<p>Are you setting yourself up to fail if you're applying to all of the ivies, even if you have great ECs and scores/resume, etc. the ivies are still a crapshoot. Last year my cousin did this - she got admitted to Columbia (where she attends now) but she applied to all of the other ivies - and got rejected (after a Yale ED deferral). She had about 2 safeties, moderately good schools. So basically are you setting yourself up for failure and rejection when you apply to such amazing schools? Thanks.</p>
<p>I don’t think you are setting yourself up to fail however even for the most exceptional of students, they still should have a safety school or a few of them. I applied to four Ivies but I still have a few safeties.</p>
<p>Just curious, what is your intended major? What safeties did you apply to – and what ivies? Thanks for the help!</p>
<p>I don’t think you’re setting yourself up to fail. And also, if you think about it, although most of the ivies use the Commonapp (i know Columbia does not), their supplements are different (i.e. Princeton’s, which asks your favorite books, movies, quotes, etc.). The amount of time/effort you put into each school’s supplementary essays may help/hinder your chances</p>
<p>How are you setting yourself to fail? By applying to schools, you’re giving yourself a chance at acceptance. By having safeties – presumably ones that you love and can afford – you’ve got a place to go to if you’re turned down by the more competitive colleges.</p>
<p>@ dreamingawake: My intended major is English with perhaps a minor in Philosophy. I applied to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Columbia for the Ivies (of course lol) and my safeties are/going to be University of Miami, Emerson College, and Monmouth University. And no problem, always here to help :-).</p>
<p>The only thing that seems like setting oneself up to fail by applying to all of the Ivies is that the Ivies differ so much that it’s hard to imagine that someone who, for instance, loves Dartmouth would be as happy at Columbia or Penn as they would be at Dartmouth.</p>
<p>True, true. I can say honestly that I felt different atmospheres at the Ivies I have visited. It is all about your comfort level, I suppose, and sometimes it is just your “gut feeling”.</p>
<p>Suppose that given your qualifications, you figured that your chances of admission at any of the eight averaged 10% each. For the sake of illustration, we’ll say that the admissions decision at each school is unrelated to that at any other school (which isn’t accurate since multiple schools could deny admission to the same individual for the same reasons). But assuming that each decision is independent, if you applied to one, your chance of being rejected would be 90%. If you applied to two, your chance of rejection at both would be .9 x .9 = 81%. If you applied to three, the odds of rejection at all three would be .9 x .9. x .9 = 73%. If you applied to all eight, your odds of eight rejections would fall to 43%, even though your chance at any specific one is still 10%.</p>
<p>As to the matter of the independence of each decision, the strength of your record may drop your odds of admission to at least one of eight schools if there’s an inherent weakness that makes multiple schools less likely to admit you. But it could also increase if there’s an inherent strength or hook that might may make multiple schools more likely to consider your application.</p>
<p>So sure, apply away. And have safeties - financial safeties as well as mere admission safeties.</p>
<p>Beautifully said, gadad :-).</p>