<p>The pressure cooker reputation is sort of just what it sounds like. Cornell is known for being pretty intense academically, which I think makes sense given its isolation. </p>
<p>Dartmouth’s D plan is sort of hard to explain. I’ll go through it year by year.</p>
<p>Freshman year: Must be on campus, Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters. Can leave Summer quarter
Sophomore year: Can leave Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters. Must be on campus Summer quarter (Sophomore summer is like summer camp, I hear)
Junior year: Can leave Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer quarters.
Senior year: Must be on campus Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters.</p>
<p>A student can’t actually use all of these breaks because she would never get all her credits. 12 terms of academic study are required, and only three of the off-campus quarters can be breaks (three because that’s how many summers one would have on a typical schedule). All the others must be spent doing study abroad, on exchange, something like that. I think it sounds pretty amazing.</p>
<p>It might seem from my previous post that I’m only applying to Ivies. That’s not what I’m doing. All of my EA applications, for example, are to non-Ivies. Just thinking about what crimsonchin68 said about 4 of the top 10 not being Ivies, well, I’m applying to 2 of those schools. I don’t really get Ivy-specific backlash though. I don’t see why all those other “reach” or “name” or whatever schools in the Top 20 don’t get the same response.</p>
<p>just because most people don’t know the quality of these other schools. for those of us who live eat and breath college rankings we know that uchicago is better than 3 ivies, but some people haven’t even heard of it. MIT and stanford are given, but usually the highest prestige is accorded to ivies because of their reputation. recently a few kids i know have mistaken duke for an ivy. personally i’m only a fan of the ivies that give really good financial aid. if i’m not getting a good deal on my education i would rather go to a top state school like berkeley, unc, or uva because of the cost. the academic caliber is comparable in my opinion.</p>
<p>@ crimsonchiin68
yeah i agree with you. I wanted to do a major in computer animation and possibly languages but only some of the ivies catered to computer animation. Like they had it but it wasn’t as strong as Stanford. UPenn and Cornell were the strongest out of all the ivies for this program. It honestly depends on what u r majoring though. Hey did anyone apply to questbridge in this forum.</p>
<p>^ So, your one complaint is that, out of the top 10, people don’t know UChicago is awesome? It must be because the quality of MIT, Stanford, Caltech and Duke, as you stated is well known. UChicago isn’t less famous because it’s not an Ivy. If it were on the East Coast and hadn’t targeted “uncommon” applicants (as in its Uncommon Application and reputation for quirkiness, grade deflation, and being “where fun goes to die”) it would be as well known as the other top 10 schools. UChicago likes being what it is.
All of the top state schools you listed are about as costly as the Ivies out of state. They also don’t usually have as much FA to offer to OOS students. As far as the stereotypical pretentious attitude of Ivies goes, the stereotypical UVa and UNC students are rich preppy types. As for reputation, UVa, UNC, and UCB are all recognized by the average person. Not as much as HYP, no, but perhaps as much as Dartmouth, Brown, and Cornell.
As for FA, the Ivies which you seem to be the mot opposed to, the most well known ones, are also the ones of which you state you’re a fan: [Ivy</a> League Financial Aid Policies](<a href=“http://www.admissionsconsultants.com/college/ivy_league_financial_aid.asp]Ivy”>http://www.admissionsconsultants.com/college/ivy_league_financial_aid.asp) Check out who gives the most FA.</p>
<p>I don’t really see what the legitimate parts of your complaints have to do with Ivies. You just seem to dislike them for no reason.</p>
<p>hey
magical malik, i’m sudanese too! haha i was born and raised in ohio, but moved to dubai recently…
you gotta get those SAT scores up for the ivy’s, but if you study, you can do better…</p>
<p>you’re not really international when they look at the application, but they will see that you’re the child of sudanese immigrants, i don’t know if that will work for us or against us. </p>
<p>Has everyone submitted their applications? common app?</p>
<p>I haven’t yet US college admissions are alot more self-determined where I’m at (and International School in Germany) since alot of people are going to the UK and continental Europe. I should have submitted all of my apps within the next month though.</p>
<p>I guess I should introduce myself as well I’m an american who’s lived in Germany for the past four years. I hope to major in Theater & Performance studies and Psychology and trying to figure out whether I should also do pre-med courses (I might want to go into psychiatry). </p>
<p>On a funny/sad note, I’m the only National Achievement Semi-finalist in Germany. Not sure if that says more about me or about the black-american population (which admittedly isn’t that large) of Germany :P</p>
