<p>My DS asked me a question what is his chance of denying by Ivy schools if he applies 4 schools v. one schools?</p>
<p>So does applying more schools increase chance if person stats is within the top 25 of applicants? Any mathematical explanation? </p>
<p>I heard the this answer before "it doesn't increase the chance" from high school consulars. Why?</p>
<p>I find it hard to believe that it does not improve your chance. Why does one apply to more than a few schools in the first place if it is not about spreading the risk of not being accepted? This is of course if you are reasonably within the range of the caliber of schools you are applying.</p>
<p>Applying to multiple Ivies does not increase your chances at any particular school.</p>
<p>Applying to multiple Ivies does not increase your chances as much as a mathematical model based on independent, random selection of students would predict.</p>
<p>However, applying to multiple Ivies definitely does increase your chances of acceptance within the Ivy league. The schools all have their own preferences for certain types of students, and it is difficult to discern exactly what these are, if you have a limited database. There are many students on CC who have reported admission to some Ivies, but rejections by others. These are not all students who are legacies or recruited athletes. Also, there is not a clear-cut sorting by prestige of the college–Harvard sometimes admits students that Yale and/or Princeton do not (and all permutations of that statement).</p>
<p>On the other hand, applying to all 8 Ivies would be a mistake, in my opinion. They are different enough that such a pattern would indicate “desperate for an Ivy” to most observers. Applying to all 8 Ivies could also irritate the guidance counselor (this depends on your high school and possibly on the specific GC), which could lead to a weaker recommendation, and thus reduce the applicant’s chances.</p>
<p>just remember this: your chance of getting in is 0% if you don’t apply.</p>
<p>If you toss a coin repeatedly and the first few times it comes up heads, the longer you toss it, the more likely you’ll have at least one tail in your entire sequence of tosses, but the actual chance of tossing a head or a tail on one given throw is still 50/50. Each toss is still an independent event.</p>
<p>If you’re truly in the ballpark, it can’t hurt to apply to more, but each application is still an independent event.</p>
<p>I only did one(but I only applied to 5 schools)…I personally think doing more than 3 or 4 is simply “fishing” for an acceptance…I mean, seriously? odds are you are not going to love Columbia AND Dartmouth AND Brown…they are all very different</p>
<p>I know this is a “fishing” that is why I am curious about? Because so many people said that and I likes know what is the theory behind? I know “each application is still an independent event” which means having its own probability so each probability can be added up?</p>
<p>Your odds of getting accepted to the Ivies are low anyway. About 10% get accepted and 90% or so do not. If you want to go to Yale…applying to all the other Ivies will NOT increase your odd of getting into Yale. You might, however, get accepted somewhere in the field of schools.</p>
<p>I would say…if you think you have what it takes to get accepted to Ivy League schools…applying to multiple Ivies isn’t going to increase your chances much of being accepted…its hard to gain acceptance period.</p>
<p>If you think this will HELP your application because you are sort of marginal…I would say…no it won’t.</p>
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<p>No, it doesn’t mean you can add them up. For example, if I apply to 5 schools, each with an acceptance rate of 20%, that doesn’t mean that I am guaranteed to get into one of them.</p>
<p>The real question is, if your S is interested in top schools, what’s so special about the Ivies? They’re just an athletic league that comprises 8 of the top schools in the country, but Ivy League-ish-ness in and of itself is not a reason to apply. It would make more sense if he were thinking about “top schools” as a whole, but if he thinks about “Ivy League” as the whole, then that doesn’t make any sense.</p>
<p>The notation here is whether or not increase a chance of accepted by Ivies not particular one single school? This is a mathematical question not emotion attached to any school. Like to hear people said about?</p>
<p>OK…let me give you another example. I want to win the lottery. If I buy one ticket in 20 states, will this increase my chances of winning in ONE of those states. NO.</p>
<p>Then why are you wording it as Ivies as opposed to “X top schools”?</p>
<p>Look, if you’re in the ballpark, then yes, applying to more schools increases the chance that at least one will accept you, but it doesn’t GUARANTEE anything. If you’re not in the ballpark, then it doesn’t matter either way. </p>
<p>Why not just apply to the schools that you want to?</p>
<p>soccer92boy, it’s not purely a mathematical question, because there is no way for an applicant to know his/her odds at a particular school. If the applicant did know the odds, then if the probabilities of admission to Harvard, Yale and Princeton were pH, pY, and pP (for that particular applicant), the odds of not being admitted to any of them would be (1 - pH) (1 - pY) (1 - pP), and so the odds of admission to at least one of the schools would be 1 - (1 -pH)(1 - pY)(1 - pP). That is, you do not just add pH + pY + pP, but your odds would go up, if you applied to all three.</p>
