<p>Yes, if u get into HYPSM, u were qualified and worth it,
If u dont get in, its more of lottery, Ivies is just a name :p</p>
<p>@Mrinal</p>
<p>No! It ain’t that way. Ivy-Admission IS a lottery. Because there are just so many qualified candidates and so few spaces…it is reduced to that. And more so, for internationals.</p>
<p>^^ just kidding man, I have lurked around CC enough to know that getting into Ivies is A lottery, just looking at the size and the strength of the applicant pool makes me dizzy.</p>
<p>Just imparting little sense of humour to the discussion, u all can continue…</p>
<p>Ivy admissions is NOT a lottery. Just because so many people applied, doesn’t mean your chances are low. Of course, it is a lottery for those who are applying just for the heck of it. Similarly for MIT, Stanford or any other school.</p>
<p>Let me make it more clear … imagine a person with a 60% average throughout high school, no extracurriculars and average writing abilities. Georgia Tech would be a lottery for this person. UIUC would be a lottery. Get the point?</p>
<p>Another example is the UPSC exam … in 2002, ~300,000 people applied but only ~157,000 appeared for the actual exam. Now some would say that the two processes aren’t comparable because the level of competition in the UPSC isn’t as cut-throat as the level in Ivy (or other top university) admissions. <em>However</em>, once you skim through few ~57,000 people who have no intention of seriously competing, you still have ~100,000 applicants vying for ~1000 spots. That’s a 1% chance. I know people who have taken this exam thrice and each time, secured a rank of <100.</p>
<p>In short, none of the admissions I just talked about are lotteries. The only way you can get rejected, if you are a strong applicant (strong from the POV of admissions officers. NOT from your POV), is due to some idiosyncratic whim of the majority of the admissions committee. Eg. Tufts.</p>
<p>^^ What I meant to say was Tizil, Ivy admissions are not a complete hell of a lottery, but the giant pool of the applicants make them a lot harder to get in.
I completely agree with ur second point, the POV of the adcoms is the most important thing in colleges admissions.</p>
<p>PS. Tizil, wanted to PM u about an issue I have…</p>
<p>Go ahead Mrinal :)</p>
<p>@Tizil</p>
<p>I believe it is a lottery on one level. Out of the 35,000 that apply to say a Stanford…there are about 5000-odd extremely qualified/interesting/tough to choose between applicants. And when that list is winnowed down to 2000 or 1500 or whatever, the lottery-ness is bound to creep in.</p>