<p>How about a listing from the parents who were rejected from the Ivys, but still ended up successful? There must be hundreds of stories that would be inspirational for the many kids who were rejected this year!</p>
<p>LOL, my dad rejected the Ivies!</p>
<p>He came home from WWII on the G.I. Bill and got into Harvard and Johns Hopkins. Since he lived in Baltimore, he said, “I’ve just been away from home to fight a war. Why would I want to leave home again?” He lived in his mom and dad’s apartment, commuted to JHU by bus, joined a fraternity so he’d have a place to hang after classes. He met my Mom at JHU because she went to night school, in the days when JHU was only for men. They married by age 20.</p>
<p>He became a lawyer, was chair of the Maryland ACLU for a time, volunteered as a Civil Rights lawyer in Mississippi for two summers (l964 and l965), became a professor of political science at a small LAC in New England, raised three loving kids, stayed married for more than 50 years until he passed on a few years ago.</p>
<p>I think he was very successful, although he turned down Harvard and dug in with his parents throughout college.</p>
<p>My H was rejected from several Ivies, was accepted at UPenn, decided to go to Oberlin and has been very successful. Plus, he married me!</p>
<p>I literally had not thought about this in 30+ years until you raised this thread, and that’s not a joke. I applied to Cornell and was rejected. I remember that 45 kids in my graduating class of ~300 applied there, and I can’t even remember the allure of the place. I ended up loving my college experience at a place which couldn’t have been more different from Cornell. I attended an excellent law school and then joined a local prosecutor’s office where I was one of two women hired from an initial pool of 1,500 applicants. I think I started at the same time as 14 guys. 
I have been happily married for over 30 years and have three great kids. That’s my success story.</p>
<p>Back in the OLDE days, at least where I lived (out West), we never even thought of applying to the Ivies for undergrad. I think someone in my younger sister’s class went to Harvard, but she was seen as an outlier.</p>
<p>Heck, we didn’t even think of applying to Stanford!</p>
<p>Yeah, I only applied to one school–Antioch.</p>
<p>I was a National Merit Commended Scholar in the late 1960s. I lived in CT, and got invited to a weekend at Yale for prospective students at the recommendation of my high school. I didn’t go or apply (no money, 1st generation going to college) since I didn’t know any better. I only applied to UCONN and was thrilled to be able to go to college at all. Times have certainly changed.</p>
<p>I didn’t apply to Princeton because I thought all the kids would be way smarter than me and rich, and I wouldn’t fit in. Princeton even called me and asked me to apply (I must have sent some mailing back to them, and this was WAY back in the day). I considered applying just to see if I would get in, but didn’t want my parents to spend the $20 app fee and didn’t want to bother with an interview. I’ve always wondered - if I did apply and get in, would I have gone there? I’ll never know…</p>
<p>May I twist the question just a bit? Is there anyone who DID go to the Ivies but feel like you didnt amount to your definition of success or to the expectation you had for yourself?</p>
<p>College roommate denied at Princeton, went to W&M, then Yale for PhD, now a tenured prof at Davidson. Teaches three classes, no research pressure, and the kids love him. Couldnt be happier.</p>
<p>H was rejected at Cornell. Went to a small liberal arts college and is doing GREAT (of course I’m a bit biased). Fast forward 25 years and his son applies to Cornell. Also REJECTED - although his overall profile was much stronger. He’s also doing GREAT at the school he decided to attend. Maybe we’'ll keep it going if we have grandchildren…</p>
<p>I was rejected from Princeton, attended a state U, then 2nd tier law school, but was still hired by one of the top law firms in the country (AA for women back then, perhaps?? Or maybe my pretty smile I’ll never know…)</p>
<p>I too hadn’t thought about this in decades (never really thought about what was and wasn’t Ivy). </p>
<p>I was rejected from Penn and Stanford. Did undergrad at state school.</p>
<p>DH only applied to state school, doing ROTC to pay the way. </p>
<p>Both of us became tenured professors at Columbia.</p>
<p>We’ve taught lots of places, all our friends teach across the gamut of schools. We know curricula inside and out and what the education industry is all about. Our kids will go to a great state school for undergrad at least. It’s only undergrad, and it really is so not worth the extra $$ for no real difference in education.</p>
<p>Late 60s out west: DH applied to two schools: he was advised by GC that Swarthmore would be a nice backup for Yale. When big brother came home from Yale for Christmas vacation and found that Swarthmore was DH’s safety, he was horrified. DH quickly applied to Colo. School of Mines. He was rejected by Yale; we met at Swarthmore where I went instead of my only other out-of-state acceptance, UPenn. H went to Cornell for grad school and has been a professor at a top public for 35 years. I became a teacher and taught our kids and other children through an alternative independent study program. DS turned down top tier private schools for outstanding public and is a happy junior. DD is at this moment trying to decide between 4 sisters and Oberlin. </p>
<p>The next generation: nephew, son of Yalie, also went to Yale. Our two were rejected like their dad. They absorbed the sting and then turned their attention to their wonderful choices.</p>
<p>Here’s mine - rejected from Ivy’s as an undergraduate, ultimately taught at one of the major Ivys. I have interacted with many of the ‘teachers’ at the Ivys. Many, especially the younger ones, are low paid academics with little vision. </p>
<p>I recently left the academic realm to finally make a decent living (to pay for my kid’s education). I have interacted with many, many graduates of the Ivys, as well as graduates of the non-Ivys. Perhaps it is only my limited view, but most of the greatest people in my field came from lower tier universities. </p>
<p>We tend to lose sight of the importance of vision and creative thought. Often the folks that teach in the universities have little of either, otherwise they would be out creating “google” or something of that nature.</p>
<p>It sure seems from the parent posts that my notion rings true!</p>
<p>Which Ivy? </p>
<p><a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_League[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_League</a></p>
<p>Which Ivy? - Harvard.</p>
<p>Not a parent, but here’s my story. When I was deferred from Princeton (applied ED, and was later rejected) I cried for three days. And now I feel as though I should write a thank-you note to their admissions office. I attended a great and challenging LAC, made some amazing friends, had a lot of fun, and am now attending a top-10 law school. I’m sure I would have been content at an Ivy, but I really wouldn’t want my life to be any different than it turned out!</p>
<p>Not rejected, but turned down an Ivy – turned down Penn (a 5 year Wharton BA / MBA program at the time) for Northwestern’s MMSS. </p>
<p>I think I would have gone on a different career path if I’d gone to Wharton, and likely wound up staying on the East Coast, but I can’t say my life would be any better or any worse, either way.</p>
<p>I never had any encounter with an Ivy. But DH went to Dartmouth for almost two years. He got his degree from a relatively unknown place years later…and is very successful in his field. He has said to both of our kids “he has more pride in the degree from his no name university than he does in his two years at an Ivy.” For HIM the Ivy was not the right place to be.</p>