IVY versus top schools like Caltech,MIT,etc.

<p>We all know that almost everyone on CC is applying to atleast one IVY, including myself, but what about the other to schools. I have seen posts where students get accepted into MIT, yale, and northwestern, and guess nearly all of them choose yale. Dont get me wrong yale is one of theee most amazing schools but so are MIT and northwestern. Are we, as a
society so caught up in the name and rankings of schools that we are willing to go to somewhere simply because of how highly recognized the school is. I know that if I was to be accepted at yale and say a school like MIT or caltech I would most likely choose MIT or caltech. Yess I know that your major, how the school feels towards you and all those other things play a part but somme CCers seem to be going to the college with the name that is highly recognized. Any thoughts?</p>

<p>Are you saying Caltech and MIT aren’t highly recognized?</p>

<p>no not at all I am saying that people who look at college rankings see schools like harvard and yale ranked at like number 5 or something and then see caltech and MIT ranked at like 10 and automatically think that harvard and yale are better which is false. and also in my home country of jamaica the only schools our teachers really knew of were yale harvard and princeton.</p>

<p>You have so much to learn.</p>

<p>Harvard, Yale, and Princeton are always top 3, but MIT, Stanford and Caltech are often considered of the same caliber.</p>

<p>If one gains acceptance to more than one of these colleges, they generally choose the one that is the best fit for them. You should be comparing these schools with other schools in the top 25, for example Georgetown, Northwestern and UChicago., and asking “Why HYPSM over these schools?”, but that question is asked far too often.</p>

<p>Why does Ivy need to be in all caps?</p>

<p>mayfair i dont think you understand my point that I am trying to make</p>

<p>and ok Ivy lol aree you happy bdl108?</p>

<p>Sstewart - in all the rankings that are big in the states (US News, maybe Princeton Review, etc.), MIT and Caltech are usually in the top 4 or 5… What rankings are you relying on here? From what I know, MIT has never been ranked as low as 10 in something like US News</p>

<p>ok I never said that I rely on rankings first of all and second my friend googled college rankings and there was one that MIT was ranked like 12 and U of chicago was ranked number one.</p>

<p>“Why does Ivy need to be in all caps?”</p>

<p>Because I am proud and honorable citizen of glorious People’s Republic of United States News & World Report.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>of NYC. You have to be very specific.</p>

<p>hahahahahahaha</p>

<p>Sstewart - I ask because in pretty much any ranking of schools, MIT/Cal Tech are generally quite close to HYP, and are also generally thought of as being on the same plane as HYP, so I don’t really know where you’re coming from here. It’s kinda like asking about the difference between Yale and Princeton - they’re all on the same plane, and I don’t really know anyone who considers Yale etc. a clear step UP from MIT.</p>

<p>I like MIT / Caltech better because they aren’t as full with upper class rich kids. They seem more down to earth.</p>

<p>^over generalizing much?</p>

<p>“MIT has never been ranked as low as 10 in something like US News”</p>

<p>MIT was ranked 11th by US News in 1988, and Caltech has been ranked as high as 1 and as low as 21 by US News. However, US News and all other rankings have major flaws. But, it’s reasonable to assert non-Ivy such as Stanford, MIT, and Caltech are on the same plane as HYP.</p>

<p>Interestingly, of the 10 colleges (HYPSM, Caltech, Duke, Dartmouth, Upenn, and Columbia) ranked perennially in the top 10 by US News (meaning they are ranked inside top 10 more often than outside), 6 of them are in the Ivy League.</p>

<p>

Thankfully, no. Even Harvard loses 1 out of 5 admits to another school.</p>

<p>Shockingly enough, some of them choose colleges less popular on CC. :rolleyes:</p>

<p>

So because someone chooses Yale over MIT and Northwestern, that leads you to the assumption that they chose it because of its name? That’s a very big and unfair assumption to make…</p>

<p>Probably because of financial aid reasons…</p>

<p>I know one person who gave up all the 8 Ivies + Duke, WashU, Vandy, Emory, and few others (not including Princeton) because he got a full ride scholarship to go to JHU.</p>

<p>Some ppl simply need the money lol. Even if their parents make $150K… He was also premed which kinda factored into his decision for JHU…</p>

<p>I know many who give up Penn, Stanford, MIT, Dartmouth for BME at JHU… even for IR too lol.</p>