The 10 toughest schools to get into are...

[ScarlettO]

Originally posted by BibbidiBobbidiBOO
DH was accepted into the #1 school on that list. But they have no tuition. In fact he got paid to go. Taxpayers pay for it.

Your DH graduated from West Point? Neat-o! How long did he serve in the Army following graduation?

 

[MinnieYC]

FYI, for the incoming class of 2008, those schools are not ranked in order in term of percent of applicants accepted. I know that Yale had a slightly lower acceptance rate than Harvard this year, for example.

 

[Donna]

Originally posted by my3kids
Air Force Academy is in Colorado Springs.

LOL, i know where it is, i just meant, where is it on that particular list.

 

[tar heel]

My father-in-law is a Davidson grad, as was his grandfather. My DH's first act of rebellion was going somewhere else. We spent a day there when my oldest DS was looking at colleges. It was by far the most impressive experience we had. DS ultimately decided not to apply. He would have had a decent chance, but there are no guarantees there because besides looking at individual students, they look for diversity (of all kinds -- geographic, interests, sexes, races, etc.) for each class. The graduation rate is phenomenal -- almost 100% -- and something like 95% of the roommate pairs created by the school live together four years. Davidson also has the reputation of having the heaviest workload of ANY college -- something the people there are very sensitive about.

Davidson's application is unbelievable -- I don't think anyone who isn't a serious candidate would go through it. I can't remember the total number of essays, but you don't even get them all at the beginning. You send in part 1, then they send you the rest of it.

Suzannen -- I think it's hard to measure the success of a school's graduates. Davidson has a phenomenal number of things like Rhodes scholars for such a tiny school. On the other hand, I suspect it turns out more preachers than any other on that list -- are those people successful? I probably know a hundred Davidson grads, and they are mostly doctors, professors and preachers.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

DH served 10 years active duty including the Gulf War. He is a Lt. Col. in the reserves now. He has 3 more years.

 

[DocRafiki]

Originally posted by suzannen

In my job, I deal with universities and colleges in this country on a day-to-day basis and question who put this particular list together? Why include Davidson (and I'm from NC) but exclude the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Virginia; the University of Michigan; Brown and Columbia Universities...their graduates have a much higher success rate than Davidson and/or Cooper Union.
?

Look at the title. It's "toughest schools to get into," NOT "graduate success rate."

 

[BarryHom]

My brother applied to MIT many years ago. He was Valedictorian and he had an over 4.0 GPA. He still couldn't get in!

 

[Briar Rose 7457]

I know a young man at Harvard right now, he graduated from the same high school I did, though (obviously) many years after I did.

anyone who made it into Harvard had to work their tail off to get there.

but anyone from certain metropolitan areas -- such as NYC/Long Island -- probably had to work a lot harder -- simply because, in our densely popluated areas, there are more students who might qualify for the school, and schools like Harvard encourage geographical diversity in their student body.

my 11 year old already has her eye on Harvard, Yale or Columbia, Lord help me...

 

[DocRafiki]

Originally posted by WebmasterBarry
My brother applied to MIT many years ago. He was Valedictorian and he had an over 4.0 GPA. He still couldn't get in!

When you say over a 4.0, that means the school worked on what kind of scale? In most schools, 4.0 is the best you can do.

Anyway, that's making me feel better. I've been recently wondering what would have happened if I would have gone through with my M.I.T. application (for architecture). I started the process junior year, had an "M.I.T. mentor," but lost interest when I got a boyfriend. Oh well, I guess chances were slim, anyway. I sure wasn't valedictorian. I thought the cost of tuition would have been the biggest barrier.

 

[ScarlettO]

MIT Accepts 16 Percent of Class of ’08 Applicants
By Waseem S. Daher
ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

Letters of acceptance and rejection for MIT’s Class of 2008 were mailed on Friday, with 16 percent (1,664 out of a total of 10,464) of applicants having cause for celebration.

Of those admitted, 897 are male and 767 are female, or 54 and 46 percent respectively, according to an e-mail written by Edmund Jones, an administrative officer in the Admissions Office.


Note the numbers!!!! Ten Thousand applicants, 1600 accepted.

 

[kylara]

Originally posted by DocRafiki
When you say over a 4.0, that means the school worked on what kind of scale? In most schools, 4.0 is the best you can do.

