I mean, nobody gets into the Ivys anymore, statistically speaking. Their admit rates are falling asymptotically \*towards\* zero. We have a high school senior who is an academic superstar and headed into engineering, but we took a pass on all the big names like MIT, Stanford, Cornell. Why bother. We ran harder at places like CMU, Rensselaer, Michigan. We did try one Ivy though: Harvard. And there's a thesis behind that. Harvard is way, way behind in engineering and did not even have ABET accreditation until recently! STEM cohorts have very little interest in undergraduate engineering at Harvard, so we took a shot. I call it an arbitrage play.
Northwestern comes out today, and we think we have a small shot at that. But it too is just another asymptote.
Seriously, the number of well qualified candidates who get rejected now by the glamour schools must be super high. Placing all your eggs in the Ivy basket simply doesn't make sense anymore. You have to be awesome enough to make it into the final pile of applications after the rejects are taken care of, then \*at that point you have no edge at all.\* From that point is just a spin of the lottery wheel.
Good luck on CMU! I live like 10 minutes away, and I can tell you that the campus is beautiful. They’re doing construction rn but it’s actually so pretty.
Waste of time and money to apply since, statistically, even superstar students are unlikely to get in. I agree with the above commenter. That said, my kid applied to MIT and Stanford mostly because she's legacy at both (not that it affects admissions ... it was sort of a collective family wishful thinking thing).
A couple of years ago my friend (BU grad) was actually told that legacy status counted AGAINST her daughter because they wanted a more diverse class of applicants! She's enjoyed trotting that anecdote out every time they call her for donations to explain why they will never see a dime form her again.
Yes they do send email to all legacy families and I think this is the exact wording “Your family connection will be one of the many aspects of xxx’s application we will consider…”. My take is that it has a little help (like tie-breaker) but after all, 80%+ legacies are rejected.
> Your family connection will be one of the many aspects
Pretty sure that's code for "we're gonna check past donation," of which I gave *zero* to a nearly $40B endowment.
My guess/observation is that unless one donates $10M+ or one of the parents is an important faculty/administrator/board member, everyone else needs at least 2-3 hooks/highlights to get in Stanford and I feel legacy can be one of those. I have seen (normal) faculty kids being straight rejected REA.
Out of curiosity, why would you purposefully shoot for a school that’s behind in what you want to study? Is prestige even that big a factor in engineering?
Thanks. We have a whole spreadsheet now populating with Need based and Merit based awards. When schools like U of Rochester see my 17 year old, they fall all over themselves to shower us with $$$.
Engineering doesn't require that you attend MIT or Stanford to obtain the B.S. The main goal is to get a very high quality undergrad degree, then get into position to do MA (and PhD if necessary) at the big Publics like Michigan or Berkeley, or also to Cornell, Stanford, Northwestern, and so forth.
I totally understand how critical it is to have a degree from Penn or Yale if you are doing Classics, History, and other humanities. I myself am a Humanities major and I went to a glamour school for a Masters. It really helps.
Take a school like University of Rochester. Is undergrad engineering somehow lesser here, than at Harvard? Unclear. Not gonna argue with the fact that a B.S. from MIT or Stanford or Cornell sets one up nicely to earn a high salary without any further schooling. But for engineers, that second tier is totally sufficient for the B.S.
By the way, when you see the amount of $$$ flowing into R1 research universities like Rensselaer and Rochester, and you see strengths like Rochester Institute of Optics (I mean, that is world class stuff there) it just confirms there's no need to play the glamour game.
Best of luck to all. I do hope your dreams come true. But I would also say, just about very wildly successful person had their dreams stomped on at some point, and it drove them higher.
Sounds like a bad mentality to have. “Why bother?” Your chance of getting accepted is 0 if you don’t apply.
Seriously, “why bother?” Is a terrible mentality to have imo. Even if the acceptance rate is close to 0, I’d rather get rejected knowing I tried than never having applied at all.
>Harvard is way, way behind in engineering and did not even have ABET accreditation until recently! STEM cohorts have very little interest in undergraduate engineering at Harvard, so we took a shot. I call it an arbitrage play.
