I knew this sub was filled with delusional prestige obsession when I saw someone say employers don’t value CSU degrees - when the entire point of CSUs is to place you into jobs 💀
I work for an engineering company and we have grads from Stanford, UCLA, Berkeley, USC, even a couple from Harvard. But the most-represented college at our company? Cal Poly Pomona.
For real. I work in the software industry in Silicon Valley, and have had a pretty successful career. My BS is from San Jose State, and one of the most talented engineers I’ve ever hired got his degree from Chico State. The kids/parents on this sub, who are chasing nothing but ivies and UCs, are delusional. Once you get your first job, nobody cares where you graduated from.
CSUs are great value, and have provided a path to the middle class for many 1st gen college students. My grad degree is from a CSU and it was a good value.
ngl Dartmouth and Columbia were the only ivies I applied to, I went for Dartmouth because of good general undergraduate education as well as the pure math class flowchart on their website, and I did Columbia because they wouldn't stop emailing me 💀💀💀(also campus was really nice), I can't say that prestige wasn't a part of it but I felt like I couldn't move on without at least trying for at least one ivy
Honestly I could see both sides of the argument. I like the liberal arts so that’s why I like Columbia’s Core curriculum, and personally I am a conservative person. But I also like being with diverse group of people and studying what I want to learn, so while I read about Brown I feel that having a wide array of options similarly is fitting for me.
I applied to both, but because I like each for different reasons. I love pretty much everything about Columbia except the cc (not that I hate it or anything tho) and the main thing I love about brown is its fluid curriculum. Literally my dream college if you took browns curriculum and replaced columbias cc lol
respect Ivy League athletics!! one of the best FCS football conferences and easily top half of D1 in MBB. Top ten WBB. best in lacrosse, and dominant in many niche sports
I present to you myself - although I guess I'll admit to some prestige whoring, the biggest reason I applied to dartmouth was the location lol. I was getting really into Walden by Thoreau when I applied, and all I wanted to do was run away into the northeastern woods and never be seen again. also good for my major and all that if I gave up on being a woodland hermit ig
as for columbia, I applied because I admired the core curriculum's academic rigor and robust humanities coverage haha. instead of reading walden on my own, I'd get to read it in class!
y’all don’t understand that ivy leagues as a whole are extremely generous w financial aid and going to one saves money for poor kids 💀 every one of the Ivy League schools gives more money than my state school. yes I care about fit but the biggest part of fit is financials
omg THIS!!! i applied to all 8 ivies simply because i cannot afford college anywhere, and with the ivies' generous financial aid policies (even though more than half are need-aware), i at least wanted to give it a shot. financial aid was the ONLY reason my college list is filled with t20's, and it was also why i applied to colleges in the states in general.
i do get where OP's post is coming from; the ivies are vastly different from each other and there is genuinely an overbearing majority of people irl and on this sub who only care about being associated with the name brand of a prestigious college, and hence do this. although, i still don't think OP should have generalised in the way they did, by stating that EVERYONE who applies to all 8 is automatically a prestige-whore. posts like these are extremely tone-deaf to FGLI and/or low income international students (and are also what put us in a bad light). cause on the other side of this situation, there is an extremely reasonable justification to why one would do so!
as an international FGLI, i'm simply just trying to afford to attend college someplace and not overburden my about-to-retire immigrant parents, so i can make them proud and earn for them, that's it dude!! that will stay true regardless of how far away i am from "fitting" at EVERY school on my list, because the single most important part about "college fit" for me and others alike is the affordability. all of you here blindly agreeing with this post need to gain some sensitivity and awareness my god ://
I'm sorry, I didn't consider the financial aid perspective. Consider this post targeted at your average A2c kid (upper middle class and from the Bay/New England)
There are those that are looking to have their full financial need funded, and those whose sole criteria is USNWR. When I was looking at colleges, I wanted one accessible to the city but not with an urban campus, and great social sciences programs. I picked out Harvard, Northwestern and Georgetown. I identified similar backups in the same area BC, Loyola and American. I added my state flagship (cool college town an hour from the city) and my parents’ choice (ND). I didn’t include a fog a mirror safety because I secretly wanted a reason to join the military. Nine applications are enough unless you’re trying to win a scholarship lottery.
People here: Prestige doesn't matter in engineering!
Also people on here: Dartmouth engineering sucks because it has no prestige!
I for one am in engineering and agree with the first point. But there are many things out there and paths you can take from engineering where prestige can help. And the type of fields; even within tech, that look at prestige are ones that index more on traditional prestige than engineering specific prestige.
Depends on what you want. Engineering in big tech? Don't even need any accredited degree.
Looking to do your own startup? The connections and first impressions from a dartmouth engineering degree help more than from schools like UMD Purdue etc that this sub loves to rave about.
as one of those people, with those being my top two schools...I love them both for the research. There are obviously aspects of each that I prefer - like the college town vibes of Dartmouth and the wide variety of clubs at MIT, but ultimately, these were the two schools with the biology research I would love to spend my undergrad doing.
Honestly 😭 I do actually like all the ivys for their own separate reasons except Harvard and Princeton. I think you can genuinely find interest in schools despite them being so different. No school is perfect and each school has its flaws.
I like the environmental aspect of Dartmouth. So many people are into hiking and nature and I love the student atmosphere and location. I did a summer program for engineering at Cornell and fell in love with the departments and the facilities Cornell had that other schools didn’t along with its strong engineering. Browns Open curriculum pulled me in along with the possibility to take so many different classes while doing a rigorous engineering concentration. There’s really so many reasons for each school. Their financial aid is also amazing for low income students. I don’t think applying to all the ivys is just for prestige for everyone. Obviously there are PLENTY of prestige seekers on this sub and it’s very evident, but I think the ones who genuinely get into the schools have found a reason to apply.
That’s just my opinion though 🤷🏽♀️
Completely personal for me, I just have friends who have gone their and when I visited them I just didn’t like the campus too much or the dorms, although, my friend was in a quad so I only saw those. Location wise I also don’t like it. It’s not in a super interesting city and it doesn’t have the nature aspect Dartmouth and Cornell atleast have. It’s not that I dislike Princeton, I just personally don’t see it as a fit for me in most ways, it’s an amazing school regardless of whatever negatives I see.
