If your child attends a 'reach' school...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. My junior does not want to apply to schools that are "reaches" for him because he wants to go to grad school, and he thinks he'll get a higher GPA at a less competitive (for him) school. My view is that grad schools take each college and it's grading policies into account (at least I hope they do), so he should be focused on where he'll get the best education. To me, part of a great education is being challenged by peers who are brighter than you, so I will continue to encourage some reaches!

Your son is right. Grad schools, especially med schools, want 4.0s whether at MIT or UVA. It sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. My junior does not want to apply to schools that are "reaches" for him because he wants to go to grad school, and he thinks he'll get a higher GPA at a less competitive (for him) school. My view is that grad schools take each college and it's grading policies into account (at least I hope they do), so he should be focused on where he'll get the best education. To me, part of a great education is being challenged by peers who are brighter than you, so I will continue to encourage some reaches!

Your son is right. Grad schools, especially med schools, want 4.0s whether at MIT or UVA. It sucks.

PP, must respectfully disagree. Top colleges (except perhaps U Chicago) grade on a dramatically easier basis than middle-level colleges, and top colleges typically don't release student rank. Everybody leaves Harvard with at least a B+/A- average. Everybody at Yale gets into some relatively decent law school. And the top colleges essentially offer free or nominal tuition to most undergrads. We've seen it directly and experienced it. Colleges below the top tier are really taking advantage of their students and providing no value of any kind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the scary part is, the student might have a better shot at completing the desired degree at Match U vs Reach U, without the expenditure

I don't see a big (or scary) difference between graduating from Princeton with premed or psychology.

really? in one case, you're prepared to apply to med school, and in the other case, you aren't prepared

Wrong. Major doesn't matter much for med school, as long as the student has decent grades in the six typical college-level prerequisite courses. And med schools often waive the prerequisites (except bio with lab and organic chem) if an applicant went to a highly-ranked undergrad and generally did well. My DS's doctor, for example, went to an Ivy undergrad, took only five of the six standard pre-med courses, had a solid but not Ivy-overwhelming A-minus average, and was admitted to an Ivy med school. Not uncommon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:the scary part is, the student might have a better shot at completing the desired degree at Match U vs Reach U, without the expenditure

I don't see a big (or scary) difference between graduating from Princeton with premed or psychology.

really? in one case, you're prepared to apply to med school, and in the other case, you aren't prepared

Wrong. Major doesn't matter much for med school, as long as the student has decent grades in the six typical college-level prerequisite courses. And med schools often waive the prerequisites (except bio with lab and organic chem) if an applicant went to a highly-ranked undergrad and generally did well. My DS's doctor, for example, went to an Ivy undergrad, took only five of the six standard pre-med courses, had a solid but not Ivy-overwhelming A-minus average, and was admitted to an Ivy med school. Not uncommon.

Actually, medical schools DO look at undergraduate majors, and MCAT scores. MCAT scores are often impacted by undergraduate exposure...Not to say that majors are the only thing, but it counts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. My junior does not want to apply to schools that are "reaches" for him because he wants to go to grad school, and he thinks he'll get a higher GPA at a less competitive (for him) school. My view is that grad schools take each college and it's grading policies into account (at least I hope they do), so he should be focused on where he'll get the best education. To me, part of a great education is being challenged by peers who are brighter than you, so I will continue to encourage some reaches!

Your son is right. Grad schools, especially med schools, want 4.0s whether at MIT or UVA. It sucks.

PP, must respectfully disagree. Top colleges (except perhaps U Chicago) grade on a dramatically easier basis than middle-level colleges, and top colleges typically don't release student rank. Everybody leaves Harvard with at least a B+/A- average. Everybody at Yale gets into some relatively decent law school. And the top colleges essentially offer free or nominal tuition to most undergrads. We've seen it directly and experienced it. Colleges below the top tier are really taking advantage of their students and providing no value of any kind.

MIT grades on a B/C curve so that's not entirely true. Harvard has buckled down its rampant grade inflation as well because other schools began to notice everyone had a 4.0

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. My junior does not want to apply to schools that are "reaches" for him because he wants to go to grad school, and he thinks he'll get a higher GPA at a less competitive (for him) school. My view is that grad schools take each college and it's grading policies into account (at least I hope they do), so he should be focused on where he'll get the best education. To me, part of a great education is being challenged by peers who are brighter than you, so I will continue to encourage some reaches!

Your son is right. Grad schools, especially med schools, want 4.0s whether at MIT or UVA. It sucks.

