What attracts people to the Ivy Leagues ?

College Search & Selection
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<p>What really attracts people the Ivy Leagues ? Is it the prestge of the schools or the wealth ? Or do people love that cut throat competitve edge these schools have ? What makes this different then other prestigious schools ? Like Stanford, Duke, MIT, Vanderbilt, and University of Chicago ?</p>

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<p>Reasons for applying vary, just as they do for every school. All the Ivies are certainly very good schools in a very wide range of subjects, aside from their prestige.</p>

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<p>The only thing that separates the Ivy League from the other schools you mentioned is that the Ivy League was an athletic conference.</p>

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<p>It’s because they’re all obsessed with prestige. Especially those kids who apply to all eight…don’t people realize that Brown and Columbia are like…polar opposites?</p>

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<p>The core curriculums are polar opposites but otherwise I can see some similarities.</p>

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<p>Another distinction is that the Ivies are older. All of them but Cornell have been around since colonial times. And they are all located in the northeast, close to some of the country’s major political, financial, and cultural centers.</p>

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In addition, none of them give scholarships.</p>

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<p>“In addition, none of them give scholarships.”</p>

<p>This is great for those who are gluttons for punishment!</p>

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<p>If you mean merit scholarships then strictly speaking that’s true, but at some of them the need-based aid is so generous and the income thresholds so high, it may not matter to many middle class applicants. I think at Harvard, families with incomes of $120K-$180K contribute up 10% of cost, loan-free (unless they have unusually valuable assets other than home equity); below $60K income, they pay nothing.</p>

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I did. I draw a sharp distinction between scholarships (merit/talent) and grants (financial aid).</p>

<p>The Ivies have great financial aid, to be sure, but so do [many</a> other schools](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1063203414-post6.html]many”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1063203414-post6.html).</p>

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<p>What attracts people to the Ivy League? The unsurpassed academic quality and Ivy culture.</p>

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<p>"The unsurpassed academic quality and Ivy culture. " Ivy culture??</p>

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You know, [Ivy</a> culture](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gossip_Girl_(TV_series)]Ivy”>Gossip Girl - Wikipedia).</p>

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<p>job opportunities</p>

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<p>Prestige .</p>

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<p>IBclass06 - in Gossip Girl, the majority of characters actually go to NYU.</p>

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Really, a sense of humor would be a big improvement for this board. </p>

<p>In any case, Brown, Columbia, Dartmouth, and Yale (and to a lesser extent “trade school” Princeton) are talked about ad nauseum on that show – remember [this</a> episode](<a href=“http://www.tv.com/gossip-girl/poison-ivy/episode/1137902/summary.html]this”>http://www.tv.com/gossip-girl/poison-ivy/episode/1137902/summary.html)?</p>

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<p>Half naked coeds and tailgating.</p>

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<p>The joys of reading Ivygate, obvi</p>

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<p>Obviously, the credit structure is the sole thing that like…determine how a college is.</p>