Getting into an Ivy League or any other top university has become increasingly competitive over the years. Every year, thousands of students from across the world compete for a limited number of places. From perfect grades to building portfolios packed with extracurricular activities, they do it all. Yet only a few manage to crack the code and secure a place at the world’s most selective colleges.
That’s where Jamie Beaton enters – a Rhodes Scholar from New Zealand who co-founded Crimson Education in 2013 after navigating the admissions process himself.
Beaton has built his business around helping students navigate this increasingly competitive admissions race. College admissions have changed significantly over the years. The strategy that worked ten years ago, or even two years ago, might not work today.
Addressing a room full of parents and students, some as young as nine and others already in their mid-teens, Beaton was able to instill hope that getting into a good college is no longer just a matter of luck, but something that can be strategically planned.
Beaton and his team of counsellors, many of whom are admissions experts from top universities such as Stanford, MIT, Oxford and the Ivy League, work with students to shape their academic and extracurricular journeys in ways that help them stand out from the thousands of others applying for the same spots.
According to Beaton, what a student really needs beyond good grades is a diverse mix of research, leadership, national and international honours, and a strong capstone project.
Beaton said that when he meets students from India, he is often bombarded with a list of achievements, Olympiads they are participating in, NGOs they have founded, Model UNs, leadership roles, internships and awards.
But despite trying hard, he said, many of these students lack the cohesive strategy needed to stand out when applying to top colleges. Citing the example of one of his students from India, who had developed a passion for sociology, folklore and mythology at a very young age, he said she was able to build achievements around those core themes, including research papers and work with The Concord Review, which eventually helped her gain admission to Stanford.
This is Beaton’s core message to students: find your “unique” niche, strategically choosing areas where you can excel. Something that puts you ahead of your peers, like the example he cited above. When students are competing with others who are doing the same activities, he said, it becomes harder to stand out. Finding these niches, he believes, can help students differentiate themselves and improve their chances of getting into top universities.
However, Beaton doesn’t think students should stop experimenting, nor is he suggesting they spend their teenage years doing things they dislike. In fact, he encourages them to try a wide range of things early on.
But by 14, if a student is serious about getting into a school like Yale, he believes their choices have to become more strategic. If debating isn’t their strength, for instance, and they could spend that same time doing something they are naturally better at, he believes they should choose the latter. His point is to find something they genuinely enjoy, and then find the space where they can compete, stand out and win.
Crimson students have a seven-times-higher acceptance rate to Ivy League and Ivy+ schools compared with the general applicant pool. For the Class of 2030, Crimson students have already received 1,661 offers from the top 30 universities.
This trust, however, was not built overnight or by Beaton alone. He has quite a few big numbers and names to back it up. The company has a valuation of $554 million, raised from some of the biggest funds and investors in the world, including Tiger Global Management, Icehouse Ventures, former New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and Verlinvest, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Despite being one of the biggest players in the college admissions space, Crimson also has programmes aimed at students who may not otherwise be able to afford its services. Through its Crimson Access Opportunity Scholarship, the company supports more than 200 students pro bono each year. In Beaton’s home country of New Zealand, the Te Ara a Kupe Beaton Scholarship has helped 13 Māori students make their way to Ivy League universities.
Crimson also offers students a range of free resources, from seminars and books authored by Beaton himself to podcasts and social media content, giving students access to advice and insights even if they aren’t working directly with the organisation.
While Beaton discourages students from using AI to write their essays, he sees a role for it behind the scenes. He said Crimson counsellors have access to an AI co-pilot that helps them to make better recommendations to students.
Crimson also actively teaches students how to use AI to build websites, apps and other projects, and encourages them to explore the technology. Beaton’s hesitation is mainly around essays, where he believes the process of thinking and writing is as important as the final output.
The conversation also moved beyond high school students. What about someone who discovers the Ivy League much later in life, in their late 20s, 30s or even 50s? His answer was simple: it is never too late to be a student. He pointed to people he knows who went to Cambridge or Oxford later in life and said Crimson works with students across different ages.
Amid Trump’s continued crackdown on universities, Beaton said demand for top universities has remained strong. Crimson has seen record application numbers for around five years in a row and has continued to grow since it started in 2013.
Apart from all the impressive credentials Beaton is decorated with, he is also remarkably easy to talk to. A few minutes after I settled into the seminar room, Beaton came and sat down next to me. He was obviously waiting to be called up on stage. But before that happened, I found a few moments to catch up with him. He told me how much he loves India and how much potential he sees in its students.
For someone who has built a career around helping students get into some of the world’s most selective universities, and a man with 13 degrees himself from top Ivy Leagues, Beaton and his team remain deeply invested in helping students find their way through the admissions process.
The almost two-hour session left parents and students confident that admission to an Ivy League university or another top college is not just a far-fetched dream, but a possibility with the right guidance.
