Is it crazy to choose a non-ivy over an ivy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Northwestern is ranked higher than several Ivies - Dartmouth, Columbia, Cornell. But push comes to shove, I think most students would choose the Ivy.

I understand Columbia over Northwestern but nobody is picking Cornell or Dartmouth over it - only the people desperate to say they go to “an Ivy.”

Those who prefer to be in NYC, yes to Columbia. But Northwestern is the clear choice vs. Brown, Dartmouth and Cornell.

Yes, maybe to those of you writing from your house in Loudoun County. But try to realize that there is an entire class of people out there that don't make admissions decisions based on the latest iteration of US News.

I live in Manhattan, sent both my kids to “elite” prep schools, and would pick Chicago & Northwestern over Cornell, Dartmouth, and Chicago over Brown. This isn’t because of whatever list USNWR has created, and it’s weird you assume people from the suburbs default to USNWR while people in cities think Ivies reign supreme. Many of my kids’ friends picked USNWR T10s over Ivies; the Ivy label of the so-called “lower Ivies” doesn’t hold up against those schools in a head-to-head.

Utter nonsense but if you want to get caught up in that stuff you can take comfort in knowing that there are 4 NESCAC schools which are better than any of the schools being discussed.

DP: which 4 NESCAC?

[Anonymous]

I do not know anyone who chose a non-Ivy over HYPSM. I know a not insignificant number that chose a non-Ivy (WASP, Northwestern, Georgetown) over Brown, Penn, and Cornell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really depends on the school.

My nephew was admitted to both MIT and Harvard, and he chose MIT. He has friends who also turned down Ivies for MIT.

My kid turned down MIT for Middlebury

Okay okay we all know your kid got into middlesbury (or whatever that name is) and you’re so excited. I would be excited too if my league is actually at the Radford level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really depends.

Harvard, Yale, Stanford - would be 100% pick
Princeton - only if they are OK with very intense
Columbia- only if they thrive in urban environments
Dartmouth - just no, would choose anything T50 over this one
Brown- maybe depending on the kid, better for an artsy or humanities type kid
Penn - wouldn’t necessarily choose it over another T20 but nothing objectionable about it
Cornell- only if kid likes intense winters, intense academics

DS got into both Princeton and Yale for Engineering. Is it really a grind at Princeton? I know it's more rigorous but had thought it had calmed from grade deflation days of the past.

It seems the priority here is prestige or culture, not the actual strength of engineering, so just pick whichever one your DS likes more. If he had cared more about engineering academics, he would have applied to at least a dozen other schools better than these two (more than a dozen in the case of Yale). These two top elite Ivies could obviously set him up well for careers in management, consulting, finance, etc., but if he actually wants to become an engineer, he will likely get his first job easily with the P or Y name on his resume, then by his second job, he will need to catch up with guys from the other schools who are better engineers. Esp with AI taking over engineering jobs, ask your DS to think ahead and proactively seek out innovation in latest engineering applications that professors at a place like Princeton or Yale may not be the pioneers in (too theoretical).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really depends on the school.

My nephew was admitted to both MIT and Harvard, and he chose MIT. He has friends who also turned down Ivies for MIT.

My kid turned down MIT for Middlebury

I can totally see someone turning down MIT for Swarthmore or Harvey Mudd, but not Middlebury. What’s the major?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really depends on the school.

My nephew was admitted to both MIT and Harvard, and he chose MIT. He has friends who also turned down Ivies for MIT.

My kid turned down MIT for Middlebury

I can totally see someone turning down MIT for Swarthmore or Harvey Mudd, but not Middlebury. What’s the major?

smh at these SLAC boosters. You probably don’t know you guys sounded like a clown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not 1950. There are lots of schools that are as good and often better than the Ivy schools. Job and grad school outcomes are the same. But more important is fit. Both of my kids chose T20 non-Ivy colleges because they were better schools for them and their interests.

These days tons of students choose MIT, Stanford, Vanderbilt, CalTech, Duke, Rice, Williams, Chicago, Pomona, Northwestern, and Notre Dame over Ivy schools. And if they are STEM you can add Georgia Tech, Berkeley, Harvey Mudd, and Michigan to the list. These are all very rational alternatives to the Ivy schools.

