<p>Ok, maybe this idea has been said somewhere on the board before but I might as well put it out there and see what people think. </p>
<p>So the ivies, as a cohort of 8 schools, are by far the most selective universities in the US (not counting Stanford, MIT, etc). So many are bedazzled by the ivy label that they apply to all 8 of them with the hopes of getting accepted into at least one, making competition much more difficult for students who actually really want to attend that particular school.</p>
<p>So, what if the ivies made an agreement that no student can apply to more than 3 of them? (similar to the restrictions on applying to Oxbridge.) This would mean that each kid who was planning to apply to the ivies would have to seriously consider which ones they truly liked instead of blindly applying to all of them. </p>
<p>I feel that if they were to implement this, the number of applicants to each school would plummet and more highly qualified applicants who deserve to be accepted will have a better opportunity to be accepted. </p>
<p>I thought of the possibility that as a result the majority of people would only apply to HYP and so while the other 5 ivies would receive less apps, HYP would skyrocket. However, I don't think this would be the case, since those three are considered the hardest ivies to get into, most would rather try and take a stab at the "lesser ivies" as well and not just aim for HYP (by no means do I think the other 5 are lesser schools, I just lacked another way of putting it). </p>
<p>That's a really good idea-- I wish they would implement it! So many label-crazy parents are forcing their kids to apply to all 8 ivies with no specific consideration as to location, cost, etc. Some people just want the Ivy League cred... It would be much better to limit the number they could apply to.</p>
<p>I was thinking about that actually. I would agree, but I'd include other top schools like WUSTL, Duke, Hopkins, Emory, Vandy, Stanford, UChicago, Northwestern, etc. and then put a limit on it. It would help colleges because there would be less competition (don't have to turn down as many qualified students) and there would be less waitlist activity (less people turning down the college to go other places.) </p>
<p>Also, I would have MIT and Caltech enter a similar agreement so one could only apply to one or the other, not both. But that's just my opinion.</p>
<p>This would probably be seen as collusion, an illegal attempt to control the college marketplace. The Oxbridge schools, along with other British post-secondaries, are seen as having a kind of quasi-public standing as part of a national education system that makes partial regulation of their admissions acceptable. Here private schools are seen as in competition with one another and are expected to openly compete for students.</p>
<p>A couple of decades ago the Ivies did make joint but private admissions decisions (thus agreeing on who would take whom of their joint applicants). This was determined to be illegal and they were forced to isolate their decisions.</p>
<p>^But if the ivies themselves agreed to these conditions and they weren't forced to obey them by the government or whoever than it wouldn't be illegal. They're all private institutions so they can do whatever they want really. If the ivies were to be willing to adhere to these restrictions on their own, there'd be no problem with it.</p>
<p>Hippo, you have it precisely backwards. Because they are private institutions, any such agreement between them is seen as a restraint of trade and in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act - trusts are all between private institutions. It's like Microsoft and Apple agreeing that people west of the Rockies can only buy Apples and people east of the Rockies can only buy PCs. That's a restraint of trade - people aren't free to make their own decisions.</p>
<p>Now, if Congress mandated or even allowed the proposed agreement, then it wouldn't be illegal because Congress can exempt actions from the anti-trust laws (as it has done for, say, professional sports). But unless Congress acts, an agreement by the Ivies or any other group of schools that an individual student is not free to apply to them all would be illegal.</p>