<p>Hi everyone!
I've been struggling back and forth for weeks with this decision. I am a junior in high school, and for most of this year have thought that I was going to apply early decision to Bowdoin (located in Maine, 16% acceptance rate). Recently, however, I got my SAT scores back and did really, really well. Even though I'm at the top of my class and a straight-A honors student, varsity athlete, and musician, it never occurred to me to even look into Ivy League schools. I always thought that they were too out of reach, and that I wasn't good enough. </p>
<p>I have a personal story about my background that I can guarantee only a handful of people in the entire world have, which would make for a compelling and unique essay that would hopefully grab attention. I really think I do have a shot at getting into a school like Yale (I know it's a stretch, but isn't it for everyone?). </p>
<p>I have dreams of pursuing dental school in the future, and even though Bowdoin has around an 87% acceptance rate to med/dental school, do you think it would be worth applying early action to Yale instead? If I ended up having to choose between the two, is Yale's name recognition and prestige to good to pass up? I'm so conflicted! Both are phenomenal schools, and I really fell in love with everything about Bowdoin. I'd also worry about feeling inferior to the other students at Yale...ahhh!</p>
<p>Thanks for reading my rant, any advice would be much appreciated :)</p>
<p>You are going about this all wrong. You should NEVER apply to a school for the sake of prestige, nor should you apply to a school because it has a “good” acceptance rate. You should apply to a college because you fall in LOVE WITH IT, or the school has a major that you are really interested in that has stellar professors who are at the top of their profession. Bowdoin and Yale are very different – one is in a small town, the other in the middle of a city. If you love Bowdoin, you may hate New Haven. Have you visited Yale? Could you envision yourself there?</p>
<p>I guess I should have worded things better. I visited Bowdoin, talked to a lot of people, and researched everything available about it. I absolutely love it, I really do. I have fully researched Yale, and am planning on visiting it within the next few weeks. I like everything that I’ve read about it as well, but I’m somewhat hesitant because I KNOW I would be happy at Bowdoin, and I’m not 100% positive I’d be happy at Yale. I think I would be, but I’m not sure. I’m more so trying to figure out which would be my top choice for applying early decision/action, and I was wondering if I would be a fool not to go for Yale. It’s tough!</p>
<p>FWIW: Last year, Bowdoin had a 25.80% ED acceptance rate. Yale, on the other hand, had a 14.36% SCEA acceptance. That figure is misleading though because it includes recruited athletes who are all applying early, as well as legacy’s, URM’s and developmental cases (big $$$ folks) – so Yale’s SCEA acceptance rate for an unhooked applicant with top SAT scores and a stellar GPA is most probably less than 10%.</p>
<p>So, just looking at those numbers: A student with stellar SAT’s and a great GPA has a much better shot at Bowdoin than at Yale. So, unless your heart is saying “I WANT YALE” you would be a fool to not apply ED to Bowdoin.</p>
<p>I respectfully disagree with you, Gibby. Generally “falling in love” with a school is an emotional decision that doesn’t guarantee fit, and for some it doesn’t happen at all. Also, it’s great if you have an esoteric interest that would only be well-served at a handful of schools, but lots of high school seniors don’t know what they want to study, or are choose a field that would be well-represented at most schools. </p>
<p>As for the issue of prestige… it cuts two ways. The more competitive your school, the more competitive the curves in your science and math classes, and you do have to do well to get into grad school (not sure what the dentistry field is like compared with med school, but I assume it’s as competitive as anything else these days). I think it’s legitimate to consider prestige as one factor when choosing a college (just don’t tell the adcoms), but the name HYP confers a crucial advantage in only a few fields, like investment banking or academia. It can also help you get the benefit of the doubt if you change careers. However, for a career in clinical dentistry, your grades will probably carry more weight than your school. (And don’t worry about feeling inferior at Yale – mostly everybody does at one time or another.) </p>
<p>And finally, there’s the issue of early decision vs early action to consider. Schools with ED take a significant portion of their students from the ED round - meaning admission odds are significantly lower in RD, and you may not get in RD even at a school that is a target. Schools with SCEA use the early round as a recruitment tool for their strongest applicants. Applying SCEA appears to confer an advantage because the admit rate is higher than the RD rate, but in reality the applicant pool is a lot stronger. So if you apply to Yale and apply to Bowdoin RD, it is conceivable that you would not get into either, even though you deserved to get into both (though that is also not the end of the world, unless those were the only schools you applied to!)</p>
<p>Several years back, my daughter applied SCEA to Yale because she fell in love with the school. She was deferred and then rejected in the RD round. Fortunately, she was also accepted to a wide range of “second choice” schools. Although she could have been happy at several colleges, she chose a school dripping with prestige – not because she loved it, but because she was terribly brand conscious and thought the “name” would serve her well upon graduation (and it might). But, for the last three years, my daughter has been absolutely miserable. She hates it and cannot wait to graduate and get-the-hell-out-of-Dodge. She chose unwisely, and is now paying the price for choosing prestige over where her heart was telling her to go. My take-away lesson: Listen to your heart!</p>
