Ivy Strivers have explaining to do

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It will blow your mind Op- but many did not “strive”.

My kid didn’t think about college until summer of Junior year. Put a list together in the Fall-from T1-T40/50.

He was accepted to a T-10, an Ivy, lots of T20s RD unhooked. Never would have thought he’d be at an Ivy.

He always did the things he liked to do—lots of his sport, some community service, summer job, etc. Never had a special project or go to any of those pay to play academic summer programs. He is a great writer and had a perfect academic record and very high scores- without tutors or a paid essay coach/counselor.

You should check yourself because referring to kids as “Ivy strivers” makes you sound like a nut. It’s even nuttier you are so upset but that you have to post random salary stuff. Go to work or go for a run. It will be okay.

Not OP. It may be true for your kids, but the vast majority all strive

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will blow your mind Op- but many did not “strive”.

My kid didn’t think about college until summer of Junior year. Put a list together in the Fall-from T1-T40/50.

He was accepted to a T-10, an Ivy, lots of T20s RD unhooked. Never would have thought he’d be at an Ivy.

He always did the things he liked to do—lots of his sport, some community service, summer job, etc. Never had a special project or go to any of those pay to play academic summer programs. He is a great writer and had a perfect academic record and very high scores- without tutors or a paid essay coach/counselor.

You should check yourself because referring to kids as “Ivy strivers” makes you sound like a nut. It’s even nuttier you are so upset but that you have to post random salary stuff. Go to work or go for a run. It will be okay.

Just another Jedi mind trick to get other kids to do less prep and lessen the competition.

Nobody believes someone without a hook got into " T-10, an Ivy, lots of T20s RD unhooked" without any prep.

DP. Most people at Ivies were focused on getting into T20 but not everyone.

[Anonymous]

This forum is toxic, and will forever be biased. Pretending like All Harvard grads become senators that's why their starting salary may be low... pure gaslighting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will blow your mind Op- but many did not “strive”.

My kid didn’t think about college until summer of Junior year. Put a list together in the Fall-from T1-T40/50.

He was accepted to a T-10, an Ivy, lots of T20s RD unhooked. Never would have thought he’d be at an Ivy.

He always did the things he liked to do—lots of his sport, some community service, summer job, etc. Never had a special project or go to any of those pay to play academic summer programs. He is a great writer and had a perfect academic record and very high scores- without tutors or a paid essay coach/counselor.

You should check yourself because referring to kids as “Ivy strivers” makes you sound like a nut. It’s even nuttier you are so upset but that you have to post random salary stuff. Go to work or go for a run. It will be okay.

Just another Jedi mind trick to get other kids to do less prep and lessen the competition.

Nobody believes someone without a hook got into " T-10, an Ivy, lots of T20s RD unhooked" without any prep.

Christ- you are paranoid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What percentage of Ivy grads go directly into a PhD program, law school, med school instead of directly into a career? (Ie, $0 income or a stipend). The links are very light on info about methodology.

4 out of 7 of my ivy kid’s close friends went to phD, law, med directly after undergrad. Anecdotal, of course. This ivy’s website says 35% go directly to grad/professional school and 65% get jobs, though other data indicates a large portion of that 65% is in 1-2 gap year mode before med or law, so it is not their eventual job

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What percentage of Ivy grads go directly into a PhD program, law school, med school instead of directly into a career? (Ie, $0 income or a stipend). The links are very light on info about methodology.

Not anymore than others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will blow your mind Op- but many did not “strive”.

My kid didn’t think about college until summer of Junior year. Put a list together in the Fall-from T1-T40/50.

He was accepted to a T-10, an Ivy, lots of T20s RD unhooked. Never would have thought he’d be at an Ivy.

He always did the things he liked to do—lots of his sport, some community service, summer job, etc. Never had a special project or go to any of those pay to play academic summer programs. He is a great writer and had a perfect academic record and very high scores- without tutors or a paid essay coach/counselor.

You should check yourself because referring to kids as “Ivy strivers” makes you sound like a nut. It’s even nuttier you are so upset but that you have to post random salary stuff. Go to work or go for a run. It will be okay.

Not OP. It may be true for your kids, but the vast majority all strive

I don’t get the anger either. So what if someone wants to try hard to go where they want to go? If you don’t want to go to that school or to “strive,” or your kid doesn’t, fine, don’t. You and your kid should decide how you want to proceed. But if someone else has a goal and works towards it, why spend so much time trying to prove they shouldn’t, or have no business, pursuing their own goal. It’s so judgmental.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
No, YOU have some explaining to do, OP.

Why do you care so much?

99.99% of people don't care at all. Particularly those in the named institutions.

I’m not OP but if OP has a LOT of explaining to do, so do a lot of posters!

No, OP created the thread. I haven't read any of the threads OP is apparently reacting to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will blow your mind Op- but many did not “strive”.

My kid didn’t think about college until summer of Junior year. Put a list together in the Fall-from T1-T40/50.

