Ivy vs others

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

<p>What separates the top students (the ones that get into Ivy, Stanford, Duke, UChicago) from others(UVA, GATech, NYU, other “second-tier” colleges)?</p>

<p>Is it work ethic (little or no procrastination), being naturally gifted, connections, etc…??</p>

2

<p>Standing out from the crowd.</p>

3

<p>Who knows. Pure chance? I’m sure many people that got into NYU, Staford, Georgetown, UVA, Emory, or William & Mary, could have gotten into an Ivy League school, but chose against it for certain reasons.</p>

4

<p>UVA, GATech, and NYU are second-tier? Learn something new everyday. </p>

<p>And maybe luck? Who knows. Every school has their reason for accepting a student.</p>

5

<p>Favorable adcoms</p>

6

<p>Ivys versus the others? Dunno. No one really cares about any school in the ivy leagues for engineering fields, such as computer science or EE, except for Cornell. </p>

<p>Schools like Gtech, UT Austin, or UIUC though are top notch engineering schools.</p>

7

<p>“UVA, GATech, and NYU are second-tier? Learn something new everyday.”</p>

<p>LOL, where have you been?</p>

8

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</p>

<p>If you’re referring to Ivies vs. the schools you consider second-tier, the difference between the accepted students almost isn’t there. Many more Ivy applicants are qualified than are accepted, so these people end up at slightly lower-ranked schools. </p>

<p>If you’re talking about Ivies vs. state schools that accept everyone, I think it’s mostly based on what the person has been taught to value since they were little (a lot of people don’t care about college admissions) and how much information they were given about the college admissions process. These people aren’t applying to top schools at all. </p>

<p>Remember the following:

  1. A lot of people who might be able to get into Ivies don’t apply. They might not like top universities, they might be applying to top LACs, they might not be able to afford those schools, their family might not have been supportive, etc.
  2. A lot of people who get into HYPSM don’t go there. It’s not just a game of going to the highest-ranked university on US News that accepts you.
  3. People are accepted or rejected for lots of reasons other than their own merit. Consider legacy, first-generation, URM status, developmental admits, geographic diversity in some cases. (Most of these people are still very qualified, though.)</p>
9

<p>“LOL, where have you been?”</p>

<p>I never considered any school in the top 50 second-tier tbh.</p>

10

<p>Why is everyone so focused on the “second tier”? Here put it this way… What seperates the people that get into the top 10 colleges from maybe 11-50?</p>

11

<p>IMO, probably not a whole lot. Also, the US News rankings aren’t God.</p>

12

<p>It’s just annoying how they make those Ivies sound like such a big deal, if the difference isn’t much between other “top” colleges.</p>

13

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<p>All colleges are different. You won’t have the same experience going to Dartmouth as you would going to Harvard even though they’re both in the Ivy League. In any school, some departments are stronger than others, and that’s something to consider in additional to the overall quality of the school.</p>

<p>The Ivies (along with Stanford, MIT, etc.) are old and rich and famous. They’re more prestigious than most other schools (which can benefit you in certain career paths) and you’ll get a very good education going to one of them. They have high endowments so they give great need-based aid. But, like I said, these schools always get far more awesome highly-qualified applicants than they can possibly accept, and these applicants end up at the other top schools.</p>

14

<p>The students are on average, richer, know less about what they want to major in, and have higher SAT scores.</p>

15

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<p>I meant “consider in addition.” :o</p>

16

<p>If you want to be a doctor or engineer, does it matter which college you go to?</p>

17

<p>Engineering is a really good field for employment, so I imagine you can become an engineer coming out of almost any ABET-accredited engineering program. I don’t think prestige matters a lot (though I suppose prestige could always help you get a “better” job).</p>

<p>Not sure about medical.</p>

<p>I’d recommend checking out the following forums:</p>

<p>[Pre-Med</a> & Medical School - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-medical-school/]Pre-Med”>Pre-Med & Medical School - College Confidential Forums)
[Engineering</a> Majors - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/]Engineering”>Engineering Majors - College Confidential Forums)</p>

<p>If you’re planning to get a PhD, the prestige of your grad school will matter more than the prestige of your undergrad school.</p>