Am I Ivy Material? (And Stanford)

Chance Me / Match Me!
25

@turbosloth - Ok, the reality for you is that your grades and test scores are top of the top. This makes you a viable candidate to any of the schools you have on your list. ALL of them are a reach for anyone though, so they remain that for you as well. Still, you should definitely apply.

My one bit of advice though is to research these schools before you blindly apply to all Ivy League schools and Stanford. That’s 9 different colleges, and some of them are wildly different from each other. I don’t think most people could be equally happy at Brown and Dartmouth for example. While college does seem to go by quickly, it is still 4 years of your life, and it’s good to find a fit for you. You may just find that the best fit for you is a college outside of the Ivy League, and there are GREAT schools outside of the Ivy League (and Stanford).

I am certain that a lot of students have perhaps the best time of their life so far at each of those schools though, so if you think you would like to be at one of them, go for it.

Here are some things (other than they are all very different from each other) to consider:

  1. All of those schools are Universities with graduate programs meaning undergraduates don’t get undivided attention and you likely WILL be taught a class by a graduate student at some point.

  2. All of those schools are of a decent size. Not really a problem, but some students prefer smaller student body, smaller class sizes, smaller campus, etc.

  3. All of those schools with the exception of perhaps Brown have a reputation for being pretty cutthroat academically; not just in the classroom but with fellow students too. Some thrive on that. Some get stressed out by that. There are excellent colleges all over the country where you can get a great education that don’t have that same level of pressure.

Then, you just need to figure out what you like:

City or not
Good food?
Good housing?
Fun things to do on campus?
Fun things to do off campus?
Academic programs you want?

Anyway, good luck with your decision and your application process.