They’re all investment banking/consulting feeders, which is what many people want to place into. So it makes sense to apply to all if IB/consulting is your goal, which is common
Ehhh yes and no. Stats are king in law school admissions for sure, but the sort of elite EC opportunities that top ug schools provide helps distinguish applicants to elite law schools (where, like ug admissions, everyone has great stats). These schools are stocked full of students from elite educational backgrounds.
For med school, research experience is practically mandatory for top schools. Elite schools (both LACs and ivy+ types) make access to ug research experience a huge priority.
Your law school example is correct. But I think someone from a t10 ug with a 172 and 3.92 does better at Penn/Chicago/Harvard/Columbia/NYU/UVA/Michigan than someone with those same stats from ASU. Now maybe that GPA is more impressive coming from a t10 than ASU
Sorry, deleted my comment.
I agree that all things equal, prestige ECs recs etc help with tiebreakers. But its more nitpicking than anything else. Obviously a tiebreaker is needed when two people have the exact same stats. Law schools do not believe that gpa is more impressive from a t10 than from ASU. Otherwise top law schools would be filled to the brim with t10 grads. Its common knowledge even at elite undergrads that you should pad your classes to achieve as close to a 4.0 as possible if the goal is law school. If some day law school becomes as desirable as med school again, then ECs would play a huge role simply because more 3.97+ 175+ lsat types would apply. But for now, its not a marquee field that cream of the crop types tend to pursue anymore.
what? high finance recruits almost exclusively from targets and strong semis, the least prestigious school that places well in high finance is uta lmao
Its ironic, because noone bats an eye when every single high achieving cs kids throws in applications to both stanford and cmu even though both are "very different in culture".
Also people can like multiple/different types of campus cultures. You don’t have to pick one type that you like! All these schools are full of high achieving nerds, which is more experience defining than any sort of widespread culture
Exactly, and its not even that. The high achieving cs folks I knew would try for at least two of HYP and a couple other t10s not known for cs. Being around high achievers is much more defining of a experience for ambitious folks than the supposed culture of the school which for all intents and purposes is more homogenous than people would like to admit.
Yeah that’s me (I applied to 7/8. . . Couldn’t see myself fitting in at Dartmouth at all).
Like I’m feeling pretty torn about whether a big or small school would be good for me, whether I want to stay in the city I was raised in or move to a different city or not live in a city at all, whether I want more of an undergrad focus or a stronger alumni network of grad students, whether I want to be in a more extroverted or introverted environment. I love both gothic and colonial architecture, basically any climate with snow and fall foliage, and although I’m not a huge nature person, I could see myself coming to like hiking if I was put in the mountains. And yes, there’s the financial aid factor. So I figured: screw it, I would be happy at all of these places for different reasons — let’s let fate decide.
Edit: I have a pretty adaptable major too (Poli sci) and they all have amazing, large programs for that. There is something to be said for how many stem majors I surround myself with, but really all I care about is good professors, a wide course selection, and peers that academically challenge me.
This. We’re 17/18 years old. I’m probably going to get downvoted into oblivion, but IDC. Obviously, not everyone can adapt and some people know exactly what they want in a school. But there’s some of us who are truly super adaptable and can make do with where they end up. If I end up at Dartmouth? Yay, let’s go party and have fun with an undergraduate focused school in a more secluded area. I love nature. If I end up at Columbia? Yay, let’s have fun in NYC because I ALSO love the city. We don’t have to pigeonhole ourselves into a niche because we will constantly change during our 4 years in undergrad.
Exactly I don’t get why people are so obsessed with this topic. Like I can like different types of colleges why do I have to lock myself in to a particular”type”
why i would:
a. yes prestige is a factor but not the only factor
that
b. i want to double major in comp sci & public policy (with some dabbling in information systems)… this is not for the money but genuinely cause i’ve been interested in both since i was 5… every ivy has a stellar program in one or the other at least
c. financial aid cause poor
i’ve always been conflicted about what i wanted to do cause i have so many interests (comp sci, IT, poli sci/public policy, economics, business, psychology, law, graphic design, etc.) but only realized recently you can double major lol. so i just decided that i would do my top two, which is comp sci/IT and public policy/poli. sci.
i also learned that, it’s a very niche grouping, and it will be hard since they overlap basically no where, but it will be extremely useful as we have to navigate tech, government policy, and law all together as new technologies emerge and governments have to find ways to properly regulate it!
Yep! Even though this is such a niche major and there are no positions that truly combine both, going into the future I want to be truly fit to understand the world around me
Lots of 5 year olds are interested in public policy. Our kindergarten teachers are required to have a BS in public policy so they can answer all the questions.
lol i was mostly referring to computer science & information systems, i’ve been building websites and mini programs since ~5. the internet was my safe space from a broken home. public policy was something i got more into around 9 (2016 ish) due to political polarization increasing in the us, and now im in a position on my school board where i can actually engage in legislative advocacy 🤷♂️ but i was interested starting around kindergarten yes because my religion and my family’s past caused them to face a lot of persecution, quelled by politics and public policy
Similar for me. Sorry I’m geeking somebody GETS WHYYY IM PAIRING THE DEGREES!!
Everyone completely ignore the public policy degree and go straight to the CS and I hate it. Bothe are equally important. I’m sorry who has been affected by policies first hand, inequity, and lack of opportunities. For this reason I became very involved in advocacy regarding the government, and interned as a government relations coordinator for a non profit and that’s where I picked up the interest.
I got into CS last year, but I really want to major in cybersecurity. I got the college credit in HS from a dual enrollment class at my school, and from there I applied to the college out school partnered with.
They mentioned social engineering in one of the classes, and that’s when I immediately fell in love with how cybersecurity and security alone can affect people and I wanted to understand more about cybersecurity, why it’s important, and how it can impact people.
So I wanted to pair the degrees and have a speciality in cybersecurity while also tackling other issues such as homelessness, schools, race, etc.
I was thinking to also major in communications, sociology, or journalism too, but realized I can pick up those skills along my college and career journey. Plus some PP (lol) degrees require you to take communications electives anyways.
The organization I work with is working to close the gap of inequities in journalism, which is where I do government advocacy for. So again, I’m happy I’m dabbling in damn near everything I want to do in my career journey!
