<p>What are you talking about? Look around CC for a moment if nothing else. Almost every day someone posts something somewhere about how Dartmouth is "not prestigious enough" or that no one they've ever talked to has heard of it or something else like that. D definitely gets a lot less "what the heck" apps than Harvard or some of the other Ivies.</p>
<p>As for Cornell, Princeton, UPenn, the schools that don't use the Common App...I definitely took their applications seriously, and even so it set me back maybe an extra half-hour at most. The applications overlap among themselves and the Common App for essays. The rest of it is mostly just filling out info about yourself.</p>
<p>It usually take about 1 week to write a really good essay.
At least you need to go through your GC several times to get it done.
If you are really serious with this application.</p>
<p>why are selectivity rankings so important? Everyone knows that Harvard Princeton and Yale are at the top, and the rest are not as selective. That's all you need to know about rankings to select colleges, if you really want an Ivy. What is important is whether you match the characteristics of a school or program (which also play a role in whether you are accepted or denied, unless you're someone that's surefire at any school) Also. you have MIT, CIT and Stanford, which are not Ivies, but are still the most prestigious. </p>
<p>Harvard<br>
Yale
Princeton (except for its BSE)
Columbia (except, of course, for the SEAS)
Brown (except for the PLME)
Dartmouth
Penn (except for Wharton)
Cornell </p>
<p>Unless you're at HYP (except for some of the applied sciences programs), the rest of the Ivies are pretty much the same. There's no use in ranking them. (but frankly Cornell and Penn are pretty easy to get into)</p>
<p>Selectivity rankings don't say much about the quality of education, which is especially the case in the US. Most Harvard ug courses are taught by TAs, while Yale, Brown or Dartmouth professors are pretty serious about teaching undergraduates. You can go to Berkeley or UVA and still get an undergraduate education that goes second to none.</p>
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Unless you're at HYP (except for some of the applied sciences programs), the rest of the Ivies are pretty much the same.
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<p>huh? so if you're at HYP, "the rest of the ivies" are different? there's some kind of weird grammar thing going on here and i'm not quite sure what you're saying.</p>
<p>
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but frankly Cornell and Penn are pretty easy to get into
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<p>damn, turn that snooty nose up a little more!</p>
<p>easy!? maybe to a kid at andover whose parents make $100,000 a year and send him to SAT boot camp, but not to the rest of us lowlifes.</p>
<p>I am not going to comment on admission to Ivy's because each school has a different personality and character. This is why kids get into Harvard, but not Yale, Columbia, Penn and Princeton. Same thing can be said for every other school in this athletic league.</p>
<p>All of them are premier institutions for both undergraduate and graduate schools.</p>
<p>we found the difficulty to gain admission to the different ivies almost impossible to predict and even to understand. there are so many factors taken into account beyond an applicants statistics ( male or female, geographic location, race,etc..) my daughter was admitted to brown and dartmouth and waitlisted at upenn. it didn't make sense to us but we assume there is a logical explanation.</p>
<p>cbxc 10
for the Cornell and Penn part, I meant that in comparison to the other ivy leagues.
why do I become a snob for saying sth that everyone knows about?
well, I guess ranking the ivy leagues in the first place was a snobby act. For one thing, I'm not an "HYP" student. I have confidence in the school that I'll be attending this fall, because it has its own real strengths as an educational institution. But it would still be a lie to say that my school is "more prestigious" than those three; "HYP" is still at the top. </p>
<p>Not all rich andover students go to Ivy leagues hh
from what I've seen, no-one gets into the ivies solely with their backgrounds. Your efforts and beliefs are the things that get you into colleges, for the most part. if you're rich and attend a school like andover but **** up during the four years, no ivy will take you unless your father's George Bush. </p>
<p>Then again, I've seen students accepted to Harvard that were denied to Brown and so forth. For a minor portion, admissions and the "widely known level of prestige" are inconsistent, and I think that portion is growing quickly.
The individual characteristics of each college and the increasing number of applicants would be important factors, minorities and other social issues would probably play a role too. All I know is that colleges pick students rationally.</p>