Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi all, my DD is a sophmore in HS so we're just starting to truly think about this college application process (but no, we are not only now starting to think about having a well-rounded kid with a variety of interests, that's been her whole life).

But I'm new to reading this sub, and I see lots of people talk about T10 and T5. Are these the top 10 schools according to US News & World Report? Or where is the "official" list of T10 colleges and universities for undergrad?

Any school that has any form of ED is NOT a T5 school.
Any school that has ED2 practice is NOT a T10 school.

OP, remember these rules, then you won't be fooled by all those non-sensical rankings.

I agree with this analysis.

T5: HYPMS
T10: Duke, Penn, Dartmouth, Brown, Columbia
T15: CalTech, Chicago, Cornell, Northwestern, JHU

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi all, my DD is a sophmore in HS so we're just starting to truly think about this college application process (but no, we are not only now starting to think about having a well-rounded kid with a variety of interests, that's been her whole life).

But I'm new to reading this sub, and I see lots of people talk about T10 and T5. Are these the top 10 schools according to US News & World Report? Or where is the "official" list of T10 colleges and universities for undergrad?

Any school that has any form of ED is NOT a T5 school.
Any school that has ED2 practice is NOT a T10 school.

OP, remember these rules, then you won't be fooled by all those non-sensical rankings.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi all, my DD is a sophmore in HS so we're just starting to truly think about this college application process (but no, we are not only now starting to think about having a well-rounded kid with a variety of interests, that's been her whole life).

But I'm new to reading this sub, and I see lots of people talk about T10 and T5. Are these the top 10 schools according to US News & World Report? Or where is the "official" list of T10 colleges and universities for undergrad?

Any school that has any form of ED is NOT a T5 school.
Any school that has ED2 practice is NOT a T10 school.

OP, remember these rules, then you won't be fooled by all those non-sensical rankings.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi all, my DD is a sophmore in HS so we're just starting to truly think about this college application process (but no, we are not only now starting to think about having a well-rounded kid with a variety of interests, that's been her whole life).

But I'm new to reading this sub, and I see lots of people talk about T10 and T5. Are these the top 10 schools according to US News & World Report? Or where is the "official" list of T10 colleges and universities for undergrad?

Any school that has any form of ED is NOT a T5 school.
Any school that has ED2 practice is NOT a T10 school.

OP, remember these rules, then you won't be fooled by all those non-sensical rankings.

Anonymous wrote:The most widely believed prestigious colleges are the Ivy plus. The Ivy plus (so referred to by the Ivy themselves) are:

The entirety of the Ivy League, Stanford, MIT, UChicago, Johns Hopkins, Duke (and depending on the field Caltech).

Ivy colleges refer to this themselves.

All other colleges trying to pretend to be part of this group are hopecasting.

Anonymous wrote:The most widely believed prestigious colleges are the Ivy plus. The Ivy plus (so referred to by the Ivy themselves) are:

The entirety of the Ivy League, Stanford, MIT, UChicago, Johns Hopkins, Duke (and depending on the field Caltech).

Ivy colleges refer to this themselves.

All other colleges trying to pretend to be part of this group are hopecasting.

Anonymous wrote:If you are an Asian girl, Columbia, entire gold team is Asian.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't worry about it OP. You're years behind and won't catch up.

I'm OP and I'm new to this forum but not new to DCUM, so I'm just wondering what took your snark so long to show up in this conversation? 2nd page? You college snark trolls are slower than some of the other forum trolls

Everyone else, thank you for the answers! I now understand that essentially there's definitely not an actual, "official" Top 10 or Top 15, but when it's said in these conversations it's basically the schools you all listed consistently, give or take some other schools that move in and out of those groups.

Thanks, that definitely answers my question, appreciate it!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi all, my DD is a sophmore in HS so we're just starting to truly think about this college application process (but no, we are not only now starting to think about having a well-rounded kid with a variety of interests, that's been her whole life).

But I'm new to reading this sub, and I see lots of people talk about T10 and T5. Are these the top 10 schools according to US News & World Report? Or where is the "official" list of T10 colleges and universities for undergrad?

That would not the recipe for T10 or even T15-T20 or T4 SLACs
The recipe, for unhooked, to be in serious contention is to first have the academic tablestakes: all As and in the top 5-15% of the high school depending on if it is an above average public or a good private, SAT 740+ on each section, ideally 770+ on math if any stem interest exists, top rigor in all core areas of subjects(math science history english foreign language) which may already be off the table for a sophomore not on a path to do it. If AP's are a part of top rigor at the school they need to have taken the hardest ones and gotten mostly 5s. The AP score distribution has been changed such that 5s are often 15-20% of scores and 4s make up another large chunk. Getting almost all 5 is expected since 2024 when the shift happened.

In addition to that, LOR's that indicate intellectual vitality and that they are one of the top students that year.

In addition to that, deep longstanding interest conveyed by at least one EC that started before high school, plus at least one EC that shows impact in the wider community, and 1 that confirms the intellectual curiosity outside the classroom. That is a minimum, but would be viewed much better than 1-2 year commitments to 10 different ECs and without much depth or impact.

Anonymous wrote:Hi all, my DD is a sophmore in HS so we're just starting to truly think about this college application process (but no, we are not only now starting to think about having a well-rounded kid with a variety of interests, that's been her whole life).

But I'm new to reading this sub, and I see lots of people talk about T10 and T5. Are these the top 10 schools according to US News & World Report? Or where is the "official" list of T10 colleges and universities for undergrad?

Anonymous wrote:Don't worry about it OP. You're years behind and won't catch up.