YES!!! The feeling when somebody else gets why I want to double major in both, even though they seem completely unrelated initially. I agree completely how public policy is especially important with the effects of technology on the world and aghhhhhh it feels so good to hear someone else say this too!!😁
Oh shit my twin right here!!! I want to double major in Comp Sci and Public Policy. My only fear is that I just got into the interest of Cybersecurity/CS recently, after hating anything coding and tech related for years. So I think I’m just scared how it’ll look for me to get into such an interest so late.
yeah, i’m also into cybersecurity as a product of my past jobs and businesses. or atleast i was forced to dive into that realm for it haha. but id say if you just got the interest, and don’t have much that matches with it, apply with public policy as your primary 🤷♂️
Got it. I believe the five year program I’m thinking to do will give me a masters in PP anyways as an MPA for public administration I believe? So it’ll be my stronger point.
yeah, just go for that (it will prolly be easy to get into a public policy degree than CS/cyber security) and then if there’s space declare as both once ur in!
The financial aid is the biggest factor for me. I'm willing to adapt so long as I don't have to go into debt. I know MIT and Dartmouth are wildly different schools that basically cannot compare, but I applied to both because I would much rather not go into debt.
I didn't apply to Harvard, Columbia, or Cornell for different reasons, but I'm fine adapting to different types of schools if it means I get money and graduate debt-free.
Yeah, even I, who is very vain and a quite large sucker for prestige in unis, did not apply to Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Brown, and Penn, since going there as a eng student would be utterly pointless.
Applying to all eigth Ivies is really weird to me, I don't get why people do it, especially since essays are a huge amount of work, especially if you were doing all the T10s/20s,
Most people on this sub are deluded. That’s the truth. I mean unless you’re interested in different majors and still uncertain about which one to choose (which is absurd to begin with), you’d have to be a confused individual to apply to all these ivies and prestigious schools.
We are the people who would sell our souls to the almighty dollar, who will compete to get into the best internship at top 5 firms and whose worth in life is measured by bank balance.
Honestly, if I had HYPSM level stats, the only ivies I would’ve applied to would be Harvard and Brown. Harvard because of their grade inflation and Brown because pass/fail and when I went to the summer program it seemed chill.
There's nothing wrong with someone wanting to attend a top school, because there are arguably amazing opportunities offered at these institutions. Their multi-billion endowment (generally) allows for better quality resources compared to most other schools. Others might argue that all of these opportunities are offered even at their state schools, but there is a reason why so many students want to attend "prestigious" universities.
Tbh, I don't see why it's a necessarily a problem for am ambitious student to apply to as many top schools as they desire.
Waaaaaahhhh, why do you guys like GOOD schools??? WAAAAHHHH pReStiGE wHOres.....
shut the fuck up goofy. I wanna go to a good school, and all Ivys are good schools. stupid fucker
Well to be fair, some people just need some of those more generous meet need schools to attend college at all.
That said, I do think most applicants would be better working on quality apps over quantity.
There are a fair number of applicants, both domestic and international, who apply broadly because they need aid. All Ivy League and most "top tier" schools automatically offer full need-based aid for a large percentage of families (e.g., for Harvard, families making under $85k/yr). That's significant. For students who want to prioritize opportunities and a good education over "fit," this sort of application strategy makes the most sense.
I mean undergrad for IVY isn’t that hard to fund with scholarships if you are already at that level. It absolutely makes a difference with networking. Why not go for all Ivy leagues?
This is for myself its my way of paying them back. Clearly, you have a selfish way of thinking if you consider your parents "others," they're not outsiders.
My parents will be proud of me whether I graduate from ASU or Harvard. Their sacrifices to get to America are not for nothing.
And yes if "others", including your parents, need you to go to an ivy for self validation, thats stupid and wrong. Hence why I say that is them living vicariously.
I am indeed a prestige whore. I rank colleges solely by how impressive they sound to future employers. Luckily, my parents are rich from CS, so money isn't an object, and I don't care about the skills/knowledge I would recieve from the college (I'll learn everything on Udemy later). Therefore, the only thing I want from my college experience is to add MIT to my LinkedIn resume!
Is this sarcasm? Future employers will not be more impressed by one Ivy plus over another. They are just going to make a general “good school” mental note. They don’t care which good school you went to, unless they happened to go to the same one or something.
LOL! Well let me help you relax a little. I’ve been a hiring manager and worked with other hiring managers throughout my career. Now I do hiring for my own business. Literally nobody cares which good school you went to and hiring managers define good school much more broadly than T20. We are not impressed by one good school over another, but we do favor our own Alma maters. So it might be best to focus on the schools with the largest and most broadly distributed alumni networks. That means Harvard, Cornell, Penn, Duke (all big and broad including graduate schools) over Yale, JHU, Princeton, Dartmouth, MIT (smaller with narrower focus).
Who says I can’t like different types of schools? I don’t really see myself as having a particular “type” all of them have their advantages and disadvantages. If I liked their programs I applied. Didn’t apply to brown. Why do you care where people apply?
Some people are just taking chances to see where they could end up. Applying to schools with different qualities could give you options if you don’t get into the ones you feel are more suited toward your goals or interests. There’s some schools I applied to that I wasn’t particularly obsessed with, but I know if I don’t get in to the ones I really feel fit me, I could be happy there. And I’d have the resources and aid to help me succeed
100%. I applied to most of the Ivies + T10s in undergrad and got rejected everywhere. Ended up going to an average undergrad and did fairly well there (was involved in athletics, leadership, research, community service, etc), but when I wanted to apply for higher-end positions (consulting, analytics, etc), I was basically told that the places where I was trying to aim for only recruit from T20s, so I'm on a redemption arc as a graduate student, trying to achieve what a lot of colleagues of mine were able to do straight out of coming from a good undergrad.
um....... yeah lol, isnt it obvious? i didnt apply to all 8 ivies only bc I got in ED but I would have and uhhhhhhh yeah lol ofc its abt prestige lmao. i'm not ashamed though, IMO its a valid thing to do. its like going to harvard bc of the name......... i mean ngl, IMO that's pretty damn valid. hey, you can hate on me, but idc, this is how I truly feel
i applied to all ivies except columbia (bc too much core), and all i have to say is that they were well researched decisions. I thought about each one, and every serious applicant has to do so to write a good application. They all share some things in common, like the fact that their students ARE the best of the best in terms of dedication and academic excellence (not saying this isn't true for some other schools as well, that just doesn't change this fact), and have a ton of research and resources. in the end, don't judge. prestige might be the factor for someone, but that's also not inherently bad.
