<p>I got that too! I also got similar things from Princeton and UPenn. I don’t think it really means anything tho</p>
<p>This type of letters is used to get the applicant pool large so that they can achieve low admission rate. They got your names from College Board. You probably did not do badly on SAT.</p>
<p>Porsche: don’t buy into that line that Harvard purposely lures applicants " so that they can achieve low admission rate"</p>
<p>If Harvard et al don’t market themselves, then they’d be accused of sitting on their hands and not going out and getting the best and brightest applicants – that they’re settling on only courting the traditional NorthEast feeder populations. In your scenario they’re da<strong>ed if the do and da</strong>ed if they don’t.</p>
<p>And IMHO, it’s a myth that schools like HYPS even CARE about admit rate. They’ve straddled the top ten strata for a generation – they have nothing to prove to the USNWR crowd. They just want the best applicants.</p>
<p>I’m definitely not talking about Harvard or HYPS or MIT, however, I do hear that one ivy school extended its January application deadline this year, another top school bombarded prospective applicants with letters, postcards, and goodies. The second school’s US Newsweek ranking has been climbing rapidly past few years. So maybe admission rate is something some schools really really care about. On a separate note, I noticed that Princeton’s admit rate is one of the highest among HYPS and its cross-admit yield rate is the lowest among HYPSM, however, Princeton has been ranked 1st by US Newsweek for as long as I have remembered. So it is hard to say how acceptance rate would help ranking.</p>
<p>"So it is hard to say how acceptance rate would help ranking. " </p>
<p>No it’s not. Go to theUSNWR evaluation criteria. Admit rate is nowhere to be found. A loooong time ago, it was considered. But now has ceased – but the myth lingers on.</p>
<p>Acceptance rates are definitely not indicators of one school’s quality or another’s IMHO, especially when comparing top schools.</p>
<p>That would lead you to believe that Columbia is a better school than Princeton or MIT, and while Columbia is a wonderful college and might very well be somebody’s top choice for subjective reasons, we all know that in most cases this isn’t true.</p>
<p>USNWR evaluation criteria indicated that acceptance rate is considered in the ranking (2012).</p>
<p>[Methodology:</a> Undergraduate Ranking Criteria and Weights - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2012/09/11/methodology-undergraduate-ranking-criteria-and-weights-2?page=2]Methodology:”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2012/09/11/methodology-undergraduate-ranking-criteria-and-weights-2?page=2)</p>
<p>“Methodology: Undergraduate Ranking Criteria and Weights
Definitions of ranking criteria
Acceptance rate: The ratio of the number of students admitted to the number of applicants for fall 2011 admission. … A lower acceptance rate when a school is harder to get into scores higher in the ranking model.”</p>
<p>Columbia does rank higher than MIT and Stanford in USNWR - though I personally would not agree. I do agree that acceptance rate (combined with the number of applicants) can be considered as an indicator of a school’s appeal to the general public. </p>
<p>For top schools, I think cross-admits’ yield rate may be a better indicator of “people’s choice.” Although even yield rates are not always reflecting students’ choices because HYPS in general win over MIT in financial aid. Harvard’s financial aid is probably the most generous not only for low income families but also for middle income families. I heard the difference for some middle-income families can be as high as 20K per year.</p>
<p>Oh good grief, despite your personal biases there are some ways in which Columbia IS really and truly a better school than either Princeton or M.I.T. (the extraordinary core curriculum, for example) and there are some ways in which it is really and truly NOT a better school than either Princeton or M.I.T. Who are you to judge? It depends upon the needs of the individual student!!! These are all top schools and this splitting of hairs to determine relative degrees of greatness by prestige-whoreish CC’rs couldn’t be MORE unbearable. It is the single most NOXIOUS trait that CC posters share. A student should consider himself or herself indeed fortunate to attend any of these schools. ANY OF THESE SCHOOLS!! Seriously!!! How many of them have YOU attended?</p>
<p>I have degrees from two of the top four as ranked by USNWR, Harvard and UChicago, (and family connections to others of the top ten) and I am not completely convinced that Harvard is OBJECTIVELY BETTER than UChicago IN ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER, ABSOLUTELY. Each has its particular strengths and one may be better for a particular student than the other. What I can say – OBJECTIVELY, DEFINITIVELY – is that Harvard is richer than Chicago! When I was at Harvard I had a suspicion that I had received a better undergraduate education at Chicago than my students were receiving at Harvard.</p>
<p>Vivian_, I have another sneaking suspicion: that the school you alluded to as bombarding prospective students with “goodies” – which school’s “ranking has been climbing rapidly [the] past few years” – may indeed be Chicago. I will only say that I do not endorse this marketing campaign and am slightly discomfitted by its results. </p>
