<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>You could visit the campuses and see which one just 'feels right' (though this tends to give an advantage to aesthetically pleasing campuses like Yale--their gothic architecture is all fake)</p>
<p>Or you could start narrowing down your list. Do you want a campus with a real city? That would instantly narrow your choices to Columbia and Penn (and perhaps Harvard if you consider Cambridge close enough to Boston).</p>
<p>Or perhaps you want a suburban (Brown, Princeton) or even rural (Cornell, Dartmouth) experience...</p>
<p>Do you want a small college (like Dmouth) or a large university (like Penn)</p>
<p>Everything has its advantages and disadvantages. City universities have far greater opportunity, but more crime...research universities have more class offerings to cater to niche interests, but also have impersonal lectures and TAs...</p>
<p>congratulations! Impressive list of acceptances. I was accepted Penn ED and I have not visited the campus, so I do not think I'm much help to you. I'm just in awe at all your impressive acceptances. Good luck with your tough decision. I apologize for my lack of help.</p>
<p>I just find it funny that someone who was accepted to all eight Ivy League schools writes sentences like "Is there any alumni?".</p>
<p>And although you claim that you "do not solely want to rely on USNews or Statistical Rankings to decide [your] undergraduate degree," you proceeded to apply to nice radically different schools. About the only thing they have in common with each other is that eight of them are in the top 14 of the USNews rankings.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, it is an impressive an enviable group of acceptances.</p>
<p>Yes, it would seem like you certainly did rely on USNews when u decided where to apply. Why else would you have decided to apply to the entire Ivy league?</p>
<p>My advice would be to research all the schools and find out what interests you most. Then sit down and really think about it after your visits.</p>
<p>and Johnny, I would certainly consider Harvard to be in a real city, as you can be in downtown Boston in just a few subway stops.</p>
<p>Im in a similar situation, however, on a smaller scale. I'm split between Penn Engineering and Columbia the Fu Foundation for engineering. Can anyone offer me assistance?</p>
<p>Yea this is rediculous...I've never heard of anyone getting into all 8 Ivies...of all the smartest people in my school no one got into more than one, and many didn't get into any. (this is not counting people who got into schools like duke as well as an ivy...which still there are only 1 or 2)...but in any case, I'm just curious if you could post your stats and resume and stuff...purely out of curiosity of what you had that got you into all those schools...let me extend a big congradulations.</p>
<p>Congratulations Tchiem!! WOW! all 8 ivies <em>feels dizzy</em> ...
:p yeah.. so well if u want a rocking social life and get the best of good education as well.. id say choose penn. The people at penn really know how to balance both...
but you really gotta research into all these schools and find out what you are really looking for....
good luck with your choice!!</p>
<p>i'm currently a penn student (not an alum), but i can tell u that i have loved my penn experience thus far. i am about half way down with college and i can honestly say this has been a pretty amazing experience. in penn, there is so much to do academically and resources are extremely accessible. At Penn, there is not as large a separation between the resources/classes that grad students and undergrad students have access to! the social atmosphere is pretty excellent...i'm actually going out in like five minutes...haha....and the campus is like a bubble within a city...so you have a cozy feeling within penn's campus, with constant access to the large city! i would strongly suggest visiting, which is what made me decide Penn was the place for me. Just look around when you visit the campuses. Look at the people and see if you can see yourself hanging out with them and being one of them...that really helped me narrow down my choices when i was in your shoes. good luck with your decision!</p>
<p>My question is why would anyone apply to all 8 Ivy League schools? They're all so different...the lax curriculum at Brown vs. the impossible sounding curriculum at Cornell vs. the 4 quarter semester at Dartmouth vs. the tiny size of P-ton or the huge size of Penn or the location of Yale....</p>
<p>Yes, I'm jealous, but in all reality, your ego boost took spots away from students' first choice colleges. </p>
<p>With your SCEA to Harvard, I'm sure that you could have easily omitted some of the other colleges that you applied to...but I guess none of that really matters....</p>
<p>Congratulations to all of your acceptees and current students of Penn.</p>
<p>Penn is my number one dream school. I stand good chances of getting in, but hey, I will of course be similar to the whole applicant pool. Top of my class, 2250 SATs, and great EC's (not to sound conceited).</p>
<p>But tell me your secret, what do you think made you stand out in the applicant pool? I have legacy at some other great schools, but I wish I had it at Penn! It's such a great atmosphere and awesome resources!</p>
<p>this dude is full of it...there is no way he got into all 8 ivies. You are even a loser for applying to all 8 with all the time that needs to be put into the applications, each of which have at least 2 essays</p>
<p>well he said he got into Princeton on the 1st. I know they don't do email or online decisions, and I'm pretty sure my friends who were waiting on Princeton letters didn't get them 1 day after everyone else. I don't know, maybe they told "Tri" early, but thats just something i picked up on</p>