This was always true. It's only the unimaginative and myopic who think that the Ivies are the be all and end all. No die hard comp sci major would choose Harvard over Carnegie Mellon, for instance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really depends on the school.

My nephew was admitted to both MIT and Harvard, and he chose MIT. He has friends who also turned down Ivies for MIT.

My kid turned down MIT for Middlebury

I can totally see someone turning down MIT for Swarthmore or Harvey Mudd, but not Middlebury. What’s the major?

smh at these SLAC boosters. You probably don’t know you guys sounded like a clown.

Your command of the English language demonstrates that you are a clown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really depends on the school.

My nephew was admitted to both MIT and Harvard, and he chose MIT. He has friends who also turned down Ivies for MIT.

My kid turned down MIT for Middlebury

I can totally see someone turning down MIT for Swarthmore or Harvey Mudd, but not Middlebury. What’s the major?

They have graduated but they were a stats/bio major going premed. Was a better fit for them. Their cousin was at MIT at the time so they knew the school well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the schools? Fit is important.

Stanford vs. Princeton.

I hope this isn’t op. Get real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the schools? Fit is important.

Stanford vs. Princeton.

It's quite common for students to choose Stanford over an Ivy. But the fact that the OP even needs to ask reflects a lack of knowledge and understanding of the U.S. college landscape. Yes, the Ivies are good schools, but there are non-ivies that are every bit as rigorous and prestigious, and Stanford is one of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not 1950. There are lots of schools that are as good and often better than the Ivy schools. Job and grad school outcomes are the same. But more important is fit. Both of my kids chose T20 non-Ivy colleges because they were better schools for them and their interests.

These days tons of students choose MIT, Stanford, Vanderbilt, CalTech, Duke, Rice, Williams, Chicago, Pomona, Northwestern, and Notre Dame over Ivy schools. And if they are STEM you can add Georgia Tech, Berkeley, Harvey Mudd, and Michigan to the list. These are all very rational alternatives to the Ivy schools.

This was always true. It's only the unimaginative and myopic who think that the Ivies are the be all and end all. No die hard comp sci major would choose Harvard over Carnegie Mellon, for instance.

DP - I too am confused by why OP would worry this could be “crazy”. CEOs of JPMChase, Goldman Sachs, Citi, Wells Fargo, most of MBB, Mag 7 did not attend Ivies undergrad. In fact, quite a few more LAC than Ivy grads which is significant when you consider how much smaller top 10 LACs alumni pool is relative to the 8 Ivies combined.

[Anonymous]

I faced that choice in 2000. I had a choice between UC Berkeley and Columbia for physics. Both were outstanding and both gave me full ride. I visited both colleges with my parents and we both fell in love with Berkeley. The weather helped too because I was an international student from an extremely hot country and for whatever reason I felt like it was going to be cool living in California

No regrets. If I had gone to school in the US perhaps I would have chosen Columbia because I feel like prestige when it comes to colleges has a much bigger weight than in my country at least.

I doubt 18 years old are as obsessed with Ivys as their parents are especially since people getting into ivys also get into other great on Ivys. But then you have parents so obsessed with prestige and coming up with all.kond of BS reasons to sway their kids into chosing an Ivy. Now if I had gotten into Princeton I would have gone there because its the mecca of Elementary particles.

I was rejected from Princeton and Caltech.

I was accepted by Stony Brook as well and really really really lol loved Stony Brook. I had a classmate who was admitted to Cornell and Stony Brook and told me his order of preference was Berkeley, Stony Brook and Cornell.

Frankly you can't go wrong with any university ranked 1-20 in the US. This is just my opinion, but I am not sure how we can say someone who chose a schooled ranked 20th (never mind those weird rankings) over a school say ranked 3rd in physics for example is making such a bad choice that his head needs to be examined.

Maybe people in the social sciences are more obsessed with prestige? I am just trying to make sense of this thread because for Math, Physics for example the choice ivy vs non ivy isn't even up for debate. You need to look at many criteria and get "Ivy" out your damn head.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do not know anyone who chose a non-Ivy over HYPSM. I know a not insignificant number that chose a non-Ivy (WASP, Northwestern, Georgetown) over Brown, Penn, and Cornell.

What about a T20 with merit 50% off over HYP full pay?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine turned down 2 ivies for a top 20 and doesn’t regret it.

Can you name them? and major?