What's good enough to get into an Ivy League?

College Search & Selection
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<p>the threshold fact that you or anyone else applying to an ivy has to accept – there is a huge difference between being good enough to get into an ivy and actually getting into an ivy.</p>

<p>many many people who are good enough to be admitted and to excel once admitted at the ivies simply aren’t accepted because of numbers – the acceptance rates are simply so low compared to the number of excellent candidates. what gets one person in and another not, is just simply something that generally can’t be determined ahead of time by potential applicants – or even after the fact – when looking at who gets in and who doesn’t, it often is impossible to “understand” why.</p>

<p>if you haven’t already read about it, go do a search in the parents forum for “andison” - find the thread about one top student who didn’t get in anywhere initially (he did very well the following year) and learn from it – its ok to dream, but be realistic and be sure to have schools on your list where you’d be happy and know you are likely to get in.</p>

<p>your stats are great and you may well end up at one of your desired schools, but you are right not to count on success.</p>

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<p>unbelievablem
Look. If you are good enough to get into an ivy and apply to enough of the ivies, you would almost surely get into at least one. The admissions standard for Cornell is lower than the rest on average. I was able to get into Cornell with an application I put together in less than one hour. I decided not to attend Cornell though.</p>

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<p>IPBear-- if you wish to believe that, i doubt anything i say will convince you otherwise – you obviously seem to think your personal experience proves the rule for everyone. and yet, there still end up being plenty of “good enough” kids who are very disappointed in april – you will probably say they just weren’t really “good enough” – if that makes you, as an ivy admittee, feel better, fine – but you really do a disservice to prospective ivy applicants when you try to paint things so black and white.</p>

<p>for every thread started in april by someone marveling about their good fortune to be able to choose among several top schools, there are several started by those dumbfounded by how they are ending up at a safety when their guidance counselor, etc., raved about their ivy chances. i know plenty of such kids personally – its not a pretty sight when people like you have helped them believe that ivy admissions was simpler than it in fact is and they then feel like a failure when the truth is they really were good enough – they just weren’t one of the relatively very few who actually get accepted.</p>

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<p>While the average SAT scores in CALS are on the low end for Cornell, the average SAT scores at CALS are fairly higher than a 1320, and it’s substantially more difficult to get accepted into CALS for something like AEM, Biology, or Biological Engineering. It’s also pretty difficult to get into CALS for programs in agriculture, plant science, or natural resources unless you can clearly demonstrate your passion for the subject. But, true, for those programs they could care less if your SAT is a 1200.</p>

<p>Bottom line: Apply to the college you are most interested in at Cornell.</p>

<p>IPBear applied to and was accepted to the Engineering school at Cornell, which while it may be the best engineering program in the Ivy League, is actually the easiest college at Cornell to be accepted to. Why? All you need are the numbers; they don’t look at your full profile all that much as they lose a lot of common admits to Stanford and MIT.</p>

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<p>“Engineering school at Cornell, which while it may be the best engineering program in the Ivy League, is actually the easiest college at Cornell to be accepted to.”</p>

<p>CayugaRed2005,
There is no proof that College of Engineering is the easiest to get into. It may have high admissions rate, but it’s average SAT score among the highest. Lower admissions rate doesn’t indicate higher quality. Columbia (11% applicants accepted) isn’t better than Chicago (35% applicants accepted), and MIT (12% applicants accepted) isn’t better than Caltech (17% applicants accepted).</p>

<p>unbelievablem,
There are definitely the luck factor. However, the luck factor is not as influential as it appears on sites like this because lucky individuals tend to post their unique experiences and/or unexpected results as inspiration (or warnings) for others.</p>

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<p>Although I am not in CALS, I know that the school’s acceptance rate was close to 21% past several years. School of Architecture has the lowest SAT average among all Cornell schools, yet, it is arguably the most selective college at cornell. Just applying to CALS or hotel school(also around 20% acceptance rate) with high scores and no visible demonstration of your fit would, no doubt, get you rejected. Also, the AEM program at CALS had 11% acceptance rate RD this year.</p>

<p>Also, I know some people who just applied to the nursing school at Penn to just get in bc the nursing school happend to have a bit lower SAT than others at Penn. Surprise, they all got rejected.</p>

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<p>im jealous of you. you would do amazingly at any college you go to. i think you have a great chance at any of the Ivy League colleges.</p>

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<p>Quote from ‘unbelieveablem’: “for every thread started in april by someone marveling about their good fortune to be able to choose among several top schools, there are several started by those dumbfounded by how they are ending up at a safety when their guidance counselor, etc., raved about their ivy chances. i know plenty of such kids personally – its not a pretty sight when people like you have helped them believe that ivy admissions was simpler than it in fact is and they then feel like a failure when the truth is they really were good enough – they just weren’t one of the relatively very few who actually get accepted.”</p>

<p>Thank you to unbelieveablem for your wise posts.</p>

<p>Why are we placing such emphasis on the ‘name recognition’ and ‘brand’ of the institution and whether or not it’s in the ivy league? What’s most important is the best ‘fit’ for each student, not merely prestige or recognition. </p>

<p>Think beyond the name! Where will you be happiest? What’s most important is that students think honestly about which colleges provide the right match for them. It’s important to look beyond the ‘brand name’ and to research thoroughly the academics, commitment to education, availability of good mentoring and advising, quality of teaching (do the faculty value teaching? will you be taught mostly by TAs?), culture, opportunities, values, social life, etc offered at various colleges.</p>

<p>Remember:</p>

<ol>
<li>You don’t need to get into the ivy league to be successful in life. </li>
<li>The ratings from the US News & World Report are misleading and lead to a ‘marketing’ of colleges rather than illuminating true quality and educational value.</li>
<li>The college/university you graduate from does not determine who you are and how you contribute to the world.</li>
</ol>

<p>Consider these earlier posts: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/491954-don-t-let-prestige-lead-you-wrong-college-please-3.html?highlight=hawkette[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/491954-don-t-let-prestige-lead-you-wrong-college-please-3.html?highlight=hawkette&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>and the work of the Education Conservancy, a non profit committed to improving the college admissions process: [Education</a> Conservancy](<a href=“CollegeNET | Admissions, Scheduling & Virtual Classroom Software”>CollegeNET | Admissions, Scheduling & Virtual Classroom Software)</p>

<p>and the book, College Unranked: [College</a> Unranked](<a href=“CollegeNET | Admissions, Scheduling & Virtual Classroom Software”>CollegeNET | Admissions, Scheduling & Virtual Classroom Software)</p>

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<p>I agree with integrity09. Whether a person will be successful in life depends on that person rather than the school that person attended.</p>

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<p>Rawr! Why is the OP not thinking about applying to Dartmouth? He has some other liberal arts schools listed!</p>

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<p>Because the OP is out to deny you the validation you seek, taggart! ;)</p>