<p>Say one got admitted to a tier 1 school for reasons like athletic or family tie. You are smart, but clearly needed "help" to get in. But you want to take advantage of the opportunity to graduate from a prestigious school. You like athletics, school spirit, friendly people. Most of all you want to be able to graduate and not fail out. What schools do you lean towards?</p>
<p>Define prestigous. CC standards or Billy Joe Bob from Randomville, USA standard.</p>
<p>CC Standards. But is it worth the stress knowing your bottom of the academic barrel (for the so called cc prestigious schools) just for a school name? If not worth it, what is the top next level that gives you both the "name", but best quality of life. Actually had a yale softball player tell me that Yale is hard to get in, but once in she has so much free time and it's not that bad....... Don't quite believe her!</p>
<p>Stanford. Brown. Yale. Actually, I don't really know much about those schools, and I'm not sure I know what you mean by "what schools do you lean towards?".</p>
<p>
[quote]
CC Standards. But is it worth the stress knowing your bottom of the academic barrel (for the so called cc prestigious schools) just for a school name? If not worth it, what is the top next level that gives you both the "name", but best quality of life. Actually had a yale softball player tell me that Yale is hard to get in, but once in she has so much free time and it's not that bad....... Don't quite believe her!
[/quote]
I do believe her. A large percentage applicants who apply to top schools can handle the workload; their only obstacle is getting in.</p>
<p>Also, don't make presumptions on a student based on how they get in. There are plenty of people with family ties who could probably get into top schools without connections; those connections only serve to guarantee a spot. Same with athletes, although not many of them have stats quite up to par with the rest of the student body.</p>
<p>Stanford, Williams, Amherst, Notre Dame.</p>
<p>Pardon me for my ignorance, but what schools are included in tier one? USNWR Top 50? Top 100?</p>
<p>There's an adage about the top LACs (AWS), that "The hard part is getting in." Similarly, Harvard is known (notoriously :) ) for grade inflation. However, given that its students are the unhappiest in the ivy league, it's not exactly the most fun.</p>
<p>So Brown and Williams (Stanford and Notre Dame too far west. Duke - ACC - too competitive to play there) have some of the happiest students, have a lot of fun, and are school spirited, good for athletes and friendly? And the academic work is more manageable than others (especially for those athletes whose stats aren't quite what the rest of the student body is)? </p>
<p>Thanks. So, given this criteria, you would pick Brown and Williams over Cornell, Penn, Princeton, Bowdoin, Georgetown, Davidson, Rice, Haverford, Swarthmore, Amherst, Emory, Washington St Louis, Northwestern, Bucknell, Dartmouth, Middlebury, Tufts and Washington and Lee?</p>