PP, must respectfully disagree. Top colleges (except perhaps U Chicago) grade on a dramatically easier basis than middle-level colleges, and top colleges typically don't release student rank. Everybody leaves Harvard with at least a B+/A- average. Everybody at Yale gets into some relatively decent law school. And the top colleges essentially offer free or nominal tuition to most undergrads. We've seen it directly and experienced it. Colleges below the top tier are really taking advantage of their students and providing no value of any kind.

MIT grades on a B/C curve so that's not entirely true. Harvard has buckled down its rampant grade inflation as well because other schools began to notice everyone had a 4.0

Also I can't speak for the last 5 years, but I know people with 5 and 6 figure debts from these colleges.

[Anonymous]

The top schools do not offer nominal tuition! Where is that coming from?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Also I can't speak for the last 5 years, but I know people with 5 and 6 figure debts from these colleges.

so do I
I remember one Harvard grad I met, who was starting professional school and already owed 100k...the person was debating signing up with the military to erase some of that debt

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The top schools do not offer nominal tuition! Where is that coming from?

I heard that some schools with a billion in endowments were considering it, as there were new rules or new scrutiny regarding non-profits

[Anonymous]

I graduated from Dartmouth with a class rank. So I don't think the "no class rank at top schools" comment is entirely accurate.

[Anonymous]

Pp here. And, yes, the class rank was on my transcript and was released to graduate schools as part of my application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. My junior does not want to apply to schools that are "reaches" for him because he wants to go to grad school, and he thinks he'll get a higher GPA at a less competitive (for him) school. My view is that grad schools take each college and it's grading policies into account (at least I hope they do), so he should be focused on where he'll get the best education. To me, part of a great education is being challenged by peers who are brighter than you, so I will continue to encourage some reaches!

Your son is right. Grad schools, especially med schools, want 4.0s whether at MIT or UVA. It sucks.

PP, must respectfully disagree. Top colleges (except perhaps U Chicago) grade on a dramatically easier basis than middle-level colleges, and top colleges typically don't release student rank. Everybody leaves Harvard with at least a B+/A- average. Everybody at Yale gets into some relatively decent law school. And the top colleges essentially offer free or nominal tuition to most undergrads. We've seen it directly and experienced it. Colleges below the top tier are really taking advantage of their students and providing no value of any kind.

What are you talking about? The Ivy League schools provide only need based aid, no merit aid or athletic scholarships. I know plenty of people paying full tuition at Ivy League schools and at other colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
PP, must respectfully disagree. Top colleges (except perhaps U Chicago) grade on a dramatically easier basis than middle-level colleges, and top colleges typically don't release student rank. Everybody leaves Harvard with at least a B+/A- average. Everybody at Yale gets into some relatively decent law school. And the top colleges essentially offer free or nominal tuition to most undergrads. We've seen it directly and experienced it. Colleges below the top tier are really taking advantage of their students and providing no value of any kind.

What are you talking about? The Ivy League schools provide only need based aid, no merit aid or athletic scholarships. I know plenty of people paying full tuition at Ivy League schools and at other colleges.

+1. The Ivies don't offer any merit aid or athletic scholarships. It's possible Stanford and Chicago offer non-need-based aid, but I don't know. There are a few highly selective schools like Cal Tech, Cooper Union and the Curtis Institute that cover nearly all expenses, but unless your kid wants to focus almost exclusively on Science, Art or Music, respectively, these three won't be attractive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD graduated from Princeton. I think Princeton is a "reach school" for a lot of people. She did just fine.

That wasn't the question. The OP wanted to know if your child went to a school that was a "reach" for that particular child.

For many kids, Princeton is NOT a reach. It must not have been a reach school for your kid, so what is the point of your post?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. My junior does not want to apply to schools that are "reaches" for him because he wants to go to grad school, and he thinks he'll get a higher GPA at a less competitive (for him) school. My view is that grad schools take each college and it's grading policies into account (at least I hope they do), so he should be focused on where he'll get the best education. To me, part of a great education is being challenged by peers who are brighter than you, so I will continue to encourage some reaches!

Your son is right. Grad schools, especially med schools, want 4.0s whether at MIT or UVA. It sucks.

PP, must respectfully disagree. Top colleges (except perhaps U Chicago) grade on a dramatically easier basis than middle-level colleges, and top colleges typically don't release student rank. Everybody leaves Harvard with at least a B+/A- average. Everybody at Yale gets into some relatively decent law school. And the top colleges essentially offer free or nominal tuition to most undergrads. We've seen it directly and experienced it. Colleges below the top tier are really taking advantage of their students and providing no value of any kind.

This is the stupidest, most uninformed post I've ever seen on DCUM. Go away, troll.