<p>I posted a question on the EA forum that I'm going to repeat here... so that more people can answer and because i'm curious.</p>
<p>To those applying EA, what is your top choice school?</p>
<p>For me, Yale is number 1... closely followed by Columbia, then Harvard.</p>
<p>yale by far
then princeton, columbia, georgetown
then harvard :)</p>
<p>Yale :)
Then Princeton.
Then... I'm not sure at all.</p>
<p>Hunh?</p>
<p>You happen to be posting on a Yale forum -- since Yale only has SCEA (no other EA applications can be filed), then it stands to reason that Yale SCEA applicants are the likely readers of this post -- who, by their actions, have strongly stated that Y is their #1 choice. It'd be like going to the McCain rally Tuesday night and asking how many there voted for McCain.</p>
<p>(I suppose there are others who have applied SCEA but have a strong preference for one of their eventual RD or rolling admissions schools -- but who knows)</p>
<p>Yale by far.</p>
<p>I feel like I don't really stand much of a chance at the other Ivies (Legacy is my hook), so the rest of my list is not Harvard, Princeton, Columbia.</p>
<p>Northwestern is probably my second, and then it's all kind of equal.</p>
<p>yale... then brown, williams and bowdoin.</p>
<p>@ T26E4</p>
<p>Just because someone is applying to Yale SCEA, it doesn't mean that their top choice is Yale. I know a lot of people who are applying to Yale just because Yale is Early ACTION as opposed to DECISION so that they can get in somewhere early, apply to a smaller amount of schools, and then go to...say Harvard or Princeton (which don't have an early program) or a school with early decision that they might like better.</p>
<p>As for me, right now Yale does happen to be my top choice, then Columbia (but Columbia is only second - as in above the next colleges that I'm going to list - because of the possibility of free tuition for me), then Pomona and Wesleyan, sort of on the same level.</p>
<p>I'm so flakey that all this might change by December...</p>
<p>Yale and William and Mary are at the top of my list.</p>
<p>Yale
Harvard
Columbia</p>
<p>Princeton/Amherst/Chicago/Brown</p>
<p>but you know who will say in yale forum that harvard/princeton/etc is their real top choice? If anyone does that, then that person is SURE to be immediately shot down by some really passionate people...</p>
<p>for me, Yale is my ONE and ONLY top choice. NOTHING else. If I get a good answer come december, I am not going to apply to ANY other schools. </p>
<p>that was a lot of capital letters.</p>
<p>wow what a surprise. everyones favorite schools after yale involve princeton, harvard, columbia, and brown in some order</p>
<p>real original guys- and the ivies are pretty different for the most part- so yeah.</p>
<p>But there are definitely still similarities. You can debate the merits of every school, but to me Yale and Princeton are both dream schools. I will probably not be applying to Harvard, because I visited and I don't think it's the place for ME. Same to Columbia. </p>
<p>Yale and Princeton both offer this great environment for me as a prospective math major to get a real education in the arts without forsaking my major. They both have available undergraduate music and literary programs. They both are within two hours of home. They are both around the same size in undergraduate population. They both have residential college systems. Do I really have to explain that it's possible for me to love both? </p>
<p>A LOT of students see the similarities between school in the ivy league. They do have a plethora of similarities, and if those similarities coincide with what we're looking for in schools I don't see a problem in applying to more than one ivy.</p>
<p>I'm applying to multiple schools; top of my list are Harvard, Yale, Georgetown, Dartmouth, and Wellesley. If I got into all....probably Harv, although I prefer certain aspects of Yale, which could well keep me on the fence for awhile. (Although yay at all the Columbia love; it's my dream grad school, and I love it to bits. =D )</p>
<p>I do think it's funny that everyone loves HYP, though. =P Glad to see a Bowdoin and a Northwestern mixed in with the Holy Trinity (/embarrassing Gossip Girl quote) by a few people. (As for me, I do love HY, but I'm sure I'd be fine at Wellesley or Vassar or any of my other schools, so...I digress.)</p>
<p>I actually really dislike both Harvard and Princeton.</p>
<p>For me, I don't think Harvard really provides a good undergrad experience. For anyone. Or at all, really. As for Princeton, that's more subjective. I don't like the idea of eating clubs, and since that seems to be the focal point of social life there, I don't think I could really deal with it.</p>
<p>I'm only applying to 3 Ivies. And like I said, Columbia is only really up there because of possible tuition benefits because my mother works there. And I basically already spend half my life there, and I know I would be happy there. So I really like it, but if money wasn't an issue, Pomona and Wesleyan would probably overtake Columbia for me.</p>
<p>Yale with some distance from MIT then Stanford, Caltech, and Uchicago</p>
<p>This kid I know got into Yale and Harvard, and picked Harvard because "I can't be happy at Harvard, and I do my best work when I'm unhappy." That is the kind of kid who goes to Harvard.</p>
<p>So no, I'm not applying to Harvard.</p>
<p>Yale is my first choice by probably 50 or so miles. Then Michigan for theatre, then UVA for Jefferson Scholar, then Vandy.</p>
<p>Yale by far. </p>
<p>Next on list:
Williams
Dartmouth
Pomona</p>
<p>YALE</p>
<p>Everything else is just a bonus... unless the financial aid isn't good enough. Then I'll cry.</p>
<p>Yale's my first choice by farrrr.</p>
<p>Then NYU - Tisch :D</p>
<p>Why the ****iness in this thread? It's okay to say that Yale isn't your top choice. Nobody's going to kill you - from a practical standpoint, Yale EA is a great choice for prospective H/P applicants.</p>
<p>And I'll maintain that the Ivy League schools are very similar. They're all liberal arts-based medium-sized universities located in the Northeast. The five that wneckid maligned as a common set are actually extremely similar (Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Brown). With the exception of Princeton, they have urban locations. They are all a little more intellectual than the pre-professional-leaning Penn, Cornell, and Dartmouth. Other top schools, like MIT, Stanford, Chicago, and top LACs, have a different feel than a Yale or other Ivy. It's no coincidence that you see those five grouped together.</p>