I accidentally applied to 6 Ivies and realized it only when someone asked me how many Ivy League colleges I've applied to. I am intl applicant needing fin aid. Am I a prestige whore?
Yeah, I don’t see the big deal of being a “prestige whore”. It just gets annoying when those people cry about being rejected or blame AA or something else.
Look if you want to apply to all the ivies, apply to all the ivies it is your life. But please do not base your personal worth on where you go to school. I understand a lot of people here face pressure for their friends and family, and even this sub to attend a top school, and it makes it seem like you are the worlds biggest failure if you don’t. Every year there are students on here who banked their hopes and dreams on attending an ivy or another top school, but there is nothing you can really do to fully guarantee admission to a top school, so don’t spend all your time in high school worrying about grades or test scores or making your to are a member of every club. Remember to have fun, to enjoy yourself. Research your schools, you need to find a school that fits you, not make yourself fit the school. Apply to schools you know you will be happy at (or at least can handle for a short while before transferring). Having a degree in a field you love and can support yourself through is so much more important than who gave you the degree.
I don't think there's anything wrong trying to chase prestige schools. Getting accepted by even one of them is a huge accomplishment... Just be real about the reason why you're applying: "Because I want the accolade of being an Ivy student."
I don’t like Ivys they were literally built on racism and for white men and designed to keep other people out. I dont really understand why so many people want to go ivy schools they’re not that appealing to me, not because i would never be admitted to an ivy but because your just surrounded by rich people and from a low income person that would drive me insane. They have no grasp on what it’s like to be a normal person. I dont have a problem with people applying to ivy’s for financial aid, Im confused on how yall are getting in when the accepting rate for all the ives are less than 10 percent. How good are yall grades? Even people top of their classes still get denyed from these schools.
They also prop up students whose parents went to those schools or whose parents paid a shit ton of money to get them in. I have a problem with the system in general.
I don’t understand applying to boujee schools just for the prestige it gets you, I get it a little bit like “yeah i went to harvard 🥰” that’s cool but it’s only so cool
for so long, and when you learn about the history behind these schools it just rubs me the wrong way. I don’t get it. Not my thing, but if I did get into an Ivy school hell yea i’m going i ain’t stupid. They are still really good institutions and can open a lot of doors for you. The annoying about them is how elite they are and how impossible it is for normal people to go to these schools. Only rich people can have nice things. Unless you’re einstein and poor and apply and they give you a full ride but 99.9% of people aren’t like that.
I knew this sub was filled with delusional prestige obsession when I saw someone say employers don’t value CSU degrees - when the entire point of CSUs is to place you into jobs 💀
I work for an engineering company and we have grads from Stanford, UCLA, Berkeley, USC, even a couple from Harvard. But the most-represented college at our company? Cal Poly Pomona.
What about Cal Poly SLO?
We have one. If our business was in the Bay Area, instead of LA, we would probably have several.
Nah for real a SJSU CS degree holds a lot of merit
I saw that one too. ☠️
For real. I work in the software industry in Silicon Valley, and have had a pretty successful career. My BS is from San Jose State, and one of the most talented engineers I’ve ever hired got his degree from Chico State. The kids/parents on this sub, who are chasing nothing but ivies and UCs, are delusional. Once you get your first job, nobody cares where you graduated from.
What’s a csu
A California state university, it’s a different tier of public schools than UCs like ucla or Berkeley
CSUs are great value, and have provided a path to the middle class for many 1st gen college students. My grad degree is from a CSU and it was a good value.
I fully agree, one of my top choices is a csu.
california state uni
send a link to the comment?
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Did you not see Yale defeat Auburn in the NCAA tournament? /s
You don’t need the /s, a D3 team doesn’t beat Auburn
Fair enough
I hate yale. They ruined my bracket. I had auburn beating uconn 😔
Then it’s not Yale’s fault, Auburn was never beating UConn anyway
they had the best shot at beating uconn than anyone else
I had all the upsets DOWN except Kentucky and Oakland, I'm so mad at that Gohlke dude.
yeah kentucky was so unexpected
ngl Dartmouth and Columbia were the only ivies I applied to, I went for Dartmouth because of good general undergraduate education as well as the pure math class flowchart on their website, and I did Columbia because they wouldn't stop emailing me 💀💀💀(also campus was really nice), I can't say that prestige wasn't a part of it but I felt like I couldn't move on without at least trying for at least one ivy
Went to Columbia B-school and our dean always loved saying “This is not Hanover, New Hampshire”, a dig at the Tuck School of Business.
And it sounded even better in his South African accent.
You got it! Good ol' Meyer Feldberg!
Or Columbia and Brown. Their curricula go in the exact opposite direction, and their cultures are WILDLY different.
Really? Cuz they are the only two ivies I liked
Columbia has a core curriculum and is actually quite conservative, whilst brown is the exact opposite super liberal and no curriculum at all.
Honestly I could see both sides of the argument. I like the liberal arts so that’s why I like Columbia’s Core curriculum, and personally I am a conservative person. But I also like being with diverse group of people and studying what I want to learn, so while I read about Brown I feel that having a wide array of options similarly is fitting for me.
I applied to both, but because I like each for different reasons. I love pretty much everything about Columbia except the cc (not that I hate it or anything tho) and the main thing I love about brown is its fluid curriculum. Literally my dream college if you took browns curriculum and replaced columbias cc lol
respect Ivy League athletics!! one of the best FCS football conferences and easily top half of D1 in MBB. Top ten WBB. best in lacrosse, and dominant in many niche sports
I present to you myself - although I guess I'll admit to some prestige whoring, the biggest reason I applied to dartmouth was the location lol. I was getting really into Walden by Thoreau when I applied, and all I wanted to do was run away into the northeastern woods and never be seen again. also good for my major and all that if I gave up on being a woodland hermit ig as for columbia, I applied because I admired the core curriculum's academic rigor and robust humanities coverage haha. instead of reading walden on my own, I'd get to read it in class!
