I think you have to view HPY as like venture capitalists of people. They are looking for kids that will be successful in life...either in business, research/acadedamia, politics, non-profit, etc. Your application needs to show a track record that will give admissions confidence in that success. If you are a recruited athlete...you can shove all that to the side so not talking about the athletes.

Anonymous wrote:Everyone I know who is a billionaire did not go to an Ivy and neither did their kids.

Are you counting the bllionaires that dropped out? You clearly don't know many...Zuckerberg, Bezos, Gates, Sam Altman, Citadel and Blackstone founders...the list of billionaires is massively weighted towards grads or drop-outs from top 10 schools.

As DP pointed out...I doubt you know any billionaires, so not really relevant.

Anonymous wrote:Everyone I know who is a billionaire did not go to an Ivy and neither did their kids.

How many billionaires do you know? Ha

Anonymous wrote:My daughter, incoming 12th grader, has a friend who to me is the perfect HPY candidate.

He's consistently been a couple of years ahead of the rest of the class in math. Never less than an A. Sky-high SATs. Inherent smartness ... great vocabulary, curiosity, interest in pushing himself intellectually. He excels in his sport. He does plenty of other activities but doesn't seem like he's just jamming things onto his resume like some of the smart kids we know. He is a legacy, not that it really matters any more. I'll be rooting for him, but only because in addition to all these other things, he is a GREAT kid.

He’s an Ivy legacy. This means his parents are smart, likely wealthy and able to offer him lots of resources.

Anonymous wrote:Everyone I know who is a billionaire did not go to an Ivy and neither did their kids.

I only know two and one went to Harvard and the other Yale.

Anonymous wrote:TJ is a top 5 public (in the USA, per any list)

I heard it has gone downhill.

Anonymous wrote:We know a truly talented kid who is the smartest kid I have ever encountered. He is over the top good at anything and everything he does. He stands out from all the other high stats kids including my kids who have perfect grades, test scores and very well rounded. I have no doubt that the boy will have his choice in colleges. He is a stand out among a sea of smart kids.

Unless you left info out- that describes most applicants. My friend has a brilliant kid and still got denied entry into every Ivy League.

If mine didn't get a half tuition offer from a T20 he liked, he wouldn't have taken name off of Ivy waitlist but he did so we'll never know. He did pass on a full ride at local state school.

Everyone I know who is a billionaire did not go to an Ivy and neither did their kids.

Everyone I know with a $25 million+ worth, their kids went to an Ivy or a top LAC.

I work in a small firm and we don't hire much. Recently we had to hire for two positions. And I was amazed that everyone on the hiring committee pushed every HYP application aside. I asked why we were doing this, and the answers were either "we don't want to deal with that attitude" or they were suspect that a person with that degree hadn't gotten further mid-career (these were jobs that would pay 250k ish with good upside). We work in an area were you would think connections and being very polished with clients would override any doubts, but we literally didn't interview one.

It didn't seem fair, but I'm not honestly not worried about how Ivy League grads are treated .. and neither are they, I'm sure. But I wonder if this is a thing elsewhere. Obviously it's a huge boost first job out, but I wonder if you tread water at all in your 20s - or just don't kill it - if this is an issue.

Oops, just notice Princeton was mentioned

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yale isn’t even in fashion anymore due to not being strong in all subjects like HPSM, and with STEM becoming increasingly relevant.

+1 I think today you will see many kids opting for schools like Caltech, Duke, UPenn, maybe even Columbia instead.

Don’t forget Princeton. Very strong in CS and Engineering!

Anonymous wrote:I am interviewing a candidate who just graduated from HYP this spring. They are the only Ivy candidate we've ever had for our nonprofit entry level position. They probably won't accept our offer (too low) but what has impressed us is how thoughtful they are in addition to just being very sharp. I have kids the same age in slightly lesser schools and this candidate really stood out from them and their peers in their maturity level, ability to think through all angles and ask the right questions, as well as their passion for the subject matter. I consider my kids smart, but this is another level. FWIW

Sounds exactly like the experience I recently had. We had a few Ivy candidates and a Duke candidate, were impressed with many of them but decided we wanted the Duke kid as our top choice, and were able to make a very competitive offer given their background and our desire to have them join us. We were unsure if even with a heavily improved offer they would join, but they did! Part of our draw is a very strong WLB and amazing benefits so we also know our compensation is much more than just the take-home pay, and that likely helped.

Anonymous wrote:Yale isn’t even in fashion anymore due to not being strong in all subjects like HPSM, and with STEM becoming increasingly relevant.

+1 I think today you will see many kids opting for schools like Caltech, Duke, UPenn, maybe even Columbia instead.