<p>I feel like choosing a school/s and then trying to figure out how to be admitted to it is backasswards.
We instead developed our own criteria to evaluate schools potential to meet students needs rather than other way around.</p>
<p>Its a pretty adaptable method. You could use potential to impress the neighbors as a criteria if you really wanted to.
However, they could be like me & wonder why your kid wants to go to UPenn, when the UW is a perfectly good flagship.</p>
<p>apply early decision</p>
<p>I agree with Pizzagirl and other posters. I have a kid who had the stats and ECs for some Ivy admissions – she decided the intellectual climate of colleges like U of Chicago and Swarthmore were a better fit, and didn’t even put in apps to the Ivies because they didn’t really fit what she wanted in a college. Don’t get the “Ivy stars” in your eyes, it is silly. Visit colleges and assess major, atmosphere, campus setting, cost, etc. What does your kid LIKE? Not “what college have we and our family/friends heard of”.</p>
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<p>The University of Chicago and Swarthmore are not a step down from the Ivy League. They’re top academic schools that attract some of the best students in the country.</p>
<p>Be prepared for heartbreak if you want only specific schools.</p>
<p>If you follow the philosophy of reach, match and safety and know that many of the highly ranked schools have 5.5 - 10% admission numbers which makes their admission unpredictable, your family will be happier.</p>
<p>Um…apply ED if you don’t have complicated financial issues (own a business, parents divorced, etc)…and you feel confident you can attend if accepted. Yes, you can back out of an ED agreement if the money isn’t there…but really…that is not the point of applying ED. And some of the Ivies do NOT have an ED application option.</p>
<p>I agree about “Ivy stars in the eyes”. The are great schools, for sure. BUT there are hundreds of other great colleges that are NOT HYPSM.</p>
<p>The answer to the OP’s question is very simple - become a recruited athlete. There are roughly 200 x 8 = 1600 reserved spots every year in the Ivy League with guaranteed admissions. You do not need to be a top academic talent. In most sports you do not need to be a top athletic talent either. It is not easy to engineer Ivy acceptance through athletics although I am sure some parents have done that.</p>
<p>Do not put ivies on a pedestal. They are amazing schools, but there are so many other amazing schools out there. Some kids really thrive at the ivies, and others go because they think they should.</p>
<p>I agree with what others have advised…Great scores, grades, class rank are just the start. You have to really stand out. Then it’s a crap shoot. Each year, admins will make their decisions based on the pool of applicants and rejection in no way minimizes your child’s successes.</p>
<p>My older son applied to five ivies - got in two, WL’d at one, rejected at two. He had almost perfect SAT’s, was SAL, had amazing EC’s (not just some clubs at school), and even had a LOR from an ivy professor with whom he took a class while in HS. You never know.</p>
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<p>Haha…whole heartily agree!</p>
<p>The students I know who got into some of the most prestigious institutions didn’t start out with the goal of “getting in.” They were too busy to waste time “dreaming” about their college future and trying to “fit” some mold. </p>
<p>My advice…work your butt off in school (being well educated is a good thing), participate in the things you love (you don’t want to miss out on the fun of HS) and be nice to others. Then, if you don’t get into whatever dream school, no regrets!</p>
<p>^^^^^Exactly</p>
<p>Let YOUR interests guide you to the right college rather than allowing a college to dictate your interests. </p>
<p>My daughter only applied to one Ivy League school because it, like the nine other schools on her list, aligned very well with her interests; and I think that ‘fit’ was a primary reason for her acceptance.</p>
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<p>Right… that was the point I was trying to make. There are other great schools out there that aren’t part of the Ivy league. My kid actually ended up at Harvey Mudd, which IMHO is also not a step down, and is very happy there. Point is, she could have fixated on Ivies and likely gotten some acceptances (she got into all the schools she did apply to). But instead she looked at fit. The OP should really expand her horizons beyond Ivy + MIT. Which I think a lot of people are telling her.</p>