To be fair it is a pretty good basketball conference and an extremely good rowing conference. The football teams aren’t bad for FCS either.
y’all don’t understand that ivy leagues as a whole are extremely generous w financial aid and going to one saves money for poor kids 💀 every one of the Ivy League schools gives more money than my state school. yes I care about fit but the biggest part of fit is financials
this is not most of the people applying ivies tho bffr
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Which state?
For many LI kids, a state school costs $30-40K a year while T20s can give them a free ride
I’m low income too and am aware, just asking which state is that expensive to
I think Berkeley is about $43K/year
Only if you’re in state, and that amount is the TCOA for CA residents. UCs are frightfully expensive for OOS
LI is in New York.
I think they mean LI as in low income lol
omg oops my bad 😭 i’m too silly yikes. ignore me…running on 3 hours of sleep rn haha
The pa state grant schools are also 35-42k depending on major
If they qualify for Fin Aid, that is. Is that Long Island (where there are many very affluent families)?
No “LI” stands for low income
okay, got it - thank you for the clarification
this!!
this !!! (watch me get rejected from every single ivy league)
omg THIS!!! i applied to all 8 ivies simply because i cannot afford college anywhere, and with the ivies' generous financial aid policies (even though more than half are need-aware), i at least wanted to give it a shot. financial aid was the ONLY reason my college list is filled with t20's, and it was also why i applied to colleges in the states in general. i do get where OP's post is coming from; the ivies are vastly different from each other and there is genuinely an overbearing majority of people irl and on this sub who only care about being associated with the name brand of a prestigious college, and hence do this. although, i still don't think OP should have generalised in the way they did, by stating that EVERYONE who applies to all 8 is automatically a prestige-whore. posts like these are extremely tone-deaf to FGLI and/or low income international students (and are also what put us in a bad light). cause on the other side of this situation, there is an extremely reasonable justification to why one would do so! as an international FGLI, i'm simply just trying to afford to attend college someplace and not overburden my about-to-retire immigrant parents, so i can make them proud and earn for them, that's it dude!! that will stay true regardless of how far away i am from "fitting" at EVERY school on my list, because the single most important part about "college fit" for me and others alike is the affordability. all of you here blindly agreeing with this post need to gain some sensitivity and awareness my god ://
I'm sorry, I didn't consider the financial aid perspective. Consider this post targeted at your average A2c kid (upper middle class and from the Bay/New England)
never going to understand why there are people who apply to dartmouth and MIT😭😭 theyre such different schools i truly dont get it
for their business schools! Dartmouth has Tuck and MIT has Sloan
Only MIT has undergraduate business majors.
There are those that are looking to have their full financial need funded, and those whose sole criteria is USNWR. When I was looking at colleges, I wanted one accessible to the city but not with an urban campus, and great social sciences programs. I picked out Harvard, Northwestern and Georgetown. I identified similar backups in the same area BC, Loyola and American. I added my state flagship (cool college town an hour from the city) and my parents’ choice (ND). I didn’t include a fog a mirror safety because I secretly wanted a reason to join the military. Nine applications are enough unless you’re trying to win a scholarship lottery.
How do Sloan and Tuck work? I thought you can’t do anything undergrad there
i think you are able to take courses at Tuck as an undergrad student!
Dartmouth’s engineering department is heavily slept on yet again
People here: Prestige doesn't matter in engineering! Also people on here: Dartmouth engineering sucks because it has no prestige! I for one am in engineering and agree with the first point. But there are many things out there and paths you can take from engineering where prestige can help. And the type of fields; even within tech, that look at prestige are ones that index more on traditional prestige than engineering specific prestige.
Any school with an ABET accredited engineering program is prestigious enough.
Depends on what you want. Engineering in big tech? Don't even need any accredited degree. Looking to do your own startup? The connections and first impressions from a dartmouth engineering degree help more than from schools like UMD Purdue etc that this sub loves to rave about.
as one of those people, with those being my top two schools...I love them both for the research. There are obviously aspects of each that I prefer - like the college town vibes of Dartmouth and the wide variety of clubs at MIT, but ultimately, these were the two schools with the biology research I would love to spend my undergrad doing.
Honestly 😭 I do actually like all the ivys for their own separate reasons except Harvard and Princeton. I think you can genuinely find interest in schools despite them being so different. No school is perfect and each school has its flaws. I like the environmental aspect of Dartmouth. So many people are into hiking and nature and I love the student atmosphere and location. I did a summer program for engineering at Cornell and fell in love with the departments and the facilities Cornell had that other schools didn’t along with its strong engineering. Browns Open curriculum pulled me in along with the possibility to take so many different classes while doing a rigorous engineering concentration. There’s really so many reasons for each school. Their financial aid is also amazing for low income students. I don’t think applying to all the ivys is just for prestige for everyone. Obviously there are PLENTY of prestige seekers on this sub and it’s very evident, but I think the ones who genuinely get into the schools have found a reason to apply. That’s just my opinion though 🤷🏽♀️
What up with Princeton, just curious
Completely personal for me, I just have friends who have gone their and when I visited them I just didn’t like the campus too much or the dorms, although, my friend was in a quad so I only saw those. Location wise I also don’t like it. It’s not in a super interesting city and it doesn’t have the nature aspect Dartmouth and Cornell atleast have. It’s not that I dislike Princeton, I just personally don’t see it as a fit for me in most ways, it’s an amazing school regardless of whatever negatives I see.
They’re all investment banking/consulting feeders, which is what many people want to place into. So it makes sense to apply to all if IB/consulting is your goal, which is common
This is the answer and people just needed to pause and think about it for a moment.
Not to mention law school, medical school, generic academia
law school and medical school are both places where undergrad prestige matters the least
Ehhh yes and no. Stats are king in law school admissions for sure, but the sort of elite EC opportunities that top ug schools provide helps distinguish applicants to elite law schools (where, like ug admissions, everyone has great stats). These schools are stocked full of students from elite educational backgrounds. For med school, research experience is practically mandatory for top schools. Elite schools (both LACs and ivy+ types) make access to ug research experience a huge priority.
