<p>Again, NOT the Ivies or any other hyper selective school ... In order for a school to attract and retain wealthy students, it must satisfy both A) and a combination of at least four of the five B) factors below. This is just common sense.</p>
<p>A) The entrance requirements are not tippy top -- let's say they must admit > 25% of applicants. Elite Institutions like those in the USNWR Top 30 Universities, and Top 15 or so LACs, along with their adcoms, strive for meritocracy and most have a leaning toward social rebalancing. They would never let in simply "really solid" wealthy kids ... like Joel from the movie "Risky Business", at the expense of much more deserving poor or middle class kids.</p>
<p>then:</p>
<p>B1) Private
B2) Known to "take care" of its students
B3) Historically "Respectable" reputation
B4) not too rigorous
B5) stingy on merit aid, and not known to supplement government sources of aid.</p>
<p>As I wrote originally, the schools likely to meet the A) and B) requirements are likely to be in the USNWR private universities ranked about 35 - 100, and LACs ranked about 15 - 150. </p>
<p>Get to know a few adcoms and you'll see why the A) requirement is so important. 99% of adcoms go out of their way to give an assist to bright students who don't have all the exposure and advantages that wealthy kids do.</p>
<p>lion59 -- it has become much harder to get into Washington and Lee in the past 20 years, so I would only modify your post to say the really SMART Southern gentry go there.</p>
<p>These are the schools that statistics show have the most students from private high schools and the most full-pay students: Davidson, Washington and Lee and Trinity (CT). In general, it's the LACs that fit this profile.</p>
<p>I don't care what you say about "need blind" and how the Ivys are so generous with financial aid. My kid and his friends at different Ivy League schools report that the majority of the students are extremely wealthy. I keep asking him whatever happened to "starving college students". You should see how these kids are living, eating and drinking! (and it isn't just him and his school- but he claims to be the poorest of all his friends, and I accuse him of being a spoiled brat! :) )</p>
<p>Haha. Anyone who says the Ivies DONT have wealthy kids may not post in this thread anymore. Seriously, don't embarrass yourself and spit out wrong facts.
The Ivies attract the most wealthy kids. You think well off parents want to see their kids going to a second tier school or anything but an Ivy league/Comparable Ivy league school? You may be too blind to know, but money is power. The rich have connections and their money ties it up.
I'm not saying wealthy kids cannot go to lesser ranked schools, but the majority enroll in the Ivy League. Why do you think it's so snobby? Take a wild guess..
Not to brag, but I live in one of the richest communities in California and I know how these parents are. If their kids don't get into a top school, it's off to OCC (Best community college if that's possible to say hah) and then a transfer to an Ivy.
Remember, for them, it's all about status.</p>
<p>There are a lot of kids who are not extremely wealthy at ivy league schools because of financial aid which significantly reduces the cost for a lot of poor and middle class students.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Haha. Anyone who says the Ivies DONT have wealthy kids may not post in this thread anymore. Seriously, don't embarrass yourself and spit out wrong facts.
The Ivies attract the most wealthy kids. You think well off parents want to see their kids going to a second tier school or anything but an Ivy league/Comparable Ivy league school? You may be too blind to know, but money is power. The rich have connections and their money ties it up.
[/quote]
you seem to have missed the point. no one is denying that many wealthy students end up at Ivy/Top schools, the point is those schools are not full of rich kids because the FA at schools like Harvard is so good that poor kids can afford to go. Now, if a poor kid got accepted to a school like Boston U, he might not be able to go at all because of FA, but if he was smart enough to get into Harvard, he could probably go. That's why the top 20 colleges will have more poor students (as well as rich ones) than private colleges ranked 30-100 or so.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Now, if a poor kid got accepted to a school like Boston U, he might not be able to go at all because of FA, but if he was smart enough to get into Harvard, he could probably go.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>My friend at BU got into Harvard, but his family wasn't poor 'enough' for him to get enough aid, and this was right before Harvard made their aid more accessible. He has a full ride at BU.</p>
<p>I have read that almost everyone at NYU has a part-time job. Sure, that's normal considering how expensive NYC is, but it pretty much means their parents aren't handing them bundles of hundreds every week.</p>
<p>diontechristmas - no, I'm not talking about situations like that which i'm sure are common (people going to safety schools to save money). I'm saying that schools like Harvard can afford to give more FA to very poor students, more so than colleges like NYU and BU. </p>
<p>I go to NYU, have a part-time job and most people I know do as well. Sure, there are rich kids here like everywhere else, but you've got to be kidding if you think this school if full of rich kids. that's not even offensive, that's just laughable :D NYU isn't much more expensive than most top 50 private colleges...I don't know where this rich kid stereotype is coming from, the olsen twins? lol</p>
<p>Seeing how about 50% of Harvard students get need based grants from the College, the chance that all 4 roommates would be on financial aid is one in sixteen. The chances that everyone she knows is on financial aid? Impossible.
Harvard, Yale and Princeton (particularly Harvard and Princeton) have made efforts to expand the economic backgrounds of their students. Yale still has the highest percentage of private school kids in the Ivy League most years. All these schools still have some of the wealthiest kids in the country.
In terms of the highest PROPORTION of students who are wealthy, I agree with hmom5. Look to expensive schools where less than 40% of the students get need based grants from their school.</p>
<p>The University of Virginia usually tops those lists.
I've always felt that state flagships don't get enough attention as subsidies for the upper middle class and above.</p>