Bucknell for Ivy-League Rejects?

<p>Is it true that Bucknell is a preppy school that’s designed for kids w. can’t get into an Ivy?</p>

<p>Believe it or not, not everyone is interested in the Ivies.</p>

<p>Doesn’t answer my question…but ok</p>

<p>No offense to Bucknell (It is a great school) but people act as if it is a school for people who get rejected from ivy league backups.</p>

<p>i think thats a little overstated. Im sure some kids applied and didnt get into Ivys and then went to Bucknell, but its not a back up school. It has a low 20s% acceptance rate! That’s a back-up for almost no one. I may or may not have gotten into an Ivy…i have 2200 sat, top 5% rank, etc… but i didnt apply. I didnt want to go. Would I have gotten in? Probably not…unlikely enough to not be worth applying if it was my dream? no. I prefer Bucknell to the Ivy League schools because of its size and just a feeling of this is the place for me when i visited.</p>

<p>I was reluctant to reply because the entire premise of this thread is so off-putting and insulting. However as a proud Bucknell alum and parent I want to add my two cents. I agree with the previous posts about Bucknell’s low acceptance rate (safety school?!?) as well as the fact that not everyone has an overarching need to go to an Ivy. I also want to point out that approximately 50% of the incoming freshman class are ED students who clearly preferred Bucknell to any other school. In addition with a freshman retention rate of 95% the vast majority of students are happy to be there, even the “Ivy League rejects”! Finally, believe it or not, there are plenty of alums and current students who have declined an Ivy offer in order to come to Bucknell, myself included. Although it was flattering to be accepted to UPenn I never understood the obsession certain people have with the Ivies and I am forever grateful my parents let me decide for myself where I wanted to go to school. From day one Bucknell felt like home to me. My four years there were incredibly happy and transformative - I have absolutely no regrets and would do it all over again in a heartbeat.</p>

<p>I also think that Bucknell seems to attract a different type of student. Students fit for Bucknell probably would rather go to Bucknell rather than an ivy league. I am not overstating when I say that people treat Bucknell as a safety. There was someone on CC that had decent ivy league stats and he said that he was using Tufts and Bucknell as safeties. Imagine! This is pretty arrogant and when he receives no acceptances from any schools he will realize the true value of Bucknell.</p>

<p>Haha. Of course some Bucknell students applied to Ivy’ s, did not get in and selected Bucknell as their best alternative option or only option. Others, like my D2’s roomate, had a guaranteed transfer to an Ivy after first year but never left and graduated from Bucknell. Other students never applied to an Ivy and Bucknell was their first or second choice. And for others Bucknell was their reach. And for a few, probably, others, Bucknell was selected over an Ivy.</p>

<p>But Bucknell is not full of Ivy rejects! Nor is it a safety. And many , maybe most, Bucknell students would be successful at any Ivy.</p>

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<p>Yes. I think it’s even in their mission statement.</p>