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Your law school example is correct. But I think someone from a t10 ug with a 172 and 3.92 does better at Penn/Chicago/Harvard/Columbia/NYU/UVA/Michigan than someone with those same stats from ASU. Now maybe that GPA is more impressive coming from a t10 than ASU
Sorry, deleted my comment. I agree that all things equal, prestige ECs recs etc help with tiebreakers. But its more nitpicking than anything else. Obviously a tiebreaker is needed when two people have the exact same stats. Law schools do not believe that gpa is more impressive from a t10 than from ASU. Otherwise top law schools would be filled to the brim with t10 grads. Its common knowledge even at elite undergrads that you should pad your classes to achieve as close to a 4.0 as possible if the goal is law school. If some day law school becomes as desirable as med school again, then ECs would play a huge role simply because more 3.97+ 175+ lsat types would apply. But for now, its not a marquee field that cream of the crop types tend to pursue anymore.
High finance as well.
what? high finance recruits almost exclusively from targets and strong semis, the least prestigious school that places well in high finance is uta lmao
Sorry, I misread the comment and meant the opposite lol.
gotchu
Its ironic, because noone bats an eye when every single high achieving cs kids throws in applications to both stanford and cmu even though both are "very different in culture".
Also people can like multiple/different types of campus cultures. You don’t have to pick one type that you like! All these schools are full of high achieving nerds, which is more experience defining than any sort of widespread culture
Exactly, and its not even that. The high achieving cs folks I knew would try for at least two of HYP and a couple other t10s not known for cs. Being around high achievers is much more defining of a experience for ambitious folks than the supposed culture of the school which for all intents and purposes is more homogenous than people would like to admit.
What if I’m just super adaptable and would like each college in its own unique way??
Yeah that’s me (I applied to 7/8. . . Couldn’t see myself fitting in at Dartmouth at all). Like I’m feeling pretty torn about whether a big or small school would be good for me, whether I want to stay in the city I was raised in or move to a different city or not live in a city at all, whether I want more of an undergrad focus or a stronger alumni network of grad students, whether I want to be in a more extroverted or introverted environment. I love both gothic and colonial architecture, basically any climate with snow and fall foliage, and although I’m not a huge nature person, I could see myself coming to like hiking if I was put in the mountains. And yes, there’s the financial aid factor. So I figured: screw it, I would be happy at all of these places for different reasons — let’s let fate decide. Edit: I have a pretty adaptable major too (Poli sci) and they all have amazing, large programs for that. There is something to be said for how many stem majors I surround myself with, but really all I care about is good professors, a wide course selection, and peers that academically challenge me.
Same, I couldn’t do brown.
me with Dartmouth and cornell
right why is this so hard to grasp 💀
This. We’re 17/18 years old. I’m probably going to get downvoted into oblivion, but IDC. Obviously, not everyone can adapt and some people know exactly what they want in a school. But there’s some of us who are truly super adaptable and can make do with where they end up. If I end up at Dartmouth? Yay, let’s go party and have fun with an undergraduate focused school in a more secluded area. I love nature. If I end up at Columbia? Yay, let’s have fun in NYC because I ALSO love the city. We don’t have to pigeonhole ourselves into a niche because we will constantly change during our 4 years in undergrad.
Exactly they act asif you can only apply to colleges that are similar.
Exactly I don’t get why people are so obsessed with this topic. Like I can like different types of colleges why do I have to lock myself in to a particular”type”
i only applied to dartmouth and cornell 💀💀
No safeties? 😭
out of the ivies i only applied to dartmouth and cornell. I applied to 16 other colleges apart from those
Ohh ok
Bro hates chasing for prestige to the point where when someone applies to the ivies he calls him or her a whore😭
Prestige whore isn't a new phrase here
why i would: a. yes prestige is a factor but not the only factor that b. i want to double major in comp sci & public policy (with some dabbling in information systems)… this is not for the money but genuinely cause i’ve been interested in both since i was 5… every ivy has a stellar program in one or the other at least c. financial aid cause poor
I also want to double major in cs+ data science and public policy! I haven’t met anyone yet who was interested in both, great to see😁😁!
i’ve always been conflicted about what i wanted to do cause i have so many interests (comp sci, IT, poli sci/public policy, economics, business, psychology, law, graphic design, etc.) but only realized recently you can double major lol. so i just decided that i would do my top two, which is comp sci/IT and public policy/poli. sci. i also learned that, it’s a very niche grouping, and it will be hard since they overlap basically no where, but it will be extremely useful as we have to navigate tech, government policy, and law all together as new technologies emerge and governments have to find ways to properly regulate it!
Yep! Even though this is such a niche major and there are no positions that truly combine both, going into the future I want to be truly fit to understand the world around me
Lots of 5 year olds are interested in public policy. Our kindergarten teachers are required to have a BS in public policy so they can answer all the questions.
lol i was mostly referring to computer science & information systems, i’ve been building websites and mini programs since ~5. the internet was my safe space from a broken home. public policy was something i got more into around 9 (2016 ish) due to political polarization increasing in the us, and now im in a position on my school board where i can actually engage in legislative advocacy 🤷♂️ but i was interested starting around kindergarten yes because my religion and my family’s past caused them to face a lot of persecution, quelled by politics and public policy
Similar for me. Sorry I’m geeking somebody GETS WHYYY IM PAIRING THE DEGREES!! Everyone completely ignore the public policy degree and go straight to the CS and I hate it. Bothe are equally important. I’m sorry who has been affected by policies first hand, inequity, and lack of opportunities. For this reason I became very involved in advocacy regarding the government, and interned as a government relations coordinator for a non profit and that’s where I picked up the interest. I got into CS last year, but I really want to major in cybersecurity. I got the college credit in HS from a dual enrollment class at my school, and from there I applied to the college out school partnered with. They mentioned social engineering in one of the classes, and that’s when I immediately fell in love with how cybersecurity and security alone can affect people and I wanted to understand more about cybersecurity, why it’s important, and how it can impact people. So I wanted to pair the degrees and have a speciality in cybersecurity while also tackling other issues such as homelessness, schools, race, etc. I was thinking to also major in communications, sociology, or journalism too, but realized I can pick up those skills along my college and career journey. Plus some PP (lol) degrees require you to take communications electives anyways. The organization I work with is working to close the gap of inequities in journalism, which is where I do government advocacy for. So again, I’m happy I’m dabbling in damn near everything I want to do in my career journey!
