<p>In the process they overlook hundreds of outstanding colleges and universities around the country. There is a hoard of kids who apply every year to the USNW top 50 or so schools, simply because of their name and status, sometimes without a clue as to what programs they have, or if its even a good fit for them. For others its a value/cost thing....and they are afraid they cant afford a private school. How wrong they often are, as many first, second, and third tier private schools give out great financial aid, essentially leveling the playing field with state schools. Some small colleges give out incredible financial aid to top students.</p>
<p>Often parents push kids to apply for the status name schools, or to stay close to home.</p>
<p>Is it a bad thing to make a major life decision without even attempting to investigate the various options? Yes</p>
<p>Is it a bad thing to take someone else's word that a school is the best one for you? Yes</p>
<p>Is it a bad thing to choose a school because you think it has universal status appeal? Yes. Recently a neighbor, a college educated professional in the insurance industry, asked me what state MIT is in. Seriously. So much for status.</p>
<p>I guess what i was trying to say was that I agree with Johnson81 - i dont see anything bad at ALL about this. Obviously you should apply to some safeties, and then good fits, and then shoot for the stars.</p>
<p>RBC, I'm wondering why you laugh at the concept of a good fit. Based on observation of numerous impressive high school graduates, I predict you will find the concept very useful in April of your senior year.</p>
<p>Hopefully your set of acceptances will allow you to choose a school that does suit you well.</p>
<p>when we were juniors, we got a lot of feedback from our friends who were seniors and going through college apps, then got feedback from them when they were in college. only worked due to the small size of the school and similar values concerning education, which meant a little less name-brand shopping for colleges. our college counselor is a pretty ruthless, thorough guy, so if we didn't have reasonable explanations for why we were picking certain colleges, he'd call us out for it.</p>
<p>wow.
every person in the world knows what they are because they're the oldest universities in the world, not because there the best. business week just released an article about how many companies often prefer not to hire ivy league students, because they think they are pompous and expect that 6 figure salary. bobmallet1 just proved this article true for me.</p>
<p>still, i see no problem with students pushing themselves to succeed. the only problem is when your desire to succeed consumes you.</p>
<p>Probably because the top 50 schools are just.... better.... than the rest at pretty much..... everything..... That's not to say they are a good fit for everyone though.</p>
<p>People apply to the 'top schools' for reasons beyond prestige - best classmates, best faculty, job placement, and so on. </p>
<p>I immediately limited my list to schools that didn't have 700+ 75th %'s per section on the SAT(besides safeties). That isn't due to any reason other than wanting an intelligent campus where brains are valued, and it was an easy way to cut off 90% of schools out there. Was it perfect? Nope. But I was looking for schools with better than average students, along with the faculty.</p>
<p>So those hundreds of schools - are more like 50-60. And I'm not applying to a single Ivy, as I don't think they fit me very well. But applying to the same schools is connected to some legitimate reasons. People want to go to Harvard for reasons beyond 'It's Harvard'.</p>
<p>exactly DSC and kk. the reason these schools are prestigious is because they are the oldest AND the best (not to say that non-ivies aren't on an equal level). so, if i'm looking to get the best education i can, at a school i like (regardless of why i like it) then why not apply to an ivy.</p>
<p>Who says HYPMS isn't necessarily a fit?
It's rather presuming to assume that it's a bad idea to apply to these schools without researching the other 4000 schools. People on cc may have enough reasoning that they'd rather not share with the rest of the world on the internet.</p>
<p>For the record, I'm not applying Ivy anywhere because I don't believe they'd be a fit for me (academics wise for the most part- engineering).</p>
<p>But who is anyone on CC to pass judgement on others for making that decision that HYPMS/ state schools are the best for them?
I know plenty of people who only applied to the state university. Sure, they could have gotten amazing scholarships at any school of their choice, but the state school was their choice.</p>
<p>... cannot talk for everyone else but can certainly talk for me.....</p>
<p>I personally found it very illumianting when early in my college selection I
decided not to use the USNWR ranking and after 12 months of whittling
down have a short list of colleges which falls majorly in USNWR's top 25.</p>
<p>In hindsight I should not have been obstinate but used the USNWR top
25 to start off with..... :)</p>
<p>...it would be bordering on the moronic if someone went to Caltech
for just the "status" and not for the academic challenge and for meeting
like minded adventurers ....</p>
<p>Caltech, MIT and P,H,Y,S are up there for the reason they ROCK!</p>