<p>
</p>
<p>LoremIpsum, why is this so hard to believe? NOT A SINGLE IVY was appealing to my son, either. He got mail from several of them, is a legacy at H, Y & P (not parents, but farther back) and just said no. I cannot for the life of me understand why people think they are the be-all, end-all. They’re not.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Exactly. JHS says “Are you suggesting that amazing, un-replicable facilities, some of the strongest faculties in the world, secure financial position, highly qualified and motivated students, and lovely traditions are not things that might be attractive to top students?”</p>
<p>They are not attractive to ALL students. What does that mean, “un-replicable facilities”? Why should my theater kid care about state-of-the-art science labs? Or for that matter, why should he care how great the theater facilities are, as long as the teaching is great and the quality of the productions is outstanding? As for teaching, why should my daughter care that she has classes with world-renowned faculty, if their renown comes from research and not teaching? Wouldn’t she be better off at, for example, a good LAC where Ivy-educated professors who love to teach undergrads are teaching?</p>
<p>And finally, the Northeast. Get over it. Not everyone wants to be there. Even those of us who are from there.</p>
<p>ETA: Haha…double-cross-posted with SomeOldGuy.</p>
<p>
AMEN!</p>
<p>Coast life or no life!</p>
<p>what a strange post. The OP doesn’t mention what her DS is interested in. What if he wants to go into NS? Would he rule out Yale, just because it is an Ivy? Or, suppose he wanted engineering, would he not consider Cornell or Princeton? </p>
<p>Obviously, I am biased, as I know which of these schools have depth in the fields that the worm was interested in. No, he did not ultimately attend one of these schools, but he knew which schools were strong in his field, and he applied, got accepted, but chose a school stronger (& less $$$$) in his fields of interest.</p>
<p>And another thing (and then I will stop for a while), building off sosomenza’s quote above: the OP makes a completely valid and important point about the madness of having her child marketed to since freshman year of high school. It IS madness. And we all understand why colleges play the game. Do schools like Vanderbilt or Cornell or Penn NEED to market themselves to get qualified applicants? Of course not. But in the never-ending fight to be “most selective,” they continue to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on glossy viewbooks and encouraging letters to get vulnerable kids to think they have a chance. What admissions rate will be good enough for these schools? We are down below 5% with some of them. When will more people wise up like the OP has done? Why so many lemmings?</p>
<p>Wow, OP.
Good for you!</p>
<p>My own alma mater doesn’t do mailings to boost its rejection rates- it does so because every now and again a kid who has the intellectual goods to be there, and has some other attractive quality re: first generation college student, etc. who has never heard of the school, gets a piece of mail and decides, “hey, this could be interesting”. That kid who might never have imagined anything other than going to the local CC for a certificate program in radiology might end up a radiologist- or doing ground breaking research in medical imaging- as a result of that mailing.</p>
<p>And to those of you who think the system is broken- try telling that to the tens of thousands of students overseas who are trying to get admitted to colleges in the US. It may be broken- but their’s are “brokener”.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>blossom, I would like to believe you and appreciate your faith in the noble intentions of your school, but unfortunately the facts of direct-mail marketing are not on your side. Colleges buy lists (or use list brokers) that precisely target households according to demographics. Of course, some information like first-generation status won’t be available to them, but they can build profiles of potential “customers” based on the information they DO have access to. If your alma mater truly (and only) wanted to get those kids who didn’t think they had a chance, it would be better off working directly with schools and developing relationships with guidance counselors who know who those students are. Sending thousands of expensive mailings to get those “fish in a barrel” is not cost-effective.</p>
<p>alexissss, didn’t you apply to several Ivies? </p>
<p>Sally, for god’s sake many of us have said til we are blue in the face that the Ivies are just some among many excellent schools. I, for one, get GD sick and tired of morons posting manifestos about how THEIR kid isn’t going to apply to an Ivy. NO ONE CARES. It would be like me posting a big hoo-hah about how MY kid wasn’t going to apply to MIT, CalTech, or Harvey Mudd. Simply ridiculous. </p>
<p>Typical CC attacks indeed. Coming from you and sosomenza and the OP and others.</p>
<p>Consolation, calm down. There is no need to get hysterical. There is nothing in my posts, or the OP’s, or sosomenza’s, that could possibly be construed by a reasonable person as an “attack” on the Ivies or on other posters. However, calling the OP a “moron” is an attack, and not a very mature one. Get a grip, and if you don’t like the subject of a thread, stay out of the discussion.</p>