<p>I really am so tired of hearing about HYPSM that I could just scream – camera cuts to Swingtime indeed screaming!!! I say that as someone who attended Harvard and whose father has degrees from M.I.T. Please, y’all, JUST STOP!!! They are NOT the be all and end all of American higher education. What are y’all smoking to have such “clouded” judgement?</p>
<p>@swingtime: I think you should probably calm down a little bit. First off, why would you even get worked up over something as silly as this? you’ve obviously been very successful in your college career, so why let a bunch of teenagers bother you?</p>
<p>Second of all, I don’t think you read what I said. I specifically said that in MOST cases, Columbia is NOT a better school than either MIT or Princeton, unless there are subjective reasons (such as being stronger in a specific field or if it comes down to personal fit.) That doesn’t mean MIT or Princeton are better than Columbia. That just means that Columbia isn’t better. I hope this clears things up.</p>
<p>Yab123, I wasn’t “worked up,” I was grumpily amused (such IS possible). So what? But perhaps it would be more honest of me to admit I was releasing pent up frustration with the status-mongering that it so endemic to CC, and largely comes from uninformed teenagers. Though it is clearly encouraged by uninformed, status-hungry adults who should know better, yet engage in “mine is bigger than yours” fights over relative prestige and its parsing, thus setting an abhorrent example for impressionable teenagers who should be casting their college application nets wider and, ultimately, accepting with grace and joy the acceptances they DO receive.</p>
<p>There is much less grace, joy, and humility on CC than there should be. And we should be encouraging students to explore the entire world of riches that the American higher educational system has to offer, rather than fighting in front of them over the relative prestige of those in the top ten of, say, the USNWR. No kid’s life will be destroyed if he or she does not get into the mythical (overrated, anyone???) HYPSM grouping. </p>
<p>Let me add this. When I was a high school student, M.I.T. was not a big deal AT ALL, outside of the science nerd group. I had only heard of it because my father was an alum. When did it become the prestige-peer of more liberal arts focused, less specialized, universities? Just curious. Why is the acronym HYPSM, when M.I.T. does not necessarily seek or admit the same cohort as HYP or S, not to mention, Columbia, Penn, or Chicago?</p>
<p>If you have enjoyed the affluent, education-oriented upbringing from an MIT dad and Ivy-connected relatives, it is possible you don’t see that HYPSM level schools are the gateway to great futures for the impoverished or those middle-class kids who depend on generous financial aid only available at top-tier schools.</p>
<p>With the advent of the internet, and sites like CC, the entire world of students can dream of the great opportunities HYPSM schools offer. MIT has always carried prestige in the science and business worlds, and the age of information has simply broadcast that fact on a global level.</p>
<p>How great it is that an ambitious student in Nepal can access the same college info as a prepster in Exeter!</p>
<p>If you agree to receive mailings from colleges/organizations when registering for a college board exam, then you will recieve mailings from schools. Schools “buy” student data based on certain criteria. For instance, a Historically Black College might send specific target mailings to African American students, and Ivy League schools might target kids in a certain score range. Harvard may, for example, solicit the mailing addresses and names of all the students who scored above a 180 on the PSAT in order to send direct mail. However, this is still a somewhat selective bunch. Remember that they know NOTHING other than your score when it comes to direct mail. So, not everyone is inherently qualified for admission, because an application reaches MUCH further than a single test score - but them contacting you may imply SOME range of selectivity.</p>
<p>Wow, I didn’t even see all the attention this post had gotten until now.</p>
<p>But yeah, I have to agree with the other posts. I don’t actually think the letter I got means anything. I figured it was just a marketing tactic, possibly to lower admission rates, although it seems that’s up for debate. Obviously, I’m still going to apply, but of course, you should never expect to get into any of your reach schools.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the responses, guys. Good luck to any fellow students applying to this school.</p>
<p>P.S. To put my two cents in on the issue, I come from a family that has solid money, but a poor education. Nobody in my family has ever gone to a four year college; I will be the first. I feel, as do many students in the same boat as myself, that a HYPS school would be the gateway to a better future for myself and my family. That’s what I’m working towards.</p>
<p>Wow. Just wanna say that you are a strong candidate and that is a load full of extra curriculars. Im in middle school wanting to go to Harvard and your post is kinda a guide to me on what a good candidate is. Thanks… you should totally apply. Its going to be intense though.</p>