<p>I agree with arwarw</p>
<p>My daughter’s list came about because we searched for schools that had her desired major, Astrophysics (or that had a strong Astronomy program in Physics), and met 90%+ need.</p>
<p>Several Ivies happened to top that list but also on the list were UVA, Franklin & Marshall, Lehigh, etc. She applied to her top choice, Princeton, SCEA and got in. When she got that news she didn’t fill out anymore apps but she was prepared to. She also had the University of Alabama and an instate safety.</p>
<p>I have a DS’16 and we began his list the same way- best schools for his desired major and meets need + some safeties.</p>
<p>“The answer to the OP’s question is very simple - become a recruited athlete.”</p>
<p>In general for recruited athletes:</p>
<p>All recruited athletes must pass an academic pre-read by admissions the summer before the start of their senior year.</p>
<p>Recruited athletes for MIT receive little if any help with admissions and no athletic scholarships.</p>
<p>Recruited athletes for Stanford can get some help with admissions and they can also receive athletic scholarships. However to be a recruited athlete for Stanford you must have both a high GPA, great test scores and be ranked in the top 20 nationally for your sport and event/position.</p>
<p>Recruited athletes for Ivy League schools cannot receive any athletic scholarship money. For the Ivy League you need SAT scores of about 2100, 3.7 UW GPA, and have 4 or more AP courses. You must also be ranked in the top 100 nationally. Because of the Academic Index system used for recruited athletes a few athletes that are ranked 1st nationally may be admitted with SAT scores of 1700 and unranked athletes may be admitted with a GPA of 4.0 and SAT scores of 2300.</p>
<p>Re post #17 by Data10: I would appreciate it if posters would please drop the use of “robots” to describe people, even metaphorically. If you prick someone who has scored 2400 on the SAT I, does he/she not bleed? I feel that using a mechanical analogy for a particular group of people tends to have the effect of dehumanizing them, particularly when it happens repeatedly.</p>
<p>If time and money are significant to your family, don’t bother physically touring Ivy campuses until you have acceptances in hand. Watch You Tube videos, read message boards, look on school websites - but don’t bother touring campuses as if you’re going to have an actual choice between them.</p>
<p>Too many kids and parents go on the “Ivy League campus tour” laying out money for hotels, gas, plane tickets, even when their chances of ever getting in are really quite low. The truth is, if your kid is really focused on Ivy because it’s Ivy, chances are you’re just going to take the “best one” you can get into, you’re already focused on the name and not much else. Even if you get into more than one, chances are one is going to be that campus you never got to, anyway (curse you for being so far north, Dartmouth!).</p>
<p>That’s my advice. Take it or leave it. I know most parents of juniors will leave it. See you next year!</p>
<p>What does your daughter want to do with her life AFTER college? She should look for the best schools that will help her prepare for that career. And for some professions, there are schools that are better choices than the Ivy League.
My daughter, for example, fell in love with Cornell and the Ithaca area. It was her dream location and type of school environment. However, she also had her heart set on becoming a Physician Assistant, so that meant Cornell was not the school for her.</p>
<p>She spent 5 years in an “okay” location, made great friends, finished number 2 in her grad class, did well on the licensing exam and now will spend more than 5 years in a location and job that is perfect for her.</p>
<p>“The truth is, if your kid is really focused on Ivy because it’s Ivy”</p>
<p>But that presumes all the Ivies collectively offer something that isn’t found at other similar schools. “I want to go to an excellent school” is a smart thing. “Of all the top schools, the only ones I’m interested in are Ivies” is about as dumb a selection metric as “the only ones I’m interested in are those with one-syllable names.”</p>
<p>Hey, I’m an advocate for the one-syllable schools. You end up with an intriguing list and nice, clean sweatshirt designs.</p>
<p>^^Penn? Yale? Brown?</p>
<p>My favorite is one that actually plays in a GOOD basketball league, but I’m biased.</p>