A young man from New Jersey was accepted to all seven Ivies to which he applied, it was reported today. (He passed on Dartmouth, saying he knew right away it wasn’t a good fit.)
I toured Dartmouth and Columbia with two of my kids- one hated both, one loved both. I don’t think either kid’s reaction was atypical. I can appreciate why someone may find one or the other more appealing (or neither appealing) but I’d be hard pressed (other than some folks don’t want to live in Hanover and some folks don’t want to live on the UWS of NYC and some folks want neither) to come up with a long list of ways that the schools are different.
Although it’s an athletic conference, the schools do have an agreement on various admissions and financial aid policies. From the Dartmouth website:
https://admissions.dartmouth.edu/apply/fine-print/common-ivy-league-agreement
I’d bet that some of you folks would be surprised to find that there’s not as much overlap between Columbia and Dartmouth as you believe there to be. Of the half dozen Dartmouth alumni I have known, none applied to Columbia. And I have two dear friends whom are Cornell graduates whom never considered enrolling at Columbia. Perhaps that’s why the “full court press” approach to Ivy League applications sort of puzzles me.
And I think it might be different for a resident of the NYC region. It seems to be a given that someone from the East Coast might find few issues with Columbia, Penn, and the other urban schools, or might find a trip to a more pastoral environment attractive. On the other hand, some might find most of the Ivy League schools (and others like MIT/JHU) entirely unappealing for both their location and the quality of life as a student.
I had the unproductive and wasteful experience to visit a fair number of those schools, and I would have looked forward to attend only one of them, and would have hated to spend four years at the rest. No Morningside glory nor freezing dark cascades for this Texan!
OTOH, I can understand why people with roots on the EC might consider my favorite schools the equivalent of a Dante world.
I have to admit that it takes a special person to show equal love to all Ivy League schools. But in the end, not everybody is applying to schools out of love or paying much attention to that elusive best fit. And that is why applications are truly a personal affair!
“I’d bet that some of you folks would be surprised to find that there’s not as much overlap between Columbia and Dartmouth as you believe there to be. Of the half dozen Dartmouth alumni I have known, none applied to Columbia. And I have two dear friends whom are Cornell graduates whom never considered enrolling at Columbia.”
I’d bet that some of you folks would be surprised to find that there’s a lot more overlap between Columbia and Dartmouth than you believe there to be. My daughter did not apply to all the Ivys, nor even half of them, but she did apply to both Dartmouth and Columbia because both were excellent schools that offered the major in which she was interested.
She got accepted by Dartmouth and waitlisted by Columbia. She did not pursue the Columbia waitlist because she preferred Dartmouth and was already in. Several of her friends at Dartmouth had also applied to Columbia, but to the best of my knowledge none of them applied to all eight Ivys.
I’m always surprised when some kid applies to all eight Ivys, but not because they are so different from each other (like I said, their similarities are far greater than their differences), but because of all the work required to crank out all those extra supplemental essays.
I watched the video. Has anyone posted yet that he is an Intel semifinalist? Combined with his grades/scores, in my experience that is enough to get non-minority, non-immigrant kids into elite schools. He is also very personable, well-spoken, and modest. I imagine he did very well in his interviews.
My take on applying to all the Ivys is that for a kid like this, who came here for opportunity, he doesn’t care about “fit.” He’s thinking, These are world-class institutions! I can learn at any of them! He’s not concerned if the vibe is more hipster or preppy, or if the buildings are brick or stone. He’s just thinking Hey I can get a great education!
The people who criticize about people’s list of diverse schools don’t need to worry about FA or merit money to go to college.
I have a cousin who works in the development office at an Ivy, who gave me grief about my DS’s list of merit-money schools, that they were “rich kids” schools as compared to the virtuous Ivy schools. She graduated from one on full FA.
@surfcity Maybe not-so-recently-immigrated Americans are a bit more particular with regard to little things like the ones you mentioned. Maybe he isn’t so insecure that the size of the dining hall or the weather or the strength of the football team are crucial to defining him.
I don’t ever recall saying if his "major doesn’t have the exact name of what you hope to do on it, he will be relegated to asking “want fries with that?”. He merely noted that he wanted to major in neurobiology and that’s what I was mentioning. But he does claim he might change later on so I’m not against his choice or anything. Him majoring in cognitive science at Yale will do just as well.
I’m actually involved in Alzheimer’s research at my university right now testing estrogen in animal models. It’s great he wants to be a neurosurgeon, but as of right now, Alzheimer’s is being treated almost solely by neurologists so I was just wondering why he chose neurosurgery when neurology could be an equally great field. But in the future, should he find a cure via surgery, I’m sure he’ll be operating.
But all these flavors, and I choose to be salty right? 
Aren’t all the 17 years old who wanted to be marine biologists now announce a love for neuro-something. It just seems to be the major du jour in a sea of CS engineers.
And then comes organic chemistry!
^Yes, it is the major du jour. Parents love it because it makes their kid sound really smart, you know, he’s a brain surgeon in the making.
What kind of person cares what other people’s kids are majoring in? And what kind of person cares about impressing other parents with what their kid is majoring in? Who DOES all this note comparing at the playground? Don’t kid yourself -normal people don’t care enough about you or your kid to really honestly care what they major in it’s called small talk.
PG, I am afraid that you might be pushing the envelope too far on that one. There are plenty of people --like you-- who are sufficiently well-educated, well-trained in the world of big business, and have gained plenty of experience watching the younger develop careers or even academic choices. Yet, there are also plenty of people who “buy” the argument of prestige and view college not only as a matter of social climbing but also as a matter of pride and prestige, and often vicariously so. This is not uncommon among immigrants, albeit not exclusive.
This happens for the type of schools and can take the form of HYPS vs state school vs LACs, and also in the form of the chosen major. Why do you think many love to announce the DS or DD will be in a pre-med or pre-law program, even when such animals do not exist at their school in a formal way. The cocktails will taste a lot less sweet if it were not for the constant malarkey about doctors, lawyers, and IBer on the decline, and next Zuckerberg or Brin.
Fwiw, in this particular case, I believe the major of choice came only up because the lack of sought after major not being offered at Yale, which some views a bit out of sync with the Alzheimer story. I really think it did and does not matter one bit. Although the angle of impressing the gallery was not totally absent in this published story.
After all, is that not the primary purpose of this type of reporting? And that by a fair margin.
It’s better literature that the kid wants to cure Alzheimer’s than if he wants to become CEO of Exxon/Mobile and preside over the next great oil spill.
But that doesn’t really give a bunch of strangers the right to bash him going to Yale- as if he can’t study neuroscience at Yale.
For god’s sake.
“Aisan male immigrant accepted to all 8 Ivy Leagues.”
Of course, that will never be a news title.
He got in to all 8 partly due to his accomplishments, but mostly due to his African American male status.
Affirmative action is disgusting.
What is disgusting is people who have no clue as to the kind of character, bravery, strength, ambition, humility and, yes, talent it takes for a male African immigrant of color to make it to where this boy has.
@katliamom I can not like your comment enough! Again, this kid’s accomplishments are tremendous regardless of his skin color, immigrant status etc.
And in today’s news, Minnesota senior (female) is accepted to all 8 Ivy League Schools as well:
This student’s parents are natives of Somalia based on an article from last November:
http://www.startribune.com/local/east/281505591.html
More:
http://educationenvoy.org/courage_awards/munira-17-united-states/