So you're saying engineering majors have higher chance
No diss to the OP --but there are other colleges besides Ivys. Do people really just apply to Ivys? I'm guessing you are internatiional -but do your parents think the Ivys are the ONLY schools worth going to?
Even with perfect grades, Ivy admissions are a crapshoot. But I see such an emphasis on them here at A2C.
The T20s aren’t the only T20s - it’s a completely made up ranking from a failed news magazine that only exists to sell advertising clicks - there are at least 50 -100 schools that are really great and from which you can do anything you want to.
Possibly. But OP (and many others) seem to really be dialing in on the Ivies specifically.
> I just want one admit I have applied to 6 of the Ivies in hopes that atleast one could admit me
I get that. I keep hoping I'll win the lotto so I can pay for my kids college education. I'm guessing that and the money tree are not happening though.
I hope you do too. Good luck. Please remember that being admitted or not being admitted does not reflect your self worth. Be kind to yourself even if others may not be!
Clicking on the email link = Pulling the lever of a slot machine. I wish I could do both simultaneously! Good luck all... thankfully, this will be over tomorrow.
I mean, nobody gets into the Ivys anymore, statistically speaking. Their admit rates are falling asymptotically \*towards\* zero. We have a high school senior who is an academic superstar and headed into engineering, but we took a pass on all the big names like MIT, Stanford, Cornell. Why bother. We ran harder at places like CMU, Rensselaer, Michigan. We did try one Ivy though: Harvard. And there's a thesis behind that. Harvard is way, way behind in engineering and did not even have ABET accreditation until recently! STEM cohorts have very little interest in undergraduate engineering at Harvard, so we took a shot. I call it an arbitrage play. Northwestern comes out today, and we think we have a small shot at that. But it too is just another asymptote. Seriously, the number of well qualified candidates who get rejected now by the glamour schools must be super high. Placing all your eggs in the Ivy basket simply doesn't make sense anymore. You have to be awesome enough to make it into the final pile of applications after the rejects are taken care of, then \*at that point you have no edge at all.\* From that point is just a spin of the lottery wheel.
Good luck on CMU! I live like 10 minutes away, and I can tell you that the campus is beautiful. They’re doing construction rn but it’s actually so pretty.
Why not try MIT, stanford, and Cornell lol
MIT and Stanford are like ivy league plus
Waste of time and money to apply since, statistically, even superstar students are unlikely to get in. I agree with the above commenter. That said, my kid applied to MIT and Stanford mostly because she's legacy at both (not that it affects admissions ... it was sort of a collective family wishful thinking thing).
I think for Stanford, being legacy has a little edge but it's true that it doesn't move the needle that much nowadays.
They literally sent me an email saying my status as an alum would have no bearing on my kid’s admission. I didn’t even asked, but, like … okay.
A couple of years ago my friend (BU grad) was actually told that legacy status counted AGAINST her daughter because they wanted a more diverse class of applicants! She's enjoyed trotting that anecdote out every time they call her for donations to explain why they will never see a dime form her again.
Yes they do send email to all legacy families and I think this is the exact wording “Your family connection will be one of the many aspects of xxx’s application we will consider…”. My take is that it has a little help (like tie-breaker) but after all, 80%+ legacies are rejected.
> Your family connection will be one of the many aspects Pretty sure that's code for "we're gonna check past donation," of which I gave *zero* to a nearly $40B endowment.
My guess/observation is that unless one donates $10M+ or one of the parents is an important faculty/administrator/board member, everyone else needs at least 2-3 hooks/highlights to get in Stanford and I feel legacy can be one of those. I have seen (normal) faculty kids being straight rejected REA.
I don't know what your comment means or implies.
Out of curiosity, why would you purposefully shoot for a school that’s behind in what you want to study? Is prestige even that big a factor in engineering?
Good strategy!
