<p>well the problem with increaing admissions is housing. Certain schools simply have a hard time doing this. I'll use my school as an example, MIT has between 40 and 50% of the undergrad guys living in fraternities at least. There has been recent rumors of as much as 70% of freshmen guys pledging in a given year. This means almost 1000 of its students technically live off campus, and probably more, of 4000 undergrads. MIT continues to attempt to buy housing in the immediate area near campus, but it is nearly impossible to do so. They are increasing undergrad admissions by maybe 200 (5%) soon, but even that required some creative purchases that most students dislike due to displacements that will occur due to the expansion of the campus.</p>
<p>To demand increased admissions for most schools is many times demanding the impossible.</p>
<p>Maybe if you didn't define yourself and your success based on your getting into a "Top 10" school, it wouldn't really matter. That being said, private universities should and do take whoever they want for whatever reason. Just because you feel you're disadvantaged doesn't mean they should change their policies.</p>
<p>IvyHope: you wrote "I understand this frenzy is not good but do you think we can just let our child lay back and goto community college."</p>
<p>The core of my statement is that I am 100% behind the idea that if my daughters want to go to Yale (or EEK Hah-vahd), that's fine. If they want to go to Holyoke or Michigan State, that's fine. If they want to go into the military, that's fine. While my wife and I strongly feel college is very important, what is the most important thing to my wife and me are that they become women of character and strong work ethic. If their intellectual strengths propel them to Ivy-calibre, great. But I'm not going to lose any sleep over what USN&WR is ranking whatever school in seven years when my first will be checking out colleges. </p>
<p>While I've been the beneficiary of a Yale education, I've also seen since my days in New Haven, that a full life of character and contribution to society is not bounded by the school that conferred my degree or will confer the degrees to my two Ds. There's nothing wrong with wanting the best for our kids. I'm just not of the camp that the "best" means a manic obsession to get into HYPS. I've met plenty of people of non-Ivies whom I would be honored to work alongside and under. Maybe I'm Quixotic but I'll try to shield my family from this "rankings" game. </p>
<p>Again, I'm not unsypathetic to your feelings IvyHope. In the last three years, I interviewed 16 or so applicants and only two were accepted -- and my rate is above average! </p>
<p>Only one matriculated. But I don't have a second's doubt that the other 15 are thriving at whatever school they eventually attended or will attend. Were they qualified and worked hard? Yes. But there are ONLY a few slots. If your child is a viable candidate for an ultra selective like the Ivies, then it's extremely likely that he/she will do ABSOLUTELY fine wherever they attend.</p>
<p>If possible, try to read the two posts I linked earlier. I think they are very illuminating. </p>
<p>ParentOfIvyHope, your proposal seems to make the implicit assumption that the top schools have some sort of obligation to their applicants. I would disagree with this. The school's only direct obligations are to its current students. They are and must be the number one priority. It is of course very nice for the top schools to be kind to their applicants, but not at the expense of their current students.</p>
<p>"I understand this frenzy is not good but do you think we can just let our child lay back and goto community college."</p>
<p>It's amusing (really sad) that some parents have the mentality that not getting into an Ivy implies community college. It's not necessarily the university that determines future success, but the -student-. I was seriously debating Yale versus full-ride at a state school, because both would prepare me well for grad school. I appreciate my parents helping me foster my work ethic, and exposing me to opportunities that made me academically and socially more mature; the prestige of an Ivy was not the ultimate goal, but a happy by-product. Every person accepted into an Ivy that I know wasn't purely motivated by prestige; they all had something they thoroughly loved doing, and excelled at.</p>
<p>I totally agree with davnasca -- You are the one putting the pressure on your child. It is ok to take a shot at the ivies, but there are tons of schools that might actually be a better fit.</p>
<p>you posted previously that if you child got into the University of Chicago and Harvard, you would tell them that you would only pay for Harvard.</p>
<p>I hope some time and the realities of the college admissions process kick in and you support your student rather than add to the pressure that comes with the process.</p>
<p>Parentofivyhope: Do you REALLY believe that the quality of the education that your child will receive at Harvard is that much better than they will receive at Chicago, or Tufts or Georgetown or a score of other schools? Because the truth is the quality of education at any of the top 50 or so schools will be excellent. If you want to continue to by into the hype, they you are doing your child a great disservice and I feel sorry for him or her. If your child doesn't get admitted to an Ivy does that make him or her a failure in your eyes? If so, then again, I feel sorry for your son or daughter. There are many wonderful options out there. Did you know that the University of Wisconsin has produced more Fortune 500 CEOs than any other university including Harvard? But you probably wouldn't care to find that out because UW is just another community college in your mind. Many colleges outside of the Ivy League can provide students with wonderful experiences and excellent educations.</p>
<p>I read things like this OP and I have to sort of giggle. C'mon, admit it, you just want whatever school to increase their enrollment by 1 -- your child. All the rest is a smoke screen for that bottom line.</p>
<p>I second what TrinSF and Arwen1 said as well as what shennie said about the University of Wisconsin. Wonderful school and it has produced a fairly high amount of successful people. But alas, not only is it not an Ivy, but it isn't even a private college and for the people who only care about prestige and not much about the actual education they are receiving, the school is, in their eyes, not as good as Harvard or Princeton or Yale. On top of that, colleges cannot just up and decide one year to increase the number of applicants they admit. Decisions like that have a profound affect on campus life, student housing, employment at the college (if you have more students, you may need more professors and other employees), the number and different types of classes which will be offered (again, you have more students, you're going to need more classes to accomodate those students), financial aid (more students means more students who will need money which will lead to individual students receiving less financial aid)...the list can go on and on. Decisions of that magnitude require years of careful planning.</p>
<p>The world is changing, and we cannot blame the colleges for not increasing "students intake." More and more families have put emphasis on education over the past few years, and still growing. This, obviously, means more high-calibre students aiming for the best colleges of the nation. The world population is growing at a striking rate, and there's nothing we can do about it. Probably it's time to consider other alternatives, like state schools (there are lots of them that are very well qualified) and other non-Ivy schools. But if a student is dying to attend an Ivy-institution, then by no means, I think it's time for him/her to learn to break the ice of competition.</p>
<p>I've read this generalization on the CC forums before that Ivy grads rarely obsess about their own kid's having to get into an Ivy. It seems anecdotally true amongst my friends and me. Any weight to this? </p>
<p>If so, then what does it say about obsessing about Ivies in general?</p>
<p>Didn't read the rest of the posts but replying to the topic name, if American student population grows to be huge, then there is no need to increase student intake at top schools.</p>
<p>Merely, there would just be a higher number of "top schools" to be identified. For example, the lower tier from 25-50 will become more selective and therefore be "top schools" since the old tier 1 (let's say 1-25) are no longer to accept so many qualified students. </p>
<p>You can actually see this trend now, with schools like George Washington University becoming more selective and its peer schools following suit.</p>
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I've read this generalization on the CC forums before that Ivy grads rarely obsess about their own kid's having to get into an Ivy. It seems anecdotally true amongst my friends and me. Any weight to this?
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<p>I agree completely. My mother went to Harvard and my father attended Princeton yet I have never once felt pressured to attend either one of those schools. Whenever people ask my parents if they want me to attend one of those schools, they just shrug and say that the decision is ultimately up to me. When my decisions came in, they let me choose. They added their opinion, but they told me to choose the school I thought I would be most happy at. My mother even told me if that school just so happens to be Barnard or Carnegie Mellon or a state school, then so be it. It's four years out of your life, she reminded me.</p>