As competition to bag a spot at Yale or Harvard grows ever fiercer, parents are spending thousands of dollars on white-glove consultants to help their kids access an Ivy League school. Some lavish as much as $750,000 on mentors who deliver college prep classes on kids as young as 12, such is the desire for a top-notch education. But even with excellent GPAs and hours invested at clubs, nonprofits, and on practicing the violin or a golf swing, many aspiring Ivy Leaguers still don't make the cut. There are just too many over-achievers and not enough places at the top eight colleges and the four extra 'Ivy Plus' schools. These are Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and MIT, as well as the University of Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania. Only about 3 percent of applicants get into Harvard these days, entry data shows. Top schools receive tens of thousands of applications each cycle, leaving admissions officers with only about ten minutes — sometimes less — to evaluate each candidate. Candidates who don't hook a tutor in the first three minutes are likely doomed, insiders claim. 'At Harvard, Princeton, Yale, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), you can't game it,' says John Morganelli, the admissions director at Ivy Tutors Network. 'The quality of the applicant pool is so high and their intellectual curiosity is so authentic. The admissions readers can tell the difference between who's gaming it and who's got the goods.' The Daily Mail asked Morganelli and other admissions consultants — Marc Zawel of AcceptU, and Gabe Cramer of Command Education — why some applicants get rejected even when they tick all the right boxes... The tell-tale 'nepo baby' internship Scoring an internship at Google may seem to be a surefire way to impress an admissions tutor. But it could also make you look like a well-connected nepo baby whose dad pulled the right strings. 'Admissions officers can easily spot when an internship is the result of a parent's connections rather than a student's merit,' says Cramer. One of the most obvious red flags is an applicant who says they're passionate about climate change, but then lists an internship at a high-powered law firm. That looks more like family connections than the young applicant pursuing their interests. 'Many students should just forget the internship,' adds Morganelli, the author of Growing Ivy, a how-to guide. It can be much more impactful to do a series of interviews with experts in your local area who work in a field that the applicant is interested in, he explained. A 4.0 GPA doesn't cut it anymore A GPA of 4.0 was once a benchmark of excellence that showed a student received an A+ in every class. Times have changed, says Morganelli, and a 4.0 nowadays 'basically doesn't mean anything.' It's become a baseline for admission to any top school. That's because of grade inflation — GPAs have gone up even as average test scores have gone down. In 2016, nearly half of high-schoolers had a 4.0 GPA. In 2021, the average GPA was 3.36. Applicants must go further and be 'actively seeking out competitive and academically rigorous' courses, says Cramer. They can also consider Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) courses. Picking the wrong Ivy League school What works at Columbia University doesn't resonate at Yale, and vice versa, warns Zawel, author of Untangling the Ivy League. A strong candidate for Yale might be passionate about the humanities and public speaking, whereas Brown is looking for self-directed learners who seek flexibility in their courses. 'Each has its own culture and academic priorities,' says Zawel. 'Admissions officers can tell when a student applies just because it's an Ivy, versus having a genuine understanding of how that particular college aligns with their goals.' The cringeworthy 'passion project' Applicants increasingly embark on projects to distinguish themselves from others and demonstrate their heartfelt zeal for a subject. This can involve organizing a protest over LGBTQ rights or creating a YouTube channel for science fiction writers. When they're done well, and are authentic, passion projects give candidates a boost, says Cramer. But too many students embark on one to tick a box on a checklist, and they can backfire. 'When it's obvious that a student built a fancy website or launched a vague initiative just to pad their application, a passion project can hurt more than it helps,' Cramer told the New York Post. Did C-3PO write that? Students are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to craft essays and college applications. Chatbots can shape your writing and provide a rough outline, but it's best to use them sparingly and to submit writing with individual flavor. Zawel says admissions officers can spot AI-written text a mile off, as they 'value authenticity.' 'Overreliance on generative AI can result in polished but impersonal essays,' he says. 'It's better to share genuine experiences and insights, even if the language isn't flawless, than to submit something that reads like a marketing brochure.' Half-hearted teacher letters College admissions tutors have long seen teacher recommendation letters as one of the best ways to select from a pool of strong candidates. But high-schoolers should be careful about which teacher they ask to write about them, says Zawel, as only a 'well-crafted, detailed recommendation can be a major differentiator.' 'Generic praise won't cut it,' he told DailyMail.com. 'The strongest recommendations come from teachers who know a student well — ideally over multiple years and/or in different contexts — and can provide specific examples of growth. They're called 'majors' for a reason Many schools ask candidates to declare their intended 'major' subject on their initial application, even though specialist courses may not begin until the sophomore year. If that's the case, Zawel warns applicants to choose their major wisely. Selecting a highly competitive major, such as business, computer science, biology, or engineering, can hurt a candidate's chances. That's because they 'can have much lower admit rates than the overall university,' he says. Still, don't go too far in the other direction and select a less-competitive major, hoping for an easy path to an elite school, adds Morganelli. 'You can't just put down anthropology hoping that they won't see many anthropology applicants,' he says. 'The admissions officer is going to want to see evidence that you're genuinely interested in the subject, and have been going to cultural centers and interviewing people about anthropology.' Too much information Some applicants try too hard to impress admissions tutors with an elaborate list of their exploits and interests. A high-schooler might reel off their roles in debate club, student government, the chess team, the school newspaper, volunteer groups, and a music ensembles. Rather than looking accomplished, this can leave them cast as a jack of all trades. Worse still, it can appear inauthentic and desperate. 'Rather than accumulating a laundry list of activities, students should focus on a handful of meaningful involvements that align with their interests,' says Zawel. 'Colleges want to see sustained commitment and tangible impact, particularly when it connects to a student's academic aspirations.