Applying To All Ivies

Applying to College
41

<p>dravndn546,</p>

<p>I am not sure if you were addressing to me. If you were, I was actually chill. I was merely illustrating how the math should be. ;)</p>

<p>Professor101,
Actually, my analysis does include independent events as the equation apply regardless:
P(D or C) = P(D) + P(C) - P(D & C)
= P(D) + P(C) - P(D) * P(C given D)
= P(D) + P(C) - P(D) * P(C) ("C given D" = "C" if C and D are independent)</p>

<p>What I was saying is one needs to find out what P(D&C) is numerically. We know it can be written as P(D)*P(C given D). But what is P(C given D) then? It's not P(C) (independent) and its not 1 either (everyont that gets in Dartmouth gets in Cornell). It's somewhere in between (I think that's probably what you were thinking; in this case, it's probably closer to 1 however). I actually meant to say this but I apologize for not getting this across. And P (C or D) would therefore be greater than P(C) alone -- so I agree that applying more would increase your chance. There's also implicit assumption that P(C) and P(D)...remain constant but they may shrink as one applies to too many schools and gets sloppy for each application. So that's when applying more could hurt. So then we can ask: "what's the right balance?". :)</p>

42

<p>yeah. i know. and not you. tokenadult has to chill. if anyone actually reads this and thinks "i should apply to all ivies"...well they prolly are not ivy material. lol.</p>

43

<p>Someone who is truly ivy material probably has a good chance of getting into at least one ivy. But why pick all ivies when there are other schools just as good, as prestigious and would be a better match. There is a world of difference between UPenn and Cornell and Brown.</p>

44

<p>Isn't it most chill to use your brain to figure out what the facts are?</p>

45

<p>"But why pick all ivies when there are other schools just as good, as prestigious and would be a better match."</p>

<p>I realize this. I have repeated, at least thrice, that i do not think applying to all ivies is a good option. I obviously realize that any two ivies can be fairly to radically different. What i did was, post a mathematical calculation. Not beg for random, unwarranted controversy. </p>

<p>"Isn't it most chill to use your brain to figure out what the facts are?"</p>

<p>Yes. And that's why I have been repeating that it would be a stupid move to apply to all ivies unless you were desperate and bent solely on the ivy league name. In which case you prolly shouldn't be accepted to an ivy, imo.</p>

46

<p>
[quote]
Hey guys, I made a terrible argument, and a useless hypothetical situation that contributes nothing to this forum. Yeah, I thought they would be impressed by my 8th grade probability knowledge and worthless application of it, BUT PEOPLE AREN'T LISTENING. SO IF I TYPE IN CAPS, MAYBE THEY WILL. My next move was to stereotype and go with "prestigehungry asian," yeah that'll elucidate my point. No wait, I'm still a moron.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>And by the way, applying to all the Ivies doesn't necessarily improve your chances at getting into at least one because the quality of the each application is diluted when you're working with so much. Stop posting.</p>

47

<p>I actually disagree. I think you can easily pump out 10-15 quality applications. An extra weekend is all it would take. I got into the schools where I spent the least time!!</p>

48

<p>In terms of education, you can't go wrong with any of the Ivies, or any top school for that matter.</p>

<p>It's merely a matter of fit. I don't see anything <em>inherently</em> wrong with shotgunning to a bunch of great schools. I know that if I go to any Ivy, I'm going to get a good education. Could I survive in a rural environment? Sure. Urban? Sure. Doesn't mean I'll enjoy it, though.</p>

<p>I mean, I applied to most of the Ivies back in the day -- I wasn't going to be picky. I didn't know what I wanted to do or study 100%, and I knew college students changed their minds a lot anyway. So I figured that if I had to make those decisions, I may as well make them at a school where I know I'd get a good education, regardless. </p>

<p>I'd honestly advise against just shotgunning to all the Ivies. Yes, I did it, and applied to 15 schools and got into 14 of them. I was really proud of the acceptances, but if I could do it again, I'd choose more wisely.</p>

<p>It does no good to apply to schools you have no real interest in. I made the mistake of choosing a school (Penn) I wasn't even all that passionate about. I was far more passionate about Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and MIT, but the allure of Wharton and all the talk about lucrative post-grad jobs was blinding. Am I getting a good education in Wharton? Of course, but it's been the most uncomfortable four years of my life. I would have been much happier elsewhere.</p>

<p>This goes for all of you, too. Don't apply to a bunch of Ivies where you <em>honestly</em> can't see yourselves having a great time in every aspect. If you're more passionate about a non-Ivy, GO TO THE NON-IVY. There are definite pros and cons to Ivies vs. non-Ivies. As someone who used to be super-skeptical when it came to stuff like this, believe me when I honestly say that fit is so incredibly important. If I were receiving this advice a few years ago, I would have disregarded it, and I did, and now I truly regret it. I cannot <em>stress</em> to you how vital this is. Please reconsider applying to all Ivies for the sake of applying. They're all great schools, but I assure you that you aren't going to have the same level of happiness at any Ivy.</p>

