been battling with the pandemic and have been cut off from many of their regular income streams. This meant that there were more of the students who could pay for tuition and fewer of those who couldn't, continuing to increase the social and wealth gap.
Overcoming all of these challenges makes us so proud to announce that our students have been able to receive offers from some of the top universities in the world (Oxford, Cambridge, Sorbonne, TU Delft, Bocconi, etc.) and receive over $750,000 in scholarships this year only, triple the amount we were able to collect in 2020!
Each of our students worked closely with our team which included strategists, mentors and essay consultants, focusing on perfecting their tests scores, designing a suitable set of extracurricular activities and writing captivating personal essays. For months, both our students and the team worked extremely hard to make all of this happen and we want to congratulate everyone again. All of them have already moved to their campuses and it's been a pleasure seeing how excited and happy they all are.
In case you wish to learn more about how we help students improve their applications and chances of studying at top universities, visit our website or contact us here. In the following weeks, we will be sharing our students' stories and how Equedu helped them to reach their dream universities.