If you child got into a top college

[Anonymous]

What do you think set their application apart from the rest? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

public school

[Anonymous]

Mine was a recruited athlete and was the only one from her elite school to get into this top Ivy

[Anonymous]

First you have to have the grades (A+ average overall and with the most rigorous courses) and the SAT scores. That's a given. Then you have to be different from the rest. My daughter did not do sports. She was, however, always involved in student govt ( Treasurer of her class every year). What got her into Princeton, I believe, was her passion for music. She had been playing piano since she was 6. She played in many recitals and got many awards.

[Anonymous]

You do have to have the grades and test scores...that is just a starting point. Then, you have to have something really special...apart from the norm...stuff outside of school with national awards or regional awards attached to it.

[Anonymous]

Does anybody know any kids who got in with, obviously, top grades and SAT scores - but otherwise isn't a part of any preference group (athletics, legacy, minority, brought peace to the Middle East)? I'm sure such kids exist, but you wouldn't know it to read DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Yes above. But, it's very difficult. Ivies will generally take the top 1 or 2 students from elite privates as long as they have top grades, SATs. They don't need to go any lower than that for the straight "grades, SAT top kid" because they can pick kids from those other categories you mentioned. The Ivies can pick 3 or 4 from your average public school -- they'll take more from a top public (entrance test required ps) such as TJ -- they take a fair number -- sometimes top 1% of class.

[Anonymous]

is Old Dominion University considered elite? I know it isnt in the ivy league technically, but curious if it is otherwise considered as good. Up there with the Georgetowns, Radfords and Delawares. thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:is Old Dominion University considered elite? I know it isnt in the ivy league technically, but curious if it is otherwise considered as good. Up there with the Georgetowns, Radfords and Delawares. thanks.

This is how I see it.
Radford, ODU and Delaware are not thought of as competitive schools.
Georgetown is for kids who could not get into ivies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:is Old Dominion University considered elite? I know it isnt in the ivy league technically, but curious if it is otherwise considered as good. Up there with the Georgetowns, Radfords and Delawares. thanks.

This is how I see it.
Radford, ODU and Delaware are not thought of as competitive schools.
Georgetown is for kids who could not get into ivies.

I agree that Radford, ODU and Delaware are not competitive, but think that they might be a good fit for some students. I completely disagree with your assessment of Georgetown. I know many people who attended who had no interest in ivies. I know that some of you can not understand this, but many, many people have NO INTEREST in ivies. And for many, many reasons including avoiding pretentious snobs such as yourself.

[Anonymous]

i thought ODU was considered the "harvard of norfolk". not true?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I completely disagree with your assessment of Georgetown. I know many people who attended who had no interest in ivies. I know that some of you can not understand this, but many, many people have NO INTEREST in ivies. And for many, many reasons including avoiding pretentious snobs such as yourself.

NP here. I'm not trying to hijack the thread, but could you please explain the underlined statement? Are you saying many people (including you, I'm guessing) just outright refuse even to consider Ivy league schools? If that's correct, could you please list some of the "many many reasons" why not? The Ivy league schools are a relatively diverse lot (at least as far as top-20 colleges go). They range from very large, city schools like Penn or Columbia to fairly small and almost bucolic schools like Dartmouth, with several other options in between. Some have particularly strong business schools, while others may excel in programs like history or sociology, and there are even the relatively obscure programs like Cornell's hotel management and Penn's nursing schools.

Rejecting all Ivy league schools as a group strikes me as just as illogical as someone saying she'd only consider Ivy league schools. But maybe I'm not understanding you correctly, so perhaps you'll explain your thinking further.

[Anonymous]

Some people really just aren't interested. I wasn't and have no interest for my kids. If they REALLY want an Ivy, I would help them look at them, but it is certainly not my goal for them at this point (early elementary). They are very expensive, it's insanely competitive to get in, and concentrated in a relatively small area of the country. None of those things interested me as an undergrad. I concentrated on large state schools that had a diversity of academic offerings in interesting places to live. Just my preference and I've never regretted it.

[Anonymous]

is WVU in the ivy league?

[Anonymous]

The Ivy League consists of Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth, Penn, Cornell, Brown and Columbia. Most people literally mean just those 8 school (plus perhaps MIT and Stanford) when they say they want an Ivy for their kid. Others use it as shorthand for a somewhat broader grouping of "top" school, e.g., the top 25 in the US News rankings.