He was accepted to a T-10, an Ivy, lots of T20s RD unhooked. Never would have thought he’d be at an Ivy.

He always did the things he liked to do—lots of his sport, some community service, summer job, etc. Never had a special project or go to any of those pay to play academic summer programs. He is a great writer and had a perfect academic record and very high scores- without tutors or a paid essay coach/counselor.

You should check yourself because referring to kids as “Ivy strivers” makes you sound like a nut. It’s even nuttier you are so upset but that you have to post random salary stuff. Go to work or go for a run. It will be okay.

Not OP. It may be true for your kids, but the vast majority all strive

I don’t get the anger either. So what if someone wants to try hard to go where they want to go? If you don’t want to go to that school or to “strive,” or your kid doesn’t, fine, don’t. You and your kid should decide how you want to proceed. But if someone else has a goal and works towards it, why spend so much time trying to prove they shouldn’t, or have no business, pursuing their own goal. It’s so judgmental.

Wasn’t saying it was a bad thing although here in DCUM it is

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those of you who swear non ivy T25s like Washu, Emory, Vanderbilt, Rice are less prestigious than ivys please explain the Salary differences for 2023 grads
Yale
$88,464
https://cdn.ocs.yale.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/77/2025/01/Final-Class-of-2023-Report-6-months.pdf

Cornell
$84,000
https://ccs.career.cornell.edu/dash/dashboard_employment

Princeton
$89,144(mean) $60,000 median
https://projects.dailyprincetonian.com/senior-survey-2023/after-princeton.html

Emory
$82,100
https://apply.emory.edu/discover/facts-stats/after-graduation.html

Washu
$85,000
https://careers.wustl.edu/outcomes/#!eWVhcj0yMDIz

Vanderbilt
$85,000
https://www.vanderbilt.edu/career/career-outcomes/

Rice
$87,000
https://ccd.rice.edu/about/annual-report

These seem like Ivy level numbers to me. And a reminder that Emory doesn't have Engineering. Vandy, Rice, and Emory are all in the South as well.

Hahaha.

Money? Seriously? That's what you list when talking about academic institutions.

Gauche.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will blow your mind Op- but many did not “strive”.

My kid didn’t think about college until summer of Junior year. Put a list together in the Fall-from T1-T40/50.

He was accepted to a T-10, an Ivy, lots of T20s RD unhooked. Never would have thought he’d be at an Ivy.

He always did the things he liked to do—lots of his sport, some community service, summer job, etc. Never had a special project or go to any of those pay to play academic summer programs. He is a great writer and had a perfect academic record and very high scores- without tutors or a paid essay coach/counselor.

You should check yourself because referring to kids as “Ivy strivers” makes you sound like a nut. It’s even nuttier you are so upset but that you have to post random salary stuff. Go to work or go for a run. It will be okay.

Just another Jedi mind trick to get other kids to do less prep and lessen the competition.

Nobody believes someone without a hook got into " T-10, an Ivy, lots of T20s RD unhooked" without any prep.

Different poster.

We prioritized 8 hours of sleep, adequate free time, and time with family/friends. Never really thought of college until start of Junior year. Zero prep for SAT, zero tutors, average essays, wildly overrepresented profile with no hooks, yet got into one HYPSM and multiple T20s and two with merit aid. Many of child's friends who are similar got into T20s.

A key indicator is this: if a child can get a nearly full SAT or ACT score without any prep, it is highly likely they would get into a T20.

If a child has to take SAT/ACT multiple times and need tutors, they likely have a very low chance of T20 admission.

[Anonymous]

A child who gets high SAT/ACT scores without prep is likely to also do very well in acadamics, teachers would more likely notice, their LOR would reflect that and they would shine in their activities as well leading to taking up leadership positions.

So a lack of test prep is a great proxy for good admission results to T20.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A child who gets high SAT/ACT scores without prep is likely to also do very well in acadamics, teachers would more likely notice, their LOR would reflect that and they would shine in their activities as well leading to taking up leadership positions.

So a lack of test prep is a great proxy for good admission results to T20.

Interesting. My kid’s anecdata point fits your hypothesis - near perfect SAT on first try with zero prep, presumably stellar letters of rec, strong track record of leadership, early admit to first choice HYPSM - but college admissions still seems like too much of a black box for me to know for sure what tipped the scales in their favor.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry, have we been reading different forums? A month ago all the threads were about how kids with perfect scores and grades and ECs were a dime a dozen and they can't stand out so no chance

Now we have multiple posters claiming their kids have nothing remarkable orher than test scores and grades and got into multiple t20..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A child who gets high SAT/ACT scores without prep is likely to also do very well in acadamics, teachers would more likely notice, their LOR would reflect that and they would shine in their activities as well leading to taking up leadership positions.

So a lack of test prep is a great proxy for good admission results to T20.

+1 my kid (just like the descriptions in last few posts) last year. At an Ivy- RD unhooked.