<p>Apply to schools you are passionate about. There's no point in even considering a school where you won't have a good time. It's four years of your life. And I can tell you, four years at a school you don't care for is really, really tough.</p>

49

<p>I could see myself incredibly happy at Dartmouth or Brown. I would really really like Princeton and Yale. I think Harvard would be interesting because, well, its Harvard. I think I'd be okay with Penn and Cornell. I didn't really love Columbia. </p>

<p>If I could do it again I'd apply to HYP, Dartmouth and Brown among the Ivies and not apply to Penn, Columbia, or Cornell. I like the prestige of the Ivies, but I wouldn;t be okay not being excited about where I was going. In reality I did end up going to a school I didn't love (Columbia) but was lucky enough to transfer to a school I loved more than anything (Dartmouth).</p>

50

<p>@ gellino</p>

<p>Some parents told him that it was the hardest ivy to get out of, easiest ivy to get into, unhappy kids, etc. I know Cornell is fantastic (I didn't mean to slam it), so sorry if my remark came across wrong.</p>

51

<p>Okay, I know your just doing it because your nervous, and you just did it for the heck of it, and you know it doesn't mean anything. I also know that people pointed out that if you have a really bad student they don't have 70% or whatever, and people said that if your on CC, that pretty much means your good and you care.</p>

<p>Still, I'll point out that it doesn't work. Why? Because I think that if a school did not accept you, they must have a reason. Why did you not make it in the top 2000 or 1500 or whatever? If that school saw that reason, I'm sure others can too. So even though your 2300/4.0 might seem pretty impressive to everyone else, if there's something that's keeping you from harvard, it may very well keep you out of Yale too.</p>

52

<p>I think, however, that admissions is increasingly random. At a certain level institutional preferences, or just plain luck, take over. I know people who've gotten into Harvard and not Brown. Things can happen.</p>

53

<p>"Still, I'll point out that it doesn't work. Why? Because I think that if a school did not accept you, they must have a reason."</p>

<p>except usually, rejects from top schools are rejected for the sole reason that there isn't enough room, and there are applicants who may have slightly more interesting applications. Also, different schools value slightly different "traits" if you know what i mean. This goes beyond academic record. This could also play a role. Most rejects from top schools don't get rejected because of one thing, imo, but usually because admissions are so competitive and there is not enough room.</p>

54

<p>Schools constantly regret having to reject so many people -- if you removed all accepted applicants from a given pool, you could re-fill that class with qualified students that were <em>rejected</em></p>

55

<p>Duper:

[quote]
Hey, I don't properly read other ppl's posts and I like being intolerably PC...I like condescending because it makes me feel really smart.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>i wasn't really "arguing" anything in the first place. I thought it was kind of interesting, thats all. And seriously, deal with the stereotype...I'm asian too lol. And, believe it or not, there are people out there who can manage their time wisely, and put in a great amount of effort into 10 - 15 applications. Obviously, you don't have a 79% chance, but the fact remains that if you want to get into at least one of a set number of schools, then applying to all of those schools will increase your chances of acceptance into at least one.</p>

56

<p>It doesn't matter how many classes of qualified students they can fill. You can't say the sole reason is because there isn't enough room, because they could've replaced someone else. If you were rejected, you came after those 2000 people, or 1500 or whatever, for some reason. It's not as random as you may think.</p>

<p>However it is true that different schools value different traits.</p>

57

<p>Professor101 and tokenadult are quite obviously the only sane, mature, intelligent people who've posted in this thread thus far. </p>

<p>However, I agree with Professor 101 (sorry, token!)</p>

<p>I basically AM that median student. If you go to Collegeboard or PR or wherever and look up the median SAT scores, GPAs, etc of all the Ivy League schools, I meet basically all of them......which means I'm a "crapshoot." I meet the qualifications, but my chances are up in the air. Therefore, I plan on applying to HYPS and some other top-tier privates (Duke, WUSTL, etc). Seems pretty darn logical to me.</p>

58

<p>hookem168,</p>

<p>Nobody here argues that casting a wide net doesn't increase your chance to get in at least one of them. That's all very intuitive. What isn't intuitive is how to quantify the benefit. By the way, I was the one who came up with the correct approach to the probability calculation yet I am not considered "sane, mature, and intelligent". :rolleyes:</p>

59

<p>What stats are median stats for Cornell and also median stats for Harvard?</p>