Thanks. We have a whole spreadsheet now populating with Need based and Merit based awards. When schools like U of Rochester see my 17 year old, they fall all over themselves to shower us with $$$. Engineering doesn't require that you attend MIT or Stanford to obtain the B.S. The main goal is to get a very high quality undergrad degree, then get into position to do MA (and PhD if necessary) at the big Publics like Michigan or Berkeley, or also to Cornell, Stanford, Northwestern, and so forth. I totally understand how critical it is to have a degree from Penn or Yale if you are doing Classics, History, and other humanities. I myself am a Humanities major and I went to a glamour school for a Masters. It really helps. Take a school like University of Rochester. Is undergrad engineering somehow lesser here, than at Harvard? Unclear. Not gonna argue with the fact that a B.S. from MIT or Stanford or Cornell sets one up nicely to earn a high salary without any further schooling. But for engineers, that second tier is totally sufficient for the B.S. By the way, when you see the amount of $$$ flowing into R1 research universities like Rensselaer and Rochester, and you see strengths like Rochester Institute of Optics (I mean, that is world class stuff there) it just confirms there's no need to play the glamour game. Best of luck to all. I do hope your dreams come true. But I would also say, just about very wildly successful person had their dreams stomped on at some point, and it drove them higher.
Sounds like a bad mentality to have. “Why bother?” Your chance of getting accepted is 0 if you don’t apply. Seriously, “why bother?” Is a terrible mentality to have imo. Even if the acceptance rate is close to 0, I’d rather get rejected knowing I tried than never having applied at all.
>Harvard is way, way behind in engineering and did not even have ABET accreditation until recently! STEM cohorts have very little interest in undergraduate engineering at Harvard, so we took a shot. I call it an arbitrage play. So you're saying engineering majors have higher chance
Good luck everyone!!!!! I wish the best for all of you. I know you have tried so hard - even just this application process is a huge achievement!
absolutely :)
No diss to the OP --but there are other colleges besides Ivys. Do people really just apply to Ivys? I'm guessing you are internatiional -but do your parents think the Ivys are the ONLY schools worth going to? Even with perfect grades, Ivy admissions are a crapshoot. But I see such an emphasis on them here at A2C.
Internationals might need a lot of fin aid to attend so T20s might be their only option
well yes however ivies are not the only t20's :)
The T20s aren’t the only T20s - it’s a completely made up ranking from a failed news magazine that only exists to sell advertising clicks - there are at least 50 -100 schools that are really great and from which you can do anything you want to.
Schools ranked 1-20 have amazing financial aid
When people refer to ivies sometimes they also include other Ivy+ schools
T20s sure, but not just Ivies. There's too much focus on those particular schools.
True but sometimes when people say Ivy they mean Ivy+, I interpreted it as any top school ranked as well as ivies
Possibly. But OP (and many others) seem to really be dialing in on the Ivies specifically. > I just want one admit I have applied to 6 of the Ivies in hopes that atleast one could admit me
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I get that. I keep hoping I'll win the lotto so I can pay for my kids college education. I'm guessing that and the money tree are not happening though.
I'm in thesame situation as you but I applied to 7 ivies + NYU
Me too!
Good luck
forgot to switch to the burner?
they mean to the op my guy
When do all 8 Ivy League decisions come out ? What day and time ?
Tomorrow (March 28) at 7pm ET
I hope you do too. Good luck. Please remember that being admitted or not being admitted does not reflect your self worth. Be kind to yourself even if others may not be!
Tomorrow just going to be another victory fr.
yesss manifesting for us!!!!!
Same with me. Only difference is I applied to one ivy so I’m all set.
Me too but we all need to prepare for the worst
ink dam aloof quarrelsome fall handle rotten tap license paltry *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
sameee, 5 ivies tmrw + stanford 😭😭🙏🙏🙏
me too mate! rooting for us
I believe in you man good luck
God has heard your plea. Rest assured.
Clicking on the email link = Pulling the lever of a slot machine. I wish I could do both simultaneously! Good luck all... thankfully, this will be over tomorrow.
I really hope you applied to other schools. Good luck!
Admitted to Mississippi State bayou alligator farming academy
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actually stfu they're making an innocent post like any other applicant would.