<p>First of all, as you know, my d. earned the equivalent of two years of language study at her Ivy (and a “high pass” in the language exam) for her one year at Smith. (In her other language, when they found where she’d been, and held a conversation in the language, they didn’t even bother to test her.) Secondly, the STRIDE (and Kahn Fellowships - which is where students in the humanities go for further research experience after their STRIDES) experiences are quite specifically relevant, and not the exception in this case, as these are precisely the type of students likely to choose Ph.Ds. And certainly, I would be the first to agree that there will be more of these students generally speaking at Ivies, which will (as already noted) actually work against them. Thirdly, we did the research - we really did kick the tires. There were NO research positions at any of the Ivies we looked at that were comparable. NONE. Zero. Zippo. And in all the years I was at Chicago, Zero, Zippo. You really need to understand that professors’ reputations are really on the line here, and that they pay graduate students really, really good money (in my view) to do the research that will expand their reputations. Will there be exceptions? Yes. But they are going to be rare, especially in the humanities. </p>
<p>And are there compensations? Yes. Ivy students tend to be really smart.</p>