<p>Thank you, quantmech. Soccerboy - it only works if you can say with confidence that your chances of being accepted at H are (say) 30%. But how do you know? How do you have any idea?</p>
<p>If your goal is to get into one of the top 10 schools, and for some reason you don’t care which one, it obviously helps to apply to more than one. THe question of how much it helps is more difficult. It is not a simple question.</p>
<p>If you only apply to Harvard, with a 7% chance of admission, then assuming you are the average applicant your chance of getting into a top 10 school can never be over 7% since you only applied to one.</p>
<p>If you apply to all 10, your chances will go up. I think it is a joint probability problem, but I don’t believe the chance of admissions at each school is truly an independent event (like a coin toss), since a lot of schools look at similar things, and a lot of student get cross admitted. And, as some people have pointed out, the odds for any individual at any given schools may be more or less than the average odds for the “typical” applicant, depending on what that school looks for. And some schools may not accept someone because they think they will get in somewhere else.</p>
<p>But since I don’t think these schools share admissions applications, I don’t think there is any downside to applying to a bunch, from a purely mathematical perspective, except it cost more in time, and you may hurt your essays/etc. by spreading yourself too thin.</p>
<p>^^hence the fishing…I don’t like the kids who just want to get into a top 10 school. They couldn’t care less which one, they just want one…</p>
<p>I think it makes more sense to carefully create a college list with reaches, matches and safeties and be super dedicated to those apps. If you get into your reaches, it will mean a great deal more as they will be the ones you are super passionate about…if not, they aren’t for you</p>
<p>You should pick colleges YOU love, not just the prestigious ones…</p>
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<p>True enough.</p>
<p>But that doesn’t seem to be the norm at all on here. I’m looking at it from a pure mathematical perspective. </p>
<p>There are a lot of brilliant kids with brilliant parents on this website, so I suspect if they didn’t have an idea that it helps to apply to more than one of these schools, they wouldn’t do it.</p>
<p>It may increase your chances, and it may not. </p>
<p>If you are truly very gifted, and “Ivy” material, then it does decrease your chances of just being “looked over”. Since not every school can accept every applicant that they would like, then it would figure that it would help to apply to several, if only because you can never be sure which school is looking for “you” to complete their class and which school already has “you” in the form of someone else! However, since all of the schools are very different, it’s unlikely you’d be a fit for all of them, so if applying to multiple schools does increase your chances, it only does so up to a point.</p>
<p>And if you just don’t cut it for that tier of school, then you could apply to 50 (if there were 50!) and it wouldn’t matter.</p>
<p>But the real question is…Why apply to a bunch of Ivies to increase your chances, rather than apply to like, other schools? The Ivy League is not going to give you a discernably better education or resume than many other schools you could apply to. Therefore, to increase your chances of being admited to a good school and getting a top rate education, you should apply OUTSIDE of the Ivies :P. </p>
<p>That’s probably why the /really/ smart kids only apply to one or two Ivies, since they know there are a lot of other great schools out there which both provide a good education and prestige/alumni network, and they wouldn’t want to waste their time filling out 8 Ivy applications when there is Stanford, MIT, CalTech, University of Chicago, “insert a lot of universities here, way more than you could actually handle applying to”.</p>
<p>There were posts stated that applying the school you like not the other way around. So let me clarify that the reason I posted this question was puzzled by DS that wanted to verify the statement that has been the convention wisdom so long by the school consular and it puzzles me too. So just wanted to know other parent think. So it is not a “should do” or “shouldn’t.” It is a kid who wants to challenge the thought from adults.</p>
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While I generally agree with the above statement, I’ve been pondered this question once in a while. Whatever the impression a student forms of a college, it is based on relatively short term observation/research – a couple of visists, talking to a few students, reading some publications, interviews a prof… No one has the luxury of spending a semester before making the decision. So then it is possible that a student could fall in love with Columbia and Darthmouth and Texas State, isn’t it? If a student likes Columbia, doesn’t hate Dartmouth, and doesn’t get crazy about Brown, could that student pick one of them to attend and fall in love after the fall semester? I’d think an 18-year old should have no problem finding fit in a community of few thousand other eighteen year folks. I’d concern if the peer group is only 200, however. I am sure if I am making my point, am I wrong?</p>