<p>Ok, you are right probably not 30, more like 20 between the 3 schools, the odd thing is 1/2 don’t go, my HS is a southern public school, but top 25 in the country-US News and Report- very tough academically. Many of the top graduates at my school choose to stay in the south, even if they get into HYP- and go to Duke, Vanderbilt, Ga Tech, UVA and UNC instead.
Smile614
my state school is my safety, too, and it is a great one, so I will be fine. 
cavalierpup3
Go for it-SCEA Yale, nothing to lose, and trust me-I am a very long shot, but always try to go for the highest goal I can. Then you will never look back and say, geeeshhh, why didn’t I go for it. :)</p>
<p>Same here…everyone here wants to stay in the south. I know a lot of people turning down Ivies for Vanderbilt and Rice. I’m determined to go Northeast/East Coast. I want something new for a change even though I love it here.</p>
<p>Yeah, UNC is a great school. I’m applying there! I really like NC when we visited =] I’m happy with my state university…the honors program is pretty great and it would be cool to be with my friends. I don’t want to regret not applying somewhere I really like. You won’t know til you try and I’ve got a great option to fall back on anyways.</p>
<p>I know what you mean about listing the schools you’re applying to, I’m applying to a bunch of the Ivies just because I figure if I apply to one, I might as well apply to the rest (except Princeton- NOT a fan). Most of the time I list my safeties and a couple targets, then say “Oh and some of the Ivies, but just for fun.” It seems sort of cocky to start the list with Harvard you know? haha</p>
<p>great point 2010emily… I don’t know where else I’d apply early anyway! And 30 kids to HYP is CRAZY we didn’t have any this year, maybe half a dozen got into Brown, Dartmouth, and the rest.</p>
<p>cavalier, out of curiosity why aren’t you a fan of Princeton? It used to be my top choice but is slowly falling further down my list.</p>
<p>I don’t really like Princeton all that much either. There’s nothing really bad about it, it’s just that nothing really entices me to apply. I feel sort of the same way with Harvard. I really like Columbia, though, and I think Brown is okay. The rest of the Ivies (Dartmouth, ehhh…) aren’t very appealing to me.</p>
<p>I felt the same about Harvard until I looked closely at the website and read everything, and also looked in detail at the courses for the major I want to do, then I fell in love with it. Princeton was the opposite, I loved it until I looked closely. I also love Brown and Columbia, but for some reason Penn, Dartmouth and Cornell didn’t appeal to me either.</p>
<p>Nothing beats Yale!</p>
<p>I love Yale. Columbia is amazing…definitely my 2nd choice. I didn’t really like Princeton until I looked at it…I really like it’s undergrad focus. And how you get to interact a lot with the professors. Still doing research but it seems great so far. I like Cornell and Brown too. A lot of their academic opportunities are great…reallllly interesting.</p>
<p>Nothing about Dartmouth appeals to me. And Harvard…it’s tempting to apply there just because it’s Harvard haha but I’m refraining myself. I haven’t found a reason to. Nothing really stands out. I have a friend at Harvard and she loves it there but we’re very different. She’s been telling me all her experiences there and it sounds cool but I don’t know…I don’t really think it’s for me. It’s nothing specific but I just can’t imagine myself there…</p>
<p>For a long time, I wanted to go to UPenn for Wharton. Now that I don’t want to go to Wharton, I don’t know if I want to go to UPenn. </p>
<p>Hmm lots of research to do. But totally agree with portugueseninja! Nothing beat YALE for suuuure!</p>
<p>I think it’s great how people just <em>know</em> which colleges are for them and which ones aren’t. I love the feeling when you’ve researched a college and you’re just like “omg. I want to go here”.</p>
<p>I wish I could apply to Columbia!! 