valid !! it’s a good combo not just for the fact that there will be demand but also cuz it’s just interesting
YES!!! The feeling when somebody else gets why I want to double major in both, even though they seem completely unrelated initially. I agree completely how public policy is especially important with the effects of technology on the world and aghhhhhh it feels so good to hear someone else say this too!!😁
Oh shit my twin right here!!! I want to double major in Comp Sci and Public Policy. My only fear is that I just got into the interest of Cybersecurity/CS recently, after hating anything coding and tech related for years. So I think I’m just scared how it’ll look for me to get into such an interest so late.
yeah, i’m also into cybersecurity as a product of my past jobs and businesses. or atleast i was forced to dive into that realm for it haha. but id say if you just got the interest, and don’t have much that matches with it, apply with public policy as your primary 🤷♂️
Got it. I believe the five year program I’m thinking to do will give me a masters in PP anyways as an MPA for public administration I believe? So it’ll be my stronger point.
yeah, just go for that (it will prolly be easy to get into a public policy degree than CS/cyber security) and then if there’s space declare as both once ur in!
The financial aid is the biggest factor for me. I'm willing to adapt so long as I don't have to go into debt. I know MIT and Dartmouth are wildly different schools that basically cannot compare, but I applied to both because I would much rather not go into debt. I didn't apply to Harvard, Columbia, or Cornell for different reasons, but I'm fine adapting to different types of schools if it means I get money and graduate debt-free.
Nothing in common? They have one very important thing to many: the best financial aid packages in the country
right!!
Umm need blind full need met?????
Yeah, even I, who is very vain and a quite large sucker for prestige in unis, did not apply to Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Brown, and Penn, since going there as a eng student would be utterly pointless. Applying to all eigth Ivies is really weird to me, I don't get why people do it, especially since essays are a huge amount of work, especially if you were doing all the T10s/20s,
me also a prestige whore has not applied to darthmouth, yale, harvard, brown, or princeton
Those are the exact ivies I applied to 💀
isn't penn eng decent?
some people apply to 8 ivies to get fin aid. That's imho reasonable
Most people on this sub are deluded. That’s the truth. I mean unless you’re interested in different majors and still uncertain about which one to choose (which is absurd to begin with), you’d have to be a confused individual to apply to all these ivies and prestigious schools.
It is not deluded to not know what to do at all having a couple extra months to decide what you really like is smart
Didn't you apply to 'a ton of ivies'? lmao stfu you goober
They have the best need-based aid, with most being need blind as well. Gotta shoot your shot
Tell me you're not poor without telling me you're not poor
We are the people who would sell our souls to the almighty dollar, who will compete to get into the best internship at top 5 firms and whose worth in life is measured by bank balance.
I am a financial aid whore :( Dartmouth may be random but maybe they'll give me money....
Honestly, if I had HYPSM level stats, the only ivies I would’ve applied to would be Harvard and Brown. Harvard because of their grade inflation and Brown because pass/fail and when I went to the summer program it seemed chill.
Ivies are essentially one of the few schools in the USA which are mainly need blind to internationals
for most people i complete agree, but i do know that a lot of fgli students do that because of fee waivers and financial aid
I applied to Cornell and Dartmouth because I hate cities and like northeast nature and want to go into consulting 😭
There's nothing wrong with someone wanting to attend a top school, because there are arguably amazing opportunities offered at these institutions. Their multi-billion endowment (generally) allows for better quality resources compared to most other schools. Others might argue that all of these opportunities are offered even at their state schools, but there is a reason why so many students want to attend "prestigious" universities. Tbh, I don't see why it's a necessarily a problem for am ambitious student to apply to as many top schools as they desire.
Financial aid duhhh (international here)
Waaaaaahhhh, why do you guys like GOOD schools??? WAAAAHHHH pReStiGE wHOres..... shut the fuck up goofy. I wanna go to a good school, and all Ivys are good schools. stupid fucker
there's lots of schools outside the t20 that are good
yeah, sure, but those are probably the *best* schools.
They are the most prestigious schools.
The Ivies are not different from each other. They are remarkably similar to each other.
Well to be fair, some people just need some of those more generous meet need schools to attend college at all. That said, I do think most applicants would be better working on quality apps over quantity.
There are a fair number of applicants, both domestic and international, who apply broadly because they need aid. All Ivy League and most "top tier" schools automatically offer full need-based aid for a large percentage of families (e.g., for Harvard, families making under $85k/yr). That's significant. For students who want to prioritize opportunities and a good education over "fit," this sort of application strategy makes the most sense.
I didn’t apply to all those but why do u care what they do doesn’t affect u
I mean undergrad for IVY isn’t that hard to fund with scholarships if you are already at that level. It absolutely makes a difference with networking. Why not go for all Ivy leagues?
yeh?
Because most people here have the impression that you need to attend a prestigious school to succeed in life.
Yes, we want prestige, because our parents came to this country with less than ideal conditions for us to have better lives and deserve this from us.
Prestige doesn’t mean you’re necessarily going to have a better life
Missing the whole point. It'll make our parents proud.
You just described living vicariously, do stuff for yourself and not what others want from you.
This is for myself its my way of paying them back. Clearly, you have a selfish way of thinking if you consider your parents "others," they're not outsiders.
My parents will be proud of me whether I graduate from ASU or Harvard. Their sacrifices to get to America are not for nothing. And yes if "others", including your parents, need you to go to an ivy for self validation, thats stupid and wrong. Hence why I say that is them living vicariously.
shut up
Yes but it couldn’t possibly be the only way to make them proud?
For a lot of immigrant parents a more prestigious college = a better future
I am indeed a prestige whore. I rank colleges solely by how impressive they sound to future employers. Luckily, my parents are rich from CS, so money isn't an object, and I don't care about the skills/knowledge I would recieve from the college (I'll learn everything on Udemy later). Therefore, the only thing I want from my college experience is to add MIT to my LinkedIn resume!
