<p>I applied to an assortment of top-tier LACs (Bowdoin, Wes, Bates, Colgate, etc) and then Tufts & Lehigh for National University class. Now I thought that I did it the right way according to my stats with the whole match reach safety spread and so far I got into both of my safeties w/ merit aid. However i didn't apply to any ivies or any top 15 usnews schools even though there are some that i would love to go to-schools that when you mention them to people, their eyes light up in recognition instead of a look of confusion that forces me to explain what a LAC is and why they are better than the local community college. And now i have friends with lesser stats that applied to these ivy league schools along with those of equal prestige/rank who I used to think didnt stand any chance at getting in. Well if April comes I think I'll be pretty depressed to hear if these kids actually get into one of those schools with their stats while i didnt even bother applying after scanning CC for so long and becoming so cynical.</p>
<p>I mean there's not much I can do. I know I'll be happy with wherever I end up going and I can always send out transfer app's in years to come, i just hope i didnt get too cynical because of the stats on CC.</p>
<p>Who CARES if somebody's eyes don't light up when you tell the name of your LAC.</p>
<p>Newsflash: Employers don't care if you went to Yale or Tufts or Bowdoin. They care what your grades were there, your experience, etc.</p>
<p>Newsflash: College is about an education, not if your Aunt Cindy is impressed with the name-brand.</p>
<p>Don't be dissapointed if your friends got suckered into the prestige, the "glory" of the Ivies. Instead be dissapointed that you even care about this...and above all know that you're going to get an excellent education.</p>
<p>bananaphone, I think you're suffering from overexposure to this site. It enforces the idea that people should all go to cornell or harvard or MIT and it would be ridiculous to choose an LAC over them. I mean, if you like liberal arts colleges, then you shouldn't go to an ivy! (well, maybe dartmouth, but actually most people who haven't heard of bowdoin haven't heard of dartmouth either).</p>
<p>Now that deadlines have passed, I too feel like I made some less-than-perfect decisions and I wish I'd applied to some schools I didn't. I go through old brochures of schools i didn't apply to and think "oh, I wish I was going there." But, in all honesty, I would like to drop an Ivy or two that I applied to and trade it for a highly respected, lesser-known college (in fact, I wish I had applied to Bowdoin!) I guess we all just have to deal with it now and be happy at where we get in.</p>
<p>I understand your feeling when it comes to the part about your classmates applying to schools you feel they're not qualified for. I have classmates that I feel are not qualified applying to schools that are just as good as mine, or even the same ones, and I know I will be annoyed come April if they get in.</p>
<p>Is a name that much of a draw to you that you would transfer out of an LAC or safety school you (may) love?
And just because someone you thought wouldn't get in did? </p>
<p>A name is a name, not a guarantee of success, just big bills lol.</p>
<p>Bowdoin and Wesleyan are awesome...on par with the Ivies if you ask me. Colgate and Tufts are also excellent. Your list seems fine to me. I agree with Groovinhard. In terms of respect and recognition, most people in positions of influence in the academic and professional world will respect your schools as highly as any.</p>
<p>I agree with Alexandre and others. You knew what you wanted. Stick to your guns. You selected those schools for your reasons. Don't kowtow to the uninformed masses who think HYPSDMC are the only letters in the college alphabet. Who cares whether Joe Blow knows that Bowdoin is the nuts? You know. Alexandre know. Grad schools know. Med schools know. Law schools know. F'em and feed'em fishheads, er....aahh, so to speak.;)</p>
<p>For that matter, you don't even want to be in that conversation -- the one that goes
Person: Where do you go to school?
You: H/Y/P/M/S
Person: Wow, you must be smart!
