<p>Re: "This is the classic rant .."</p>
<p>" Still baffled."</p>
<p>Me too. I still think each of these particular schools have their own individual strengths and weaknesses. As do a number of other schools they don't play football against, but are nevertheless by no means unilaterally "worse" for that.</p>
<p>I am a graduate of Cornell, so perhaps my "rant" is non-classic?</p>
<p>"The Ivies make up less than half of the top twenty or so. "</p>
<p>8 is less than half of 20. What's your point?</p>
<p>Cornell. Doesn't matter though because it's still really hard to get into.</p>
<p>You COULD apply to only one Ivy based on its acceptance rate regardless of its fit for you....OR you could apply to one you imagine yourself being happy at. Your choice. Also, you can request the app fee to be waived if you're a low income student.</p>
<p>none.... (10 char)</p>
<p>
[quote]
8 is less than half of 20. What's your point?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>If the Ivies were #1-#8 straight down the line, and there was a big gap in quality between 8 and 9, it would make sense to group them together and try to figure out the easiest one to get into. This is not the case.</p>
<p>If you were going for an optimal admissions ease:quality ratio, a better choice might be WashU or Northwestern if you compare US News (standard caveats about using this ranking) and who gets in on admissions trackers.</p>
<p>Recall though that the admission statistics aren't really fully accurate. For example, Columbia College has an admit rate ~6% but SEAS is around 13%. So you have to take things like that into consideration when looking at admissions stats.</p>
<p>I'm not talking raw rates. Remove the spaces in the links and look at the data.</p>
<p>college.mychances . net/college-1655-Washington-University-in-St.-Louis.html
college.mychances . net/college-945-Northwestern-University.html
college.mychances . net/college-165-Brown-University.html</p>
<p>Barring some kind of response bias, you have to conclude that there is a big difference.</p>