An excellent article. I am honestly very happy that my daughter is going to Susquehanna University next year. Not a big name, but a really nurturing school. She found out today that she’s getting a music scholarship for non-music majors. When I texted her that she’d gotten it, she called and said, “But did I get the free lessons? That’s all I care about - did I get the lessons?” And I was happy to tell her she did. 
What a wonderful program! It will motivate her to stay involved with jazz piano. She’ll get a total of 8 credits for the music lessons, too.
This is a refreshing article thank you @MaineLonghorn the rabid fascination with ivy league acceptances and their respective headlines of kids getting into all of them is overblown and boring. The reality is that while some would kill to get into these schools there are many who got accepted and chose to go other schools that were better fitting. Going from a reference to another thread where students and parents were telling which schools went up and down their list, quite a few were out right put off by the elite and ivy league schools for a number of reasons: cost/net price, attitudes of students there, the way the tour guide handled everything, etc. The way the media runs these ivy league headlines makes people see that these are the perfect choice for any hard working student with aspiration. That simply is a farce that gets tiring after awhile.
What I think is more newsworthy is the students who buckle down to get out of college debt free or stories of perseverance to finish that degree juggling different obstacles as a way to boost inspiration of the common young adult. But alas most media rather focus on that “golden ticket” child who got into all the ivy league schools. It’s an amazing feat no doubt but there are other things that are more inspiring, imo.
As the parent of a kid who was accepted by 6 CTCL schools (plus several non-CTCL LACs), I can’t agree more. If a kid is looking for a strong liberal arts and sciences education, CTCL schools and others like them are a great way to go. S18 has started reading Fiske, and he, too, seems to be attracted to the same types of schools.
It’s tough when you see that every single USSC justice went to Harvard or Yale, or when you notice that a certain slice of the “elite” in this country tend to go to a handful of schools.
I can see why people get dazzled by it all, or why they believe it is some sort of golden ticket.
That being said, the two most successful people I have known in my life - one went to community college and the other dropped out.
My D’s story is similar to OP’s. She attended on full tuition Merit scholarship that, of course, covered couple of her minors and one of them was in fact a Music Minor that she fully enjoyed and used it for great R&R away from the rigor of her major. In addition, she was able to obtain more Merit money later based on her college GPA which covered her trip to NZ - the life long dream came true. All not at Harvard by far, but at the school that she still considers her best fit - one of our in-state publics.
Thanks for the link, @MaineLonghorn. Washington Post has been doing a better job covering higher ed than the NYT lately.
Congrats to your D on the scholarship and continuing her music!
The NYT does have Frank Bruni, who’s done an admirable job of pushing back against the frenzy. Unfortunately his colleagues publish the same “ELITE SCHOOL ADMISSIONS AT RECORD LOW! GETTING INTO GOOD COLLEGE NOW IMPOSSIBLE?” stories each year.
Yes! D has 10 acceptances out of 10 applications. Six are CTCL schools, two more could be, and the final two are our state universities as financial safeties. We were looking for fit, that we could afford, that wouldn’t leave us or our kid, who would love to have the option of working for a nonprofit someday, in debt. The Ivies didn’t even get a look. It’s great that kids get into all eight, but we couldn’t have afforded one, even with their great need-based aid. She’ll be attending one of the CTCL schools, as she earned merit scholarships to bring the cost down to the same as our state schools. We’re very happy that she had such great choices in the end. We would also have been thrilled if she’d decided that one of the state U’s was the best fit–we had a great visit at one of them recently–including lots of unexpected personal attention at a very large school, leaving us thinking that there would be no disadvantage to attending there.
Well, I am a fan of our state universities. And I have frequently recommended Loren Pope’s books, “Colleges that Change Lives” as well as “Looking Beyond the Ivy League” on this forum. I drove my kids to Clark and Marlboro and Goucher etc.
They found colleges to apply to themselves (GC would never suggest selective schools at our high school), partially based on the curriculum for their majors, and price. Ironically, two ended up at Ivies. I’m sorry, but these colleges were a great “fit” and they had great experiences. They would have had great experiences elsewhere too. But the extremely generous financial aid policies at certain Ivies made these schools accessible financially in ways that other schools, even our state universities, weren’t.
To me it is obvious that kids can have great experiences at thousands of schools and do well. One of mine went to community college and is doing great. I personally get sick of this type of article just as much as the one about golden kids getting into 8 Ivies. (And notice the hooks people have to get in. Many applicants who get in to Ivies are not superhuman intellects or crazed competitors but often have something to add to the mix of the class.)
Other schools are great, but that doesn’t mean that some of the more selective schools are somehow not good experiences, and they are well-endowed enough to offer aid to families with up to $150k, which is a pretty darn good reason to apply.
I wish people would stop stating the obvious honestly. Of course it’s fine to go to a non-Ivy. Or to go to an Ivy. Kids should just enjoy high school and follow their interests and try to be good friends and work hard but not unreasonably and they will end up in a good place.
It’s not just saying “all colleges are good” and kids have great experiences at all schools. What I see in this article are college names OTHER than the usual suspects of Ivies plus MIT and Stanford. If NYTimes is feeling generous, they may throw in Tufts or Bowdoin or CMU but the newspaper is guilty of focusing on very few schools. They rarely, if ever, mention a SUNY. Even Frank Bruni is guilty - he may satire admission to these schools but he focuses on the exact same set of schools. His version of “slumming it” is mentioning Davidson and UNC-Chapel Hill (his alma mater).