(Awkward pause)</p>
<p>There's nowhere to go from there. Many people who go to Harvard and MIT just say that they go to school in "Boston" to avoid the conversation and the accompanying look in the eyes that you describe -- it's fine for about five minutes after you send in your reply card, but you can't put up with it for four years.</p>
<p>Not to mention that bragging to people on the street to get their responses will not get you through four years at a school if the name recognition is the only thing you like about the school.</p>
<p>Just a tip...do not just look at brand name or ranking but I think the most important thing to look at for school selection is the amnt of students attending grad school immediately after graduation or within 1 year of graduation. And look for the percentage of that student body attending grad school which are going to fields in which you are interested like: law, med, mba, grad sci/arts, eng, etc. Comment: suprisingly this most important piece of data for hs students planning to continue to grad ed can be found on us news...</p>
<p>Bananaphone, I know what you mean about hearing where kids applied. I hear Stanford, Brown, and many other top school names coming out of people who did not even qualify for Natinal Honor Society. I think they haven't done their homework and are throwing away large application fees. It will be interesting come April. Some of these kids had no real safeties either. I think they are in dreamland.</p>
<p>If you get into and go to a school like Tufts, Bowdoin or Wesleyan -- anyone that matters -- i.e., grad school admissions committees, employers, etc. -- will be VERY IMPRESSED. Frankly, the difference between kids who go to those schools and the ones who go to Harvard, Princeton or Yale is that maybe the latter group had slightly higher SAT scores and were #1 in their classes as opposed to #3. See what I mean?</p>
<p>In any case, your education is very much what you make of it. Work hard, get involved, and make the best of wherever you go. </p>
<p>By the way...next time someone asks "what's bowdoin?" just tell them that hawthorne and longfellow went there and that a president went there (which is something only half the ivies can claim).</p>
<p>kind of off topic now but not according to the title- I wish I applied to different schools.. well actually I wish I could have applied to more overall and just change like 3 on my list, but in the fall I feel I was just sort of rushed and applied to 7 of the like 40 schools that had the major I wanted, and I didnt explore enough options... but theres always transferring/grad school :)</p>
<p>"do not just look at brand name or ranking but I think the most important thing to look at for school selection is the amnt of students attending grad school immediately after graduation or within 1 year of graduation."</p>
<p>darkhope, you keep stating this in various threads (or, rather, pasted this). Understand: grad school is not for everyone, and it doesn't indicate much (if anything) about the university itself. Some professions don't require anything more than a bachelor's, and thus going beyond that would be unnecessary. So if you find that that is the most important factor ... well, people have searched for such a statistical proxy like that -- and I hardly think you've found it.</p>
<p>"Some of these kids had no real safeties either. I think they are in dreamland.", momof3d, I totally agree. Some kids in my class who can't even get a nice score on TOEFL ( after like 8 attempts), and don't have SATs/ACTs are EXCLUSIVELY applying to the top 15. So they did get an admissions agency to fake their ecs and write their essays BUT I still have serious doubts they'll have a college to go to.</p>
<p>i'm sorry i didn;t quite get that? O.o yes, grad school isn't for everyone and not everyone can get into grad school=/ but yes...a master degree will always be better than a bachelor. However, depending on your area of study, the impact of the degree will change. I didn;t quite get what you meant when you said "well, people have searched for such a statistical proxy like that -- and I hardly think you've found it."</p>
<p>Why would someone with a Bachelors of Architecture or Engineering or Agricultural Science be better off wasting an extra year (unless they wanted to focus on something they hadn't in undergrad)?? Placements for those majors are just as high right after undergrad. LACs have the highest percentages of kids going on to grad school because they haven't really been trained for a career yet. That doesn't mean they're better than MIT!!!</p>
<p>I am only stating if one wants to go to grad school/professional school one should look at the %s of graduates attending grad/professional school
edit: i am sorry that I did not make this clear...i had no intentions of saying that a school w/ a higher % of graduates attending grad school has an overall better department than a school w/ lower % of graduates attending grad school...It's just one should note the percentage of graduates attending grad/prof school if one is interested in attending a grad/prof school
edit: for example rice has over a 40% pop attending grad/prof school which means it better prepares students for grad/profes school admission than let's just say ucb. (note: if a person is uninterested in grad/prof school there is no need to look at the percentage of grads entering grad/prof school)</p>