<p>My homeschooled d was motivated to take five subject tests when it was required of a top 20 LAC we visited. She’s now a junior there. I wouldn’t have made her take them, but she was motivated to do so herself. She wasn’t interested in the Ivys either, but she was willing to jump through the hoops required of her top choice school.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’d have to agree. A top student not applying to the Ivies isn’t really news. Most high school students (and many strong ones) don’t apply to the Ivies; you don’t need to give your reasons. If your child isn’t interested in any Ivies, great! Apply elsewhere and have a good time. If your child is interested in some Ivies, but won’t apply because you’re taking a principled stand against the system, that’s more of an issue.</p>
<p>If this thread was about any other group of schools, no one would care. I didn’t apply to any schools in the Big 10 sports conference. And nowhere during that process did I feel the need to tell everyone and their mother (cuz we’re on the parents forum. get it? hehehe) to JUST SAY NO! to that arbitrary group. Jesus. I am on exactly the same page as Consolation here.</p>
<p>I guess I missed the thousands of “chance me for the Big 10!” threads on this site. :)</p>
<p>There have been posters who were obsessed with the Big 10. There have been posters who were obsessed with what they personally defined as “good” weather. There have been posters who genuinely believed that no one could possibly have a “real” college experience or have any “school spirit” unless the college had big time sports. And on, and on. All of these people have roundly condemned every school not on their list of acceptable choices. </p>
<p>My kid applied to an array of selective colleges, including some in the Midwest and CA. Of those that accepted him, he chose to attend Dartmouth, because it was the school he liked the best. Not because it was an Ivy. We would have been happy if he had chosen any of them. (Although we were also very happy that he chose one of the two with the best FA.) Do you have any idea how many times I have read morons–yes, morons, IMNSHO, whether YOU like it or not-- posting on CC who maintain that EVERYONE who goes to an Ivy does so ONLY because of the “prestige,” the “name,” or whatever? Let me tell you, it gets old. Really old.</p>
<p>BTW, one of the things he liked about it was its focus on undergraduate teaching. Not only at LACs, you know.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>LOL… what’s not to love about difficult winters, having to turn on the lights at 4:00 p.m because it is DARK. Muggy hot summers, a mandatory four season wardrobe, the blessing of spending at least a couple of holidays in a closed down , iced out, snowed in airport. I think learning to sleep on 2 seats in an airport lounge is a life skill everyone must learn. :rolleyes: </p>
<p>But…oh…those 3 weeks of autumn and 3 weeks of spring when everything is just perfect. :)</p>
<p>Annnnnnnddd they’re off!</p>
<p>(for the record, I don’t get the point of a thread to tell people that no one should do something if I don’t want to do it, but, whatever, I’ll pop the popcorn.)</p>
<p>Consolation: That’s better. And I agree about Dartmouth, BTW. Which is why I always find it odd when kids say they are applying to ALL the Ivies and are sure they would be happy at whichever one they got into–they Just. Want. An. Ivy! As you point out, in many ways Dartmouth has more similarities to top-notch LACs than to private research universities. So if what a student wants is the general size, feel and opportunities at one of the larger Ivies, why would he apply to Dartmouth? Or conversely, if a student really likes the environment of Dartmouth, why is the rest of his consideration set not made up of more Dartmouth-like schools? It’s the “Ivy or bust!” kids who aren’t thoughtful about their choices that make some of us roll our eyes.</p>
<p>The Big 10 comparison is interesting, although I don’t think it’s prevalent on this site–nor do I see many boosters who believe that any Big 10 school will offer an equal experience to everyone (other than school spirit–perhaps). Also, in the same way people here classify HYP as “better” than the other Ivies, one would think there’d have to be an acronym to distinguish Northwestern and Michigan from the rest of the pack. :)</p>
<p>P.S. I don’t know what IMNSHO means.</p>
<p>Lather, Rinse, Repeat</p>
<p>I can see how this could be misconstrued as pre-emptive sour grapes, but I kind of get where you’re coming from. It’s the feeling of just not wanting to be sucked in. I felt the same way about not wanting to get into the whole SAT prep and college advisor game. It is crazy and anxiety provoking. I would just say to you, there is a way to educate yourself. There is a way for your child to be true to himself about what he wants and does not want. If he does want to apply to Ivies, I would urge you to not discourage him (unless his grades are really well below or you are sure you would be full pay and don’t want to be.) I think you should let him know your concerns. And as for Vanderbilt, my son goes there. I did not know anything about it and admittedly maybe even had a negative image of it as a preppy southern school to avoid, but it has been the most perfect match for him in all respects. I would just say, keep an open mind!</p>