<p>None of my friends at Yale have cars, it’s very uncommon and a terrible way to judge the school. Essentially, you are saying you don’t like Yale because “everyone” had Mercedes and BMWs, when in fact almost no one has a car at school. And well I can’t say that nobody in a pea coat gave you dirty looks, that hardly sounds like something I’ve ever seen at Yale.</p>
<p>LOL: it’s called “sampling size”. Rather poor extrapolation on his part wouldn’t you think, sval?</p>
<p>And H, the garage is for all undergrads except Freshmen, who aren’t allowed cars. Dbl check on that. That used to be the rule.</p>
<p>West Point is far more selective than any of the Ivies. You must be triple qualified (academically, physically, and medically). Then you must apply and compete separately for a nomination from a member of congress or the executive branch (pres or vp). Once you are successfull at the aforementioned, only then are you allowed to compete for an appointment. “Regular” college application processes and entrance requirements pale in comparison.</p>
<p>Yale is pretty much a mix of people. You will meet your fair share of snooty people, but I guess most of them will be un-snooty and nice. by the way, Harvard is not snooty. Oh, and I don’t think Yale is the most selective school.</p>
<p>If I recall picking up the latest US News magazine in a stall, it listed Yale as number 1 in selectivity and Princeton/Harvard as tied for #2. Can someone confirm this who actually bought the magazine? Not that it really matters though…</p>
<p>Can I PLEASE suggest, harvardlaw, that you look at other schools besides Harvard and Yale. Judging by your postings, I’m a bit concerned you may be focusing on only those two way too much.</p>
<p>Why does “selectiveness” matter when you can have great undergrad education? 
isn’t that supposed to be the point of college? you know, getting good education? :)</p>
<p>Okay, here’s my take: Selectiveness matters because in a way, it advertises for the college that “HEY everyone! Look how many people apply to US! They looove us. Too bad we had to turn down tons of good kids. But now we have an awesome class of top students.”
The more people who flock (of course, the more qualified people who flock too), the more these schools get to really hand pick from the cream of the crop, and then show off their new class and their selectivity numbers and such.
Clearly the point of college means getting a good education, but selectivity sort of implies that this college has such great oppotunities for a good education that EVERYONE wants to go, making it a very selective process to sift through all those qualified applicants to form a class.</p>
<p>I get that (it’s common sense that a school as selective as Yale would probably naturally be better than, oh I don’t know, like Boston University?), but what I was trying to convey was that it looks kind of pointless to go back and forth saying which of the HYPS or the Ivy League schools are better than some others by saying “we had x% less acceptances than you” kind of reasoning. So I don’t get why there is all this commotion about Yale being crowned the “most selective.” I figure, they’re all pretty great schools, you’re going to get a great education at any of those. <em>shrug</em> </p>
<p>though of course, you should come to Dartmouth! <em>shameless plug</em></p>
<p>limetime, you are mostly correct. HOWEVER,</p>
<p>Here’s how US News calculates “selectivity” ([Methodology:</a> Undergraduate Ranking Criteria and Weights - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://snurl.com/qt1l7):%5DMethodology:”>http://snurl.com/qt1l7) </p>
<p>-50% critical reading + math SAT or ACT
-40% high school class standing in top 10%
-10% acceptance rate</p>
<p>Therefore I would like to point out that “selectivity” is NOT just about acceptance rate. Rather, it may be at least somewhat indicative of the academic/intellectual quality of the incoming class.</p>
<p>I completely agree, though, that there is too much focus on the admittance percentage and other statistics and nowhere near enough about the quality of the education.</p>