Because I’ll be 23 when I start college I’d have to apply to the School of General Studies, and they don’t give need-based aid like the regular Columbia does. Gutted.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Why?</p>
<p>Columbia is actually really good, better than I expected it would be. My one qualm is that it’s in New York, which ironically appears to be their gimmick. I’m from a big city (4,000,000+ people) and I kind of feel like I want to go somewhere cozy for my four years of college.</p>
<p>Yeah, I love that feeling. Like…I can imagine myself at Yale and Columbia. It’s so weird but I feel like I’m going there tomorrow or something even though I haven’t even started on their apps. hahah. I have mixed feelings about going to NYC…I’m from a little city in the South so I really really realllllyyyy want to go Northeast/east coast. Don’t know if I want to be in NYC for FOUR years…even though I loooved it when I went there. </p>
<p>Haha, I wish my top choices were more…realistic. Like the state university or something. It would be a much easier goal to attain. Ooooh well. Can’t help it =]</p>
<p>
I literally lol’ed when I read this! Are you serious?!? Anyone would be extremely lucky to be accepted to Stanford, let alone any one of HYPSM…</p>
<p>I’m actually really intrigued by the CORE for Columbia, but I’m not a fan of NY
.
Smile614, I feel just like what you mentioned before! I’m applying to many selective/prestigious colleges, but I truly do like them all and would be happy to go to anyone of them. It’s so awkward talking to people about it, so I try to keep it on the DL lol.</p>
<p>Harvard1009, Princeton is absolutely beautiful! I think I got caught up in that more than the actual school.</p>
<p>Just in my opinion, I thought Princeton was gorgeous (that seems to be the general opinion) but when it came to interacting with the students there, the atmosphere wasn’t as good as it was at some of the other schools (like Yale!). Not to say all kids at Princeton are jerks! The ones I interacted with just kept to themselves a lot and the kids working at the student/welcome center weren’t friendly at all compared to Yale, Columbia, etc. My perceptions of all the schools depend a lot on chance, of course. But in the Yale Daily News some students were making fun of all the Princeton kids for freaking out because the school’s acceptance rate wasn’t as low as H or Y (one student said they should have chosen another school), and all the competition because of their cut down on grade inflation… just little things like that made me decide not to apply. But hey, that’s just my opinion- if you love Princeton, you should go for it.</p>
<p>Haha I probably shouldn’t be comparing any of these schools seeing as I won’t get in…</p>
<p>Also, Princeton is a lot like my hometown and I love New Haven (surprise!) just because there are so many opportunities to volunteer <em>within</em> the community. I’d consider my town affluent and I’d like to branch out, whether it be somewhere like New Haven, Boston, etc. Just a personal reason.</p>
<p>Well, without knowing what the reason is I’d say it’s possible? You can PM it to me if you want, but I think that’s as good as I can do without knowing haha</p>
<p>Haha, no worries Harvard1009 
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and different schools fit different people, so it all comes down to what YOU want in a college. And Princeton is really gorgeous, a lot of people from my school are going there this year. I’ve heard some things about it…but I don’t want to make any judgements on the school unless I visit there.
same with me, cavalierpup3!! This is something I love about Yale/New Haven! I love to do community service, and New Haven is a great place to do this!</p>
<p>I’d say a genuine reason, whatever it is, will do good. I feel like the most important thing to do on a college application is be honest and not try to over-embellish yourself. I can just see a bunch of the potential “wrong” answers to questions in the Yale supplement.</p>
<p>“What would you do on a free afternoon? On a free afternoon, I would begin writing a paper, for pleasure of course, on the subtle stylistic differences in the sonnets of Shakespeare and Milton.”</p>
<p>To Melody: Yeah! While I was visiting colleges over spring break I made my family go to Yale 3 times haha, and every time there was some sort of service thing going on. A professor I talked to said that volunteering is always on campus and a lot of times after meals you can see students collecting food for food banks, etc. I feel like that’s a really generic response to the “Why Yale?” question but it’s definitely one of my reasons.</p>
<p>To Harvard: Let me know what you think of Princeton, maybe I just picked the wrong day to go!</p>
<p>Rockermcr, haha that answer was great.</p>
<p>i want to go to yale so badly :(</p>
<p>that’s all i have for right now lol</p>
<p>I know what you mean, Chair
I wish my first choice was a state school… -_-</p>