So I am always happy when I see the names Whitman, Willamette, Beloit, Lawrence, New College of Florida, Earlham in the news when college admissions is discussed. It is refreshing to see names other than Harvard or Stanford. Seeing these names begin to introduce these schools to the general public. (I only learned how to pronounce Willamette a week before my daughter went out to visit)
They all went to Harvard or Yale law schools. Only one of them went to Harvard as an undergraduate (Chief Justice Roberts, and Merrick Garland would make two), and none of them went to Yale.
Of course, it probably won’t make anyone feel a lot better to know that three of them went to Princeton (Alito, Sotomayor, Kagan) and two to Stanford (Kennedy, Breyer). The other two went to Cornell (Ginsberg) and Holy Cross (Thomas). Justice Scalia was first in his class at Georgetown.
I would speculate, however, that the kind of person who later in life climbs the greasy pole to a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court is probably not the kind of person who needs – or wants – his or her life changed in college. From what I know, they were all pretty dug in on who they were and where they were going.
Don’t get me wrong, though. I agree with everything in this thread and the article. People should stop acting like four or five schools are the be-all and end-all. They just aren’t.
As perplexing to me is the fact that so many students feel they are good candidates for the Ivy plus schools. Its the “Self Esteem” movement ran amuck. Can we not tell our kids “No, you are not good enough (academically) for Harvard”? Have we raised a generation that can’t bare to hear that they are not the best so we don’t tell them? “too bad, you aren’t good enough (academically-that’s ok). Happily there are thousands of other schools, choose one.” and “You are not good enough but it is not that important”.
Parents and students, have you not noticed that the straight A average and top scores don’t mean what they used to mean? 700s after hours of tutoring and taking the test repeatedly and A’s by getting tutors as soon as a quiz grade drops to a 96 does not make a Harvard (or Yale or Stanford or MIT) ready student even though the outcome is straight As and 780s.
It is better to say “Nope, you are not good enough but that isn’t important” than to pretend every student is Harvard ready and elevate the importance of attending those few schools. Let’s get real!
I read the Times regularly and sorry to say I see plenty of mentions of SUNY’s (particularly Stonybrook in science contexts and Albany in political discussions and Purchase in music/theater) and LOTS of mentions of Bard, Sarah Lawrence, CUNY particularly Baruch, Fordham (most often for performing arts) etc.
Reporters can’t claim that a Federal judge is a graduate of Seton Hall if in fact said judge went to Harvard. But I don’t see the obsession that you guys see in this particular newspaper.
Sorry, thought that was implied . . . guess it isn’t necessarily.
But why do they all go to Yale or Harvard law (at least the current slate)? Do we not turn out USSC worthy justices who might have gone to Michigan, or University of Florida law schools? That seems hard to believe. Maybe we need some people who have lived more “normal” lives (as accomplished as those top lawyers from state schools are) sitting at the top.
Just an aside.
Wasn’t the last potential nominee from an “average” law school Harriet Miers from SMU during the GWB admin?
There is a thread now on CC in which a Harvard freshman is “severely disillusioned” with his college experience at Harvard. He says the classes are awful and his fellow students act like they are still in high school.
The media in my area (Northeast) mention other schools all the time- whether about research, or an interview with a pundit, etc.
The articles about a kid getting in to 8 Ivies etc. usually have another storyline: the student is homeless, low income, chronically ill, that kind of thing. The media coverage happens when there is something unusual about the situation, an inner city kid, or a community that rarely sends anyone to a top school. Human interest.The fact of the matter is, there are tons of people who get into multiple Ivies who certainly are not mentioned by the media.
Who gave the info to the media in the first place? The family, the high school, or one of the Ivies? The story potentially benefits any of the three.
If you want more schools mentioned in the media, send out a press release that some inner city kid got into all the CTCL schools!! Because someone in the home town of these multiple Ivy admits sent something to the press, and the press only covered it because of the student’s unusual situation. If a kid from Scarsdale gets in to multiple Ivies, it is not a story.
And some people with interesting stories behind their college admissions are actually private and don’t want the press writing about their kids.
Finally, who the heck applies to all the Ivies? These schools are very different. I suspect the motivation there (prestige) but also the level of sophistication of the family and GC. Most people on CC are well educated on college choices and know full well that there are many wonderful schools. The people I feel sorry for are the ones who say “my kid has dreamed of Harvard since he was 5,” as if this ambition is a good thing.
There are great reasons to go to each specific Ivy and each specific CTCL too. The media is just grabbing on to a silly human interest angle and at the very least some of these articles may educate some students in low income areas that they can try (financial aid is great). Maybe other schools need to do more PR!
Meanwhile, on this forum, every thread that has “Ivy” in it seems to get an awful lot of hits. I don’t think of CC as Ivy-focused and this is a wonderful caring group on this forum who help people out with all kinds of situations. So I am always surprised to see the interest in those threads 
LOL @Pizzagirl.
At my nice but run-of-the-mill state law school we had a woman in our class who was (imho) brilliant. Great retention and analysis skills. Always prepared. Sharp as I could imagine anyone being. She was also a minority and a single mom. Wish I had kept up with her because I would love to know what she is doing today. When we left law school she had some amazing offers.
ETA: I guess my point is that I have to think that there are some brilliant minds at state and lesser known, or smaller schools, in both undergrad and grad programs. Ivies aren’t the only game in town. That being said, I see why people pursue Ivy need-based aid which is fantastic.
I don’t get it. These are teenagers we are talking about. No matter which college they go to, their lives will be changed. What so special about these few schools mentioed in the article?
One thing I noticed about the headlines for the “golden ticket” child who gets into all the ivies are usually about a minority student…this is important because the media crafts this perfectly harmless title and article into a debate about affirmative action and the role of race in admissions in the comments. When I read these articles they often include tons of readers’ comments with disparaging things for the student rather than “good for him/her”. It’s sad but these articles plays into people’s lowest common denominator with anger and envy for page views…