<p>Please hear me out completely before making any comments. </p>
<p>Fortunately, the acceptance/rejection hype has (finally) settled. It has been a stressful four days for all of us, I'm sure.</p>
<p>However, for many people, the process is not over. I applied to many schools, and was very lucky/fortunate to have gotten into some great schools:</p>
<p>HARVARD (Single Choice Early Action)
PRINCETON
YALE
PENN
COLUMBIA
DARTMOUTH
CORNELL
BROWN
RICE (Interim Decision)</p>
<p>Currently, I am completely lost as to where I should begin to decide on a college... I hope I am not the only one in this predicament. I do not solely want to rely on USNews or Statistical Rankings to decide my undergraduate degree. I have not visited any of my schools, but am planning to visit four of them in the upcoming month of April. </p>
<p>Question: What else does one consider outside of financial aid and "campus likability"? What determines "fit"?</p>
<p>Is there an alumni who can provide some assistance in describing how his/her personal experience has been regarding the aforementioned undergrad program(s)?</p>
<p>Much thanks,
(A very confused and torn.) Tri</p>
<p>Um...well, at first I thought this was a joke, but then I rummaged through your last few dozen posts and I suppose this is for real. I will offer you my congratulations for doing so well in the college process. </p>
<p>However, having said that, I will also tell you that it was extremely inconsiderate of you to post this message (on every board, too) given the tremendous disappointments other students have gone through. </p>
<p>"I hope I am not the only one in this predicament."
A predicament? Surely you're joking. Yes, it will be hard to decide, and I do urge you to visit and talk to current students to help your decision, but you are waaaay better off than the countless other students who were waitlisted or rejected from their dream schools. </p>
<p>Anyway, I can tell you my experience at Columbia if you PM me personally, but I highly disapprove of the manner with which you chose to go about asking this question.</p>
<p>Columbia was the only Ivy League school I applied to and I am extremely happy that I was accepted. But Tchiem, your post concerns me seeing that Rice was your only non-ivy. Elite is great. Success is wonderful. But I am truly disappointed when I hear of students only applying to Ivy League schools. Yes, they are all considered Ivy League, but they definitely have some differences. This makes me think your focus was placed more on the fact that they were "Ivy League" than really searching for a school you connected with. And now, you are in your "predicament" and I do not really have any pity for you.</p>
<p>I want to believe that Tri has good intentions and is genuinely looking for advice in making this decision. The truth is, it would be a hard decision to choose between those schools, and if I was in that position, I'd probably be scrambling for guidance.</p>
<p>But, then, my more cynical side says otherwise. First of all, it's silly to apply to all 8 Ivies, since they're very different from one another, and I can't imagine each one suiting a single individual- as Harmonize largely said. And while I don't think people should go overboard censoring themselves for the benefit of those who weren't admitted (this is a Columbia forum, after all), your delivery suggests that you happen to be very proud of yourself and would enjoy receiving praise from others as well. That, of course, would be totally out-of-line. </p>
<p>Surely you could've asked the same question more modestly- maybe say that you are considering a couple great schools and would like to know what makes Columbia special.</p>