That’s what I’VE been saying. Seriously. You know sucky it is to come from Chicago/Indiana (BEFORE it got THIS bad) with the Europeans, Asians, Hispanics (and not just one race), Africans, and just ALL the diversity to just plain old Arizona. And EVERYONE goes to ASU. Like I KNOW I will get into ASU. I don’t wanna KNOW that I got in w/o breaking a sweat. I wanna know that the four years that I worked in school made a difference and that I applied to schools that the best students go to.</p>
<p>
[quote=That’s what I’VE been saying. Seriously. You know sucky it is to come from Chicago/Indiana (BEFORE it got THIS bad) with the Europeans, Asians, Hispanics (and not just one race), Africans, and just ALL the diversity to just plain old Arizona. And EVERYONE goes to ASU. Like I KNOW I will get into ASU. I don’t wanna KNOW that I got in w/o breaking a sweat. I wanna know that the four years that I worked in school made a difference and that I applied to schools that the best students go to.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I can’t wait to get out of Arizona. I’ve been here my entire life. One thing that sucks, is that my friends don’t get just how important being in a diverse area is to me.</p>
<p>millancad: it’s hard to explain how i feel about them. everyone knows they’re great, everyone knows they’re prestigious, everyone knows they have a lot of money. i just think people put undo emphasis on their prestige. there are more factors to selecting a college than mere prestige. i have several friends who went to ivies and are just plain unhappy because cornell’s weather is terrible, the work at harvard is unmanageable for her, or brown is really liberal and he doesn’t fit in with the people there. most people just think “hmmm, where can i go that’s really awesome academically?” and of course they think ivies, but they don’t consider that they will be doing things other than studying at these schools over the next four years. also consider what you want to study very carefully before you apply to any given college. Harvard may have excellent law and business programs, but are they offered to undergrads? and do you want to study computers or med? then you may want to consider carnegie mellon or jhu. and if you’re into international affaris then consider georgetown. “BUT THOSE AREN’T IVIES!!” some people will say. no. but for those programs they might as well be. and as for financial aid i know several people who got absolutely none from ivies so a kid who got into upenn went to case western because they gave him a full ride.</p>
<p>@cajun- you are soooo right. it’s so NOT diverse here. i can’t wait to leave. i like the 4 seasons anyway, but i’ll miss wearing capris on Christmas. Then again, i love snow and hoodies.</p>
<p>and @decanela- what a coincidence! i JUST got home from minnesota TODAY. it is HELLA diverse, but i don’t like macalester. i love the mall of america though haha.</p>
<p>Hey, how’d your october SATS go, everyone?
I can’t believe it, my SAT I score shot up 150 points, 1990 to 2140. I never imagined i could break the 2100. I can’t believe it…
Just worried about Nov SAT IIs :S</p>
<p>i’ve got a 670 bio, 690 math 1, 710 math 2.</p>
<p>they’re low i know but my mom’s convinced i shouldn’t take any more standardized tests. (she’s on the verge of not paying for anymore.)
plus i’m only sending sat’s to columbia & harvard.</p>
<p>@ decanela: Do you really want to retake? If you really do, and you can’t get your mother to pay, you might want to consider paying for the tests yourself. I forget how much they cost, but it’s pretty reasonable, even for high school students like ourselves.</p>
<p>If I were sending scores to Harvard (I actually sent my scores to Harvard about an hour ago), I would want them all to be over 750, but I probably wouldn’t retake a score like 710. However I would (and in fact did) retake a 690, albeit on a different test and next Saturday I will be retaking a 670, though for MIT, not Harvard, and on a different test. But my decisions were based on the standards I set for myself. You have to choose your own.</p>
<p>@juniorparent- 1. it was too small for me 2. it was more so the way the school handled the hosting situation (1. my flight was delayed so i never got my tour…that’s not the school’s fault 2. my host never showed me the campus and chose to party and get high and drink (she took me to the party and i was forced to walk back to the dorms at 11:30 at night…keep in mind, i never had a tour and it was my FIRST day there) 3. i never was given any rules or knew what to do so i was just lost and it seemed like the staff should’ve been more guiding esp. since i had never even seen the campus. 4. the staff never kept up with us so i could’ve taken a bus back home if i really wanted to, and they’d never know (i ended up giving myself a tour). 5. the people were hippie-ish, but i loved their creativity and poetic side, but when i say hippie, i mean stoned and drunk which i expect from any college but not the HOST. If that’s the best host you can offer, then wow. And my mom hates the idea of co-ed dorms lol. There are guys and girls on the same floor, but I mean, that wasn’t what ****ed me off.</p>
US college admissions are alot more self-determined where I’m at (and International School in Germany) since alot of people are going to the UK and continental Europe. I should have submitted all of my apps within the next month though.</p>
I’m an american who’s lived in Germany for the past four years. I hope to major in Theater & Performance studies and Psychology and trying to figure out whether I should also do pre-med courses (I might want to go into psychiatry). </p>