<p>Nine out of ten posters in this thread-- those who argued that going to an Ivy/top 10 college is not worth the money or that these schools are not what they're hyped up to be-- I guarantee you, were rejected by an Ivy or a top 10 school, or simply got rejected by a tier one school and want to make themselves feel better (much like the OP did).</p>
<p>yea, he's the one who got a messed up life?</p>
<p>anyway, as you all know Univeristy of Oklahoma has the most in-state NMS. Some how okies are proud of their home state and decides to stay in state. OU does give full tuition to NMS though.</p>
<p>my friend, ranked 1, 2150 SAT, nationally ranked debator, made all-state band for 3 yrs, is going to univeristy of north texas next year. But i dunno if that counts, cause he's doing music and U of north texas is actually really good in music.</p>
<p>2150 is ridiculously low for even top 20 schools. so, no, your friend does not count.</p>
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2150 is ridiculously low for even top 20 schools
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<p>Right, since I keep reading about people with 2000-2100 scores getting accepted to Wharton left and right. :rolleyes:</p>
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I guarantee you, were rejected by an Ivy or a top 10 school, or simply got rejected by a tier one school and want to make themselves feel better
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<p>Then I'll be back to ***** after I'm rejected by everyone. :D</p>
<p>Do you honestly think every genius in the U.S. went to an ivy league? Students in ivy league are moreso motivated. According to a recent ABC 20/20 interview an overly qualified Chinese-American applicant with a perfect SAT score and applicant resume was rejected from Harvard? Why you ask? No reason. Where did he go? Who knows? But this just goes to show sometimes a so called "genius" as we define in analytical terms can be simply denied on the factor of "availability of space," not because the canididate is scholastically incompetent. Although I agree an Ivy League education can span many opportunities, other schools can do "more" or less the same. This my friends is called an INCONSISTENT SOCIETY!</p>
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U of north texas is actually really good in music.
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<p>Second that. Best jazz music program in the nation. ;)</p>
<p>honestly, if you think about it. does it really matter?</p>
<p>Granted, a degree from a top university/lac may present more opportunities at first. You might get that promotion over that person who went to an average college. There are more factors in a job than where you went for college. Communication skills, time management, etc. are just as important.</p>
<p>In addition, what degrees you have are even more important. We all know that a PHD at a state college trumps a Masters at Harvard.</p>
<p>My dad works for Merck and interviewed students. He interviewed 2 Chemical Engineers with a 4.0 and 3.3 GPA at Drexel. He picked the person with a 3.3 GPA. Why?? Because he felt that knowledge wise they were the same and the 3.3 person was someone with whom he could work with rather than a 4.0 nerd that studies 24/7. He had a hard time communicating and getting along with the student.</p>
<p>Point is, theres more out there than just where you go.</p>
<p>The above stated leaves out the implications for graduate school, though.</p>
<p>if you do well in undergrad, you will get into a grad school.</p>
<p>We have to assume that student in state school and top schools are both working hard and doing well. </p>
<p>Most areas out there encourage or require employees to get degrees beyond BA/BS anyway. Like business majors should go get MBAs in the future, engineers to get masters or phd, nursing to get MA, Physical Therapists to get MA/PHD, some require grad. school such as law and med., etc.</p>
<p>One thing that many top students at my high school feel is that if they're not going to Yale or Duke then why do they need straight A's and above a 4.0 on their transcripts? They know that they could get into to UCF, UF or any other FL college with a 3.5 weighted, so their efforts in high school seem wasted.</p>
<p>i know one girl. shes like the most amazing person ever and is taking all AP classes...but not like a nerd and she was a national merit finalist. our school doesnt do the top whatever in the class but she has a 5.0 gpa and shes going to either michigan or ucla. not that those are bad schools.</p>
<p>i think that if you can get into like anywhere you should just go wherever you want.</p>
<p>Brand, those kids with that kind of garbage score gets into wharton for other reasons obviously. so don't even use that argument.</p>
<p>I fail to see how a 2150 is a garbage score. A friend of mine is going to Stanford with a 2150 and he doesn't have any hooks.</p>
<p>A college won't automatically reject you because you don't have a 2300, not even Harvard.</p>
<p>the whole sat score thing is BS, when i was in HS a student got a 1100/1600 or so and now goes to Princeton.</p>
<p>we had about 5 students go to Cornell, they were all under a 1300.</p>
<p>explain that one.</p>
<p>What else did the 1100 kid have at Princeton besides an SAT score 300 points below the 25th percentile? He or she obviously got in for other extraordinary reasons.. otherwise, Princeton admissions is extremely irrational, which while a lot of things, I don't think is irrational..</p>
<p>well she has a 100% gpa and was the valedictorian, I guess maybe she didnt text well. Im not sure. I know it was a big deal for the school that a student got into Princeton and all. The students who got into Cornell, weren't such a big deal, its just that every year about 5 from our school go there.</p>
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Brand, those kids with that kind of garbage score gets into wharton for other reasons obviously. so don't even use that argument.
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<p>And those kids with 2400 SATs get rejected from HYP for other reasons obviously, so don't even use the argument that SATs are everything and that 2150 is somehow "ridiculously low" for top 20 schools. I've got an idea. Let's actually use some data! Consider Notre Dame - a top 20 school:</p>
<p>SAT midrange for Verbal and Math, respectively:
630-730
660-740</p>
<p>Presuming that the average writing score is going to be around the verbal score as those scores are very closely related, we can assume that an average student at Notre Dame (as in the 50% mark) has around 680 V, 700 M, and 680 W. Which adds up to........</p>
<p>2060! Well, I guess they were all just lucky. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>I'd have to answer yes to the original question of the post. I'm not sure I'd classify myself as extraordinary, but I did get a 2310 on the SAT with perfects on Math and Verbal. I also had a 4.0 gpa, a number of extracurriculars, state level awards, honors music ensembles, and a couple leadership positions. Furthermore, I came from North Dakota, which would have given me a higher chance of acceptance at many higher ranked east coast schools.</p>
<p>However, The highest ranked school I applied to was something like 55th on the list of liberal arts colleges. I even strongly considered attending a tier 4 liberal arts college. Why? First of all, my family wanted me to stay in the Midwest. Money was also an issue. I also wanted a school with some religious ties that had good academics but a more laidback attitude. I also wanted a small college. I ended up at Wheaton College (IL). It may not be everyone's ideal, but it was right for me.</p>
<p>The midwest really is much less obsessed with prestige. I was the only student in my grade who ventured farther away than Minnesota. In fact, my admissions counselor encouraged me to stay instate and get a full ride. So, why did I bother to get the grades and accomplishments I did. I got good grades, because I like to learn. I didn't study for the SAT, so I don't know. I was involved in extracurriculars because I enjoyed them and my friends were in them. Not every good student in the world cares about prestige, especially for undergraduate.</p>