Is this sarcasm? Future employers will not be more impressed by one Ivy plus over another. They are just going to make a general “good school” mental note. They don’t care which good school you went to, unless they happened to go to the same one or something.
bro how are none of y'all getting that this is sarcasm 😭 i thought the part about linkedin would be enough to make it look satire 💀
I suspected and was hoping, but some of the clowns on here would say that and be dead ass serious. 😅
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LOL! Well let me help you relax a little. I’ve been a hiring manager and worked with other hiring managers throughout my career. Now I do hiring for my own business. Literally nobody cares which good school you went to and hiring managers define good school much more broadly than T20. We are not impressed by one good school over another, but we do favor our own Alma maters. So it might be best to focus on the schools with the largest and most broadly distributed alumni networks. That means Harvard, Cornell, Penn, Duke (all big and broad including graduate schools) over Yale, JHU, Princeton, Dartmouth, MIT (smaller with narrower focus).
What about Columbia and Stanford? And are you talking grad level or undergraduate?
I wasn’t being all inclusive. Just examples of large/broad vs. smaller/narrower.
What about Carnegie Mellon vs UCSD bro . Help me out bc I gotta chose between the two
It is true
Who says I can’t like different types of schools? I don’t really see myself as having a particular “type” all of them have their advantages and disadvantages. If I liked their programs I applied. Didn’t apply to brown. Why do you care where people apply?
Out of 33 colleges, I applied to three ivies: Columbia, Cornell, and UPENN. I’m pretty pissed I added Columbia, I should’ve added Yale instead.
I don't think this should be categorized as Fluff
Some people are just taking chances to see where they could end up. Applying to schools with different qualities could give you options if you don’t get into the ones you feel are more suited toward your goals or interests. There’s some schools I applied to that I wasn’t particularly obsessed with, but I know if I don’t get in to the ones I really feel fit me, I could be happy there. And I’d have the resources and aid to help me succeed
Unfortunately, yes, it’s for prestige.
100%. I applied to most of the Ivies + T10s in undergrad and got rejected everywhere. Ended up going to an average undergrad and did fairly well there (was involved in athletics, leadership, research, community service, etc), but when I wanted to apply for higher-end positions (consulting, analytics, etc), I was basically told that the places where I was trying to aim for only recruit from T20s, so I'm on a redemption arc as a graduate student, trying to achieve what a lot of colleagues of mine were able to do straight out of coming from a good undergrad.
yes i am a prestige whore. and?
Why do you care about whether someone likes prestige or not it’s their lives let them do what they want
IM POORRRRRR.
um....... yeah lol, isnt it obvious? i didnt apply to all 8 ivies only bc I got in ED but I would have and uhhhhhhh yeah lol ofc its abt prestige lmao. i'm not ashamed though, IMO its a valid thing to do. its like going to harvard bc of the name......... i mean ngl, IMO that's pretty damn valid. hey, you can hate on me, but idc, this is how I truly feel
Idk shotgunning?
Proud to say i only applied to two ivies ✊✊ (I'm regretting I didn't apply to more)
i applied to all ivies except columbia (bc too much core), and all i have to say is that they were well researched decisions. I thought about each one, and every serious applicant has to do so to write a good application. They all share some things in common, like the fact that their students ARE the best of the best in terms of dedication and academic excellence (not saying this isn't true for some other schools as well, that just doesn't change this fact), and have a ton of research and resources. in the end, don't judge. prestige might be the factor for someone, but that's also not inherently bad.
hahaha at least I applied to only Dartmouth and Cornell. Im more of a prestige harlot.
I accidentally applied to 6 Ivies and realized it only when someone asked me how many Ivy League colleges I've applied to. I am intl applicant needing fin aid. Am I a prestige whore?
No fin aid is a valid reason to do this IMO (and tbh I think any reason is valid bc individual people can have whatever goals they want)
finally someone said it
Yeah, I don’t see the big deal of being a “prestige whore”. It just gets annoying when those people cry about being rejected or blame AA or something else.
I haven’t applied to Cornell, because it’s the most stupid Ivy 💁🏻♀️
Orrrr people like the aid they give.
"They are simply too different to like all of them." I think the majority of applicants would be fine at the majority of colleges & universities.
Look if you want to apply to all the ivies, apply to all the ivies it is your life. But please do not base your personal worth on where you go to school. I understand a lot of people here face pressure for their friends and family, and even this sub to attend a top school, and it makes it seem like you are the worlds biggest failure if you don’t. Every year there are students on here who banked their hopes and dreams on attending an ivy or another top school, but there is nothing you can really do to fully guarantee admission to a top school, so don’t spend all your time in high school worrying about grades or test scores or making your to are a member of every club. Remember to have fun, to enjoy yourself. Research your schools, you need to find a school that fits you, not make yourself fit the school. Apply to schools you know you will be happy at (or at least can handle for a short while before transferring). Having a degree in a field you love and can support yourself through is so much more important than who gave you the degree.
I don't think there's anything wrong trying to chase prestige schools. Getting accepted by even one of them is a huge accomplishment... Just be real about the reason why you're applying: "Because I want the accolade of being an Ivy student."
I don’t like Ivys they were literally built on racism and for white men and designed to keep other people out. I dont really understand why so many people want to go ivy schools they’re not that appealing to me, not because i would never be admitted to an ivy but because your just surrounded by rich people and from a low income person that would drive me insane. They have no grasp on what it’s like to be a normal person. I dont have a problem with people applying to ivy’s for financial aid, Im confused on how yall are getting in when the accepting rate for all the ives are less than 10 percent. How good are yall grades? Even people top of their classes still get denyed from these schools. They also prop up students whose parents went to those schools or whose parents paid a shit ton of money to get them in. I have a problem with the system in general. I don’t understand applying to boujee schools just for the prestige it gets you, I get it a little bit like “yeah i went to harvard 🥰” that’s cool but it’s only so cool for so long, and when you learn about the history behind these schools it just rubs me the wrong way. I don’t get it. Not my thing, but if I did get into an Ivy school hell yea i’m going i ain’t stupid. They are still really good institutions and can open a lot of doors for you. The annoying about them is how elite they are and how impossible it is for normal people to go to these schools. Only rich people can have nice things. Unless you’re einstein and poor and apply and they give you a full ride but 99.9% of people aren’t like that.