<p>Just to recalibrate the issue: Does most selective mean hardest to get into with very strong credentials? In other words, I understand saying "I have 1500 SATS and am valedictorian at a respected high school -- which is most likely to reject me, H, Y, P or S or whatever." Otherwise, it makes no sense because you get into individual factors like athletic, legacy, URM etc, where schools have different policies.</p>
<p>On the hypothetical above, I would say its H YS P Amherst...</p>
<p>This is so retarded. As a Princeton student, I just find it ridiculous that anyone can make a blanket statement about any of these colleges. Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Stanford are all fantastic institutions and they'll all take you far in life and offer you the same opportunities. I picked Princeton because of its undergraduate focus, beautiful campus and a very well rounded academic program. I liked Harvard becuase of Boston and Stanford for the weather. In the end, I would've picked Princeton even if it had double the acceptance rate of Yale namely because that stuff doesn't matter. Who cares about the number of apps per seat? Sure Yale has the most but it wasn't always like that, stuff like this is cyclical, doesn't mean that the colleges change in any way.<br>
Nevertheless, if you want to look at pure selectivity, which really does not indicate how good a school is (especially when the differences are so small...), I find it hard to see how you can say Princeton isn't more selective than Harvard or Yale. Its simply due to the fact that Princeton is smaller and supports just as many athletes as Harvard and Yale. There are just fewer seats open for academic admits. It seems as though Atlantic Monthly and US News all more or less agree with this. However, when the differences are so small, I just don't see why it would matter.</p>
<p>The likelihood of being rejected by Harvard but accepted by Princeton is relatively high; the likelihood of being accepted by Harvard but rejected by Princeton is relatively low. That's why harvard is "more selective."</p>
<p>lol mensa, just stop posting please. what is this hearsay? that is complete bs. at least byerly/alphacdc sound intelligent when they post, you just sound like a moron</p>
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lol mensa, just stop posting please. what is this hearsay? that is complete bs. at least byerly/alphacdc sound intelligent when they post, you just sound like a moron
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<p>And you sound just like alphaacdc, which means you are in fact a moron.</p>
<p>Indeed you almost certainly are alpahacdc, because no one but him could decribe his semi-literate patois as "intelligent."</p>
<p>"The likelihood of being rejected by Harvard but accepted by Princeton is relatively high; the likelihood of being accepted by Harvard but rejected by Princeton is relatively low. That's why harvard is "more selective." "</p>
<p>That's like saying the likelihood of being rejected by Berkeley but accepted by UCLA is relatively high; the likelihood of being accepted by Berkeley but rejected by UCLA is relatively low. Just like the stats show in this example and with the Harvard/Princeton example, its too close to make such a statement. Besides, stats don't tell the entire picture; in real life, those who deserve to get into Princeton and/or Harvard will get in. </p>
<p>mensa, perhaps that is your PERCEPTION of the harvard-princeton scenario, but i highly doubt you can prove it that that's how it is in real life.</p>
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mensa, perhaps that is your PERCEPTION of the harvard-princeton scenario, but i highly doubt you can prove it that that's how it is in real life.
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I could not "prove" this in the way you would accept, because if anyone collects such data they don't release it. Nor could I "prove" to your satifaction that that Princeton is more selective than Rutgers, because no one collects that data either. Do you question this too?</p>
<p>From what I've heard, it's really just a toss-up as to who gets in and who doesn't. MIT admissions people like to mention the fact that they can probably make two or three ideal classes out of the applications (i think they were talking about EA, not sure) they receive. So I like to picture the people at HYPMS tossing up coins to see who gets in since it's beyond them how to reject anyone over anyone else because they are all such barrier-breaking, driven, intelligent, applicants.</p>