<p>Gibby: did you know (or suspect) that your daughter would be unhappy there, even as she chose it? Could you see at the time which other schools would have been a better choice? I am wondering how obvious these things are to an observant parent.</p>
<p>“Did you know (or suspect) that your daughter would be unhappy there, even as she chose it?”</p>
<p>No, we were thrilled she was accepted and thought, “Hey, you can be happy at any school, right?” When she became miserable, we suggested she take some time off to decide if the school was the right place for her. Although she took a year off, and we counseled her to transfer to another school where she might be happier, my daughter could not do it. She could not give up the “name” and went back. If she continues the way she has, she will graduate in a year with honors (a straight-A student) who will look back upon her college days as the worst time in her life. personally, I don’t think it’s worth it, but it’s her life and her choices.</p>
<p>“Could you see at the time which other schools would have been a better choice?”</p>
<p>Yes, other schools seemed to be a better fit – smaller, more artsy, and with more couses that she was interested in taking. But, as I said before, we thought “Hey, you can be happy at any school, right?” We were wrong.</p>
<p>^^ That’s true. However, she has visited her brother on several occasions, who is a rising junior at Yale, and feels that she would have been much happier there, if they had accepted her. But, yes, I do agree: there is simply no way to know.</p>
<p>Gibby, Harvard and Yale are as identical as they come with regards to having stellar academics, incredibly driven and passionate students, good housing systems, similar weather, centuries of tradition, etc.</p>
<p>I find it very hard to believe that a girl would have been blissful at Yale but miserable at Harvard. I obviously don’t know your daughter but I think she fell in love with the “idea of Yale” rather than the physical manifestation of it in New Haven, which would have been a similar experience to Harvard.</p>
<p>Regardless, attending Harvard is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Who cares if she didn’t enjoy her 4 years of college? College is only 4 years while the luster of a Harvard degree and the benefits that come with it will belong to her for a lifetime.</p>
<p>I don’t think prestige matters in dentistry. Does anyone choose their dentist based on where he/she went for their undergrad (or DDS, for that matter)? In fact, prestige does not seem to matter in MOST fields (with investment banking/finance being the most notable exception).</p>
<p>“Regardless, attending Harvard is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Who cares if she didn’t enjoy her 4 years of college? College is only 4 years while the luster of a Harvard degree and the benefits that come with it will belong to her for a lifetime.”</p>
<p>Are you serious? You spend half your time trying to convince people they’ll love Duke. Why, if it “doesn’t matter”?</p>
<p>The very definition of a prestige hound is someone who discounts personal preference and fit for some elusive “prestige.”</p>
<p>You only believe Harvard and Yale are identical, Goldenboy, because you have never been a student at either, or at ANY Ivy for that matter, though you certainly chatter on about them as though you are an insider. You also, as is noted above, spend most of your time on CC trying to convince everyone that Duke is superior to every other school in the country, using any kind of “superiority” metric you can dig up. Meaning, you consistently embarrass your alma mater. H and Y are not identical, which is why some people, ya know…um…prefer one to the other. And, if you believe someone’s mental or physical health is worth a sacrifce on the altar of prestige, you are lacking something in the human empathy and decency genes. Please, please do not have children!</p>
<p>To answer your question, prestige is only there for you to have bragging rights and hang up your diploma on the wall. You should find a school that has a high acceptance rate of sending their students to dental and med schools.</p>
Huh, please point me to where I spend “half of my time” trying to convince people they"ll love Duke. Perhaps my view point is a little extreme but I have a hard time believing that 18 year olds can have such strict personal preferences regarding what college environments they are compatible with and which ones they aren’t. Most people in my generation are pretty adaptable and can make do in most situations.</p>
<p>I can understand choosing based on specific environment characteristics like urban/rural or the weather if the two colleges are on the same plane of existence, but Harvard vs. most state schools? It would almost be selfish and downright foolish to turn down such an incredible opportunity because of transient personal misgivings.</p>
<p>The colleges that have the most prestige tend to have the most intellectual environments and academic opportunities as well. I don’t feel like I am going out on a limb here by saying prestige is an important factor that should be considered.</p>
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Thanks for the personal attach. What you accuse me of doing describes pretty much everyone on College Confidential; we are all college savants that like to learn more about universities and share information with like-minded individuals. Please take your vendetta elsewhere.</p>