Anyway, that's making me feel better. I've been recently wondering what would have happened if I would have gone through with my M.I.T. application (for architecture). I started the process junior year, had an "M.I.T. mentor," but lost interest when I got a boyfriend. Oh well, I guess chances were slim, anyway. I sure wasn't valedictorian. I thought the cost of tuition would have been the biggest barrier.

Cost is a big barrier. I do know someone who was accepted to MIT and didn't go because of cost. Believe it or not, they chose UMass Amherest since UMass gave them a full scholarschip that covered, tuition, room, board, and books. Instead, he got his Master from MIT when MIT paid for it. I think his PhD is from there also...either there or Harvard (I've lost touch with him so not sure). But he did have a 4.0 in HS and a perfect SAT score. But even with that as he stated back then, "they want me, but not enough to help me pay for the place."

 

[DocRafiki]

Yeah, I THINK I remember them telling us that there were no school-funded scholarships. I'm sure they have enough good students who are willing to pay that they don't have to do that.

 

[DocRafiki]

Originally posted by ScarlettO

Note the numbers!!!! Ten Thousand applicants, 1600 accepted.

Hmmm, there were 900 applicants for the 10 out-of-state spots at my vet school, and I got one. Put THAT on your list!

 

[BHFan25]

DocR,
I don't know much about this topic but that does sound like you impressed them! My BIL is a vet and I remember hearing them talk about how hard it was to get in because they didn't take many.
I know a girl who has just been accepted at Cooper! I'd never even heard of it before.
Lol Dan. I can so relate to that.

 

[ead79]

When you say over a 4.0, that means the school worked on what kind of scale? In most schools, 4.0 is the best you can do.

My high school had a grading scale of 1.00 to 5.00. Here's how it worked: there were three basic "levels" of classes taken into consideration. The regular/on-level classes got 4 points for an A, 3 points for a B, etc.; the honors/advanced classes got 4.5 points for an A, 3.5 points for a B, etc.; the Advanced Placement (AP) classes got 5 points for an A, 4 points for a B, etc. This enabled some students to get well over a 4.0 total GPA. Though this has changed since I graduated, we also had a different numerical scale of 92-100 = A, 83-91 = B, 74-82 = C, and so forth. It was evidently decided that this complicated things, particularly as far as college admissions goes, so they changed it to the standard 90-100 = A normal standard.

Since the system worked this way, our Valedictorian had something like a 4.3 or 4.4. I graduated with a 4.118 and was 35th in my class of about 500, and I can assure you that I would have been declined admission to Harvard in a split second. Colleges have gotten AMAZINGLY competitive, particularly the ivy league ones. I tend to wonder when the pendulum will swing back a bit--pretty soon you are going to have to be published or developed new scientific research just to be considered for admission into those schools!

 

[DocRafiki]

BH Fan --

Well don't be toooo impressed. I was on the waiting list, so I wasn't one of the first ten selected; I could have been #30 for all I know.

 

[JoeThaNo1Stunna]

The University of Virginia is extremely selective, for in and out of state students. It has been ranked the number one public college in America for several years running now.

 

[Donna]

Regarding an "over 4.0" average, most kids that have their sights set high take college courses in high school that are weighted higher than average high school classes, therefore, making it possible to have an over 4.0 average. If you stick with the regular high school curriculum and get all A's, your average is 4.0. If you take college courses in high school and get all A's, you can get a 5.0 possible gpa.

 

[arminnie]

I have a degree from Stanford - it was a wonderful experience. A good friend's son just got accepted at Harvard but was put on the waitlist for Princeton even though his father went there. Harvard is his first choice so he is very happy.

FYI - most of the highly selective schools admit on a need blind basis. They admit w/o looking a financial need and then commit to providing a package that will allow the student to attend.

Cost can still be a factor as parents might prefer not to pony up their allocated portion for a private school and the student may have to take out loans - I did.

Having a 4.0 (or even a 5.0) and perfect SAT scores is not a guarantee of admission to the top schools. I remember someone at Stanford saying that the number of students with perfect credentials was five times the number of spaces available.

 

[BHFan25]

Ok, How's this? I am impressed JUST because you ARE a vet! They have to know a lot of things about a lot of different kinds of animals/birds/reptiles. Their patients can't talk and their owners sometimes freak out. (Speaking from experience, that is LOL)
Sorry, this is OT.



* edited to spell 'patients' correctly.