Anyone ever try to get into one of the nations elite colleges in the last 10 or so years?
By 'elite' I mean one of the top 20 or 25 schools nationally. These would include such schools as: Harvard, Yale, Johns Hopkins, Wash U, Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Duke, U of Chicago, Georgetown, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, etc etc etc.
It is NOT money. Every one of these schools will pay for your kid to attend their school if you NEED/QUALIFY for financial aid. So if you are poor that is NOT a problem. Every one of these schools will give you up to 100% of your tuition/housing/books. So poor people should apply.
I'm talking about the qualifications to get into the schools and their admission process that you have to navigate. It is NOTHING like what it took to get into college 15, 20, or 30+ years ago.
Want to go to state school, fill out the application, send in your $50 application fee, if you qualify then you are accepted.
Want to go to an elite school, then you repeat the above process but that is only the start. You then have to write a series of essays. Not just one, but often 3 or 4 different essays and you do it for each of your elite college choices. If you apply to a lot of elite schools you'll probably have an essay or two that can be re-used, with slight alterations, for a couple different schools.
And then there is the personal interview process. Sometimes done by a local almnus, but sometimes only done ON CAMPUS by admissions staff, so that may require a trip across the country to one, or several, different campuses, depending on how many you apply to.
Of course, it goes without saying that you must be qualified to attend said elite campus. That would include a rigorous high school schedule that include virutally every "A.P." class offered by your high school. That would also include a very high Grade Point Average and a very high class ranking (top 5% of your class).
Oh, and then there are all the extras these schools ask for. Some have asked Melen if she applied for, and recieved, any US Govenment Patents. If she founded any charities or foundations. If she started any charities. Notice they also ask if you participate in clubs, charities, but they are asking if you actually started these things!
I'm glad they didn't ask me that stuff when I applied for college. Then again, while I went to a very good school, it was not one of the 'elite' schools.
BTW, viturally every one of these schools has an applicant REJECTION RATE of 85% or higher.
Now if you want to get into a "top 50 school" that is ranked somewhere between #26 and #50 then the odds are a little bit better, but not much. You still have to do almost all of the same stuff it takes to get into the schools ranked #1 to #25, but the top 50 schools may only reject roughly 75% of the applicants who apply.
By 'elite' I mean one of the top 20 or 25 schools nationally. These would include such schools as: Harvard, Yale, Johns Hopkins, Wash U, Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Duke, U of Chicago, Georgetown, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, etc etc etc.
It is NOT money. Every one of these schools will pay for your kid to attend their school if you NEED/QUALIFY for financial aid. So if you are poor that is NOT a problem. Every one of these schools will give you up to 100% of your tuition/housing/books. So poor people should apply.
I'm talking about the qualifications to get into the schools and their admission process that you have to navigate. It is NOTHING like what it took to get into college 15, 20, or 30+ years ago.
Want to go to state school, fill out the application, send in your $50 application fee, if you qualify then you are accepted.
Want to go to an elite school, then you repeat the above process but that is only the start. You then have to write a series of essays. Not just one, but often 3 or 4 different essays and you do it for each of your elite college choices. If you apply to a lot of elite schools you'll probably have an essay or two that can be re