VERY concerned about my kid's obsession with Yale & Princeton

[Anonymous]

This was me in high school. I was rejected at one, waitlisted at the other, and accepted at UVA which I didn't even bother to visit because it was my "safety."

Totally naive, I know.

I went to UVA freshman year, hated it, transferred to William and Mary sophomore year and loved it.

Wildly successful career, happy life.

So my advice is to let your child apply to both, make sure they also apply to a couple of real safeties, and then let it all play out. There's always transferring if it doesn't work out the first time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. I interview prospective students for the HYP I attended and I meet the ones accepted every year at a reception. They are far more accomplished and talented than my class was (myself included).
2. In the late 70s and 80s classes were filled with prep schools kids. Andover would send 20ish a year. Not all of them where that exceptional. Today, these schools find students who manage to accomplish a lot growing up in households where parents didn’t go to college/low income etc.
3. I have no idea how anyone could accurately assess what percent of these kids are exceptional but the number not going down

This is coming from a HYP alum, and I don't believe you. HYP alums have an incentive to perpetuate the myths about their respective alma maters. You guys are not to be trusted!

HYP, in fact the whole Ivy League, is overrated. I think in the next 10 years HYP will fall out of the top 20 and we will all see that they were second tier schools. I would never hire kids from there, and I would definitely not send my own kids there!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bryn Mawr has a gorgeous campus, fantastic academics and, as a women’s college, is considerably easier to get into. Maybe visit and see if it clicks with her.

Second this. Bryn Mawr is an excellent backup for her.

[Anonymous]

You have to call out your kid's BS...she is in love with the rankings of the school, but she doesn't sound like she has spent an inordinate amount of time talking to students, professors, etc. to somehow determine those schools are unique for her in any way.

[Anonymous]

Wow, 30+ years at Goldman, Blackstone, & a hedge fund. Nothing gives you credibility like seeing a wide variety of Ivy grads in a wide variety of settings.