Goucher students are allow to participate in the Baltimore exchange, but it is very limited. Students can usually only take 2 courses per year at another school. You can’t take classes that are offered at your home school. You have to provide your own transportation and parking pass.
It’s not like the Claremont consortium where the schools are all close to each other.
@coolguy40 I watched the video you posted as your source, but it did not mention anything about “… most of the kids that go there aren’t even the smart ones.” or “There are higher concentrations of academically gifted students at flagship schools than anywhere else.”
Those two statements about Ivies are not accurate.
The number of students who get into Ivies because their parents buy their way in is minuscule. Try talking to someone who works in university development at any Ivy. Ask how much it would cost to buy a decent student with, say, a 28 or 29 ACT a seat in the next class. That would take a multi-million dollar check, and you would still have to pay the $250,000 over four years.
It really depends on what you want to do in the future.
@Much2learn This is an opinion blog, and all opinions are subjective. Evaluating opinion is all subjective interpretation. I don’t need to defend my opinion because your opinion is worth no more than mine. Just say that you disagree.
Unfortunately @coolguy40 your statements were presented as facts, no subjective opinions. Anyone reading your post would feel you are stating factual evidence. I went to an Ivy and my kids have all gone to different Ivy’s (not as legacies). I’m not poor but not rich enough to be donating a huge some of money to the school to get my kids accepted. Nor are the majority of my college friends and my kids friends from extremely wealthy families. Most are there with large financial aid. Yes I would believe you that flagship state schools have a lot of smart kids. With the Ivys admit rate of around 6%, the smart kids who are denied admission many will end up in their “flagship” state schools. But I wouldn’t say that “most of the kids who go to Ivys are not smart ones” and are there because they have money. Majority of the students who are accepted are not legacies or kids of rich donors. Majority are from middle class families, many of whom living paycheck to paycheck.
@coolguy40
Ivy leagues rely heavily from wealthy people and rich alumni to pay their outrageous tuition.
Actually Ivy league schools are some of the most generous with FA for low-income students.
@downallunder So you obviously disagree. On an opinion blog, it’s already assumed that what is stated is an opinion. I never stated otherwise. I’m under no obligation to defend my subjective opinion from another disagreeing subjective opinion. Both are worth exactly the same. It’s great that you went to an Ivy league school. I still disagree with your opinion 
I would take even those opinions with a grain of salt, as that poster has historically given bad info (http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/21134937/#Comment_21134937 for just one example).
OP’s question is “is applying to an Ivy even worth the effort?”, Not “if it is worth attending an Ivy”. Given OP’s stats I think getting into an Ivy seems to be a long shot, probably not worth it. Though OP may be from Montana and a swimmer, unless she is recruited her chance would be very slim.
I think that the issue isn’t so much that Ivy’s have a cut off number per se, it’s that there are so many applicants with perfect scores that you almost need a perfect score to compete. Time and again people have noted that Harvard can fill its class with class valedictorians several times over. You need something “else” beyond high scores.
That doesn’t mean that you HAVE to have perfect scores. It’s just less and less likely that you’ll be accepted.
For example, google U of Pennsylvania and the word graph. You pull up the admissions stats graphed. You can see that some students with 3.5 average were admitted to that Ivy.
Here is the graph – https://www.thoughtco.com/penn-gpa-sat-scores-act-scores-786580
It’s not impossible, but it’s less and less probable that lower stats kids will be accepted.
You can be rejected also if you have perfect scores – this is another meaning of the word “holistic” when it comes to reviewing applications. Not all perfect-scoring students are desired on every campus. That student may be applying to arty Brown but everything in the application says taht she’d be happier at a school with lots of rigors Ag corses like Cornell. Brown would reject her tho she has perfect scores.
here are princeton’s stats - i mean there is still a chance look at these numbers https://admission.princeton.edu/how-apply/admission-statistics but those who were at 22 ACT and below 3.5 had something very unique to offer…so find that uniqueness and try to offer, you won’t know unless you try and there is always that crazy story of someone getting into top school with below average stats
If you get in and you can afford it, it’s as good as any other bachelors degree. Whether it’s worth it or not is a matter of opinion. Selectivity and academic quality are two very different things, and they don’t always go together. Determine to see if it has the major you want. If it does, make sure you can afford it. Never stress over getting in…most people don’t.
@Coolguy40 “all opinions are subjective.”
Some opinions are objectively true or false. For example, it can be someone’s opinion that the SAT has no multiple choice questions or that Harvard is located in Mississippi. Those opinions are objectively not correct.
@Coolguy40 “This is an opinion blog, and all opinions are subjective. Evaluating opinion is all subjective interpretation. I don’t need to defend my opinion because your opinion is worth no more than mine. Just say that you disagree.”
I misunderstood.
When you said, “… most of the kids that go there aren’t even the smart ones” and “There are higher concentrations of academically gifted students at flagship schools than anywhere else,” I had the impression that you were making a statement that you believe to be objectively true. Then I asked for a source, and you provided a link that did not make those claims at all.
Now I understand that you are just saying that those statements are your opinions, irrespective of the facts of the situation.
@coolguy40 It’s really not right for some like you to be giving baseless opinions that will mislead people, especially kids who really want honest answers and advice. Your other posts on other threads show that you are purely posting to antagonize other posters with your said “opinions”. This isn’t an opinion blog, for that go somewhere else. This site is for exchanging information, not opinions. Many kids and parents are on this site for some guidance, but your “opinions” will potentially be detrimental to their future decisions. Please stay off this site if you are giving only opinions. The MODERATOR of this site should look into this poster for possible violation of TOS.
@downallunder @Muchtolearn So in other words, you want me to add a disclaimer on an opinion blog that my opinion is really an opinion so people don’t mistake if for a fact? If I told you the moon is made out of cheese on an opinion blog, it’s still an opinion. Sure it could be objectively “wrong,” but that’s not even the point here, is it? No one is forcing you to believe me. No one on the blog has any obligation to believe my “cheese moon” opinion either. At least, that’s how the blogging rules are stated on College Confidential, right? Well, you might want to read the rules.
This isn’t even a “blog,” let alone an “opinion blog.”
@coolguy40 “you want me to add a disclaimer on an opinion blog that my opinion is really an opinion so people don’t mistake if for a fact?”
I think many of us try to differentiate what we know to be true and what is opinion to avoid misleading students and parents. Some responses are clearly opinion, like “should x student attend Duke or WUSTL?” Other claims like “… most of the kids that go there (Ivies) aren’t even the smart ones” seem to be misinformed.
Since you say these are your opinions and you do not have support for them, I am wondering if you would be willing to share how you developed these views?
It seems to me that there are many potential negatives to Ivies, but not really having top quality students is really not one of them.
Here is an analogy… Sometimes when you play poker or blackjack, there is a minimum amount you need to have to get a seat at the table. Once you get a seat at a table then it is up to how you play. Same with top tier school admissions. You need minimum stats and test scores in order to be considered (a seat at the table) then it is your essays, ECs, LORs that’ll help you get admitted. You do not have good enough stats to get a seat at a table.
@coolguy40 is entitled to his opinion, but that is how you get mired in mediocrity.
@CU123 The folks on this forum are the same arrogant people you get to put up with at Ivy League schools. Get a bumper sticker that says, “I’m smart enough NOT to go to Harvard.” You’re far better off on a scholarship. There’s no special pocket of wealth or special economy for IVY graduates. You work in the exact same economy as everyone else. In fact most employers recruit locally and regionally because it’s more cost-effective to do so. They’ll likely never see an Ivy League graduate. If they do, there’s no reason to care because it costs less to recruit people from the state flagship school. If you get a $100k a year job at a Wall Street firm, that sounds great, right? If you deflate the cost of living, it equates to around $45,000 a year. You could easily get an equivalent higher starting salary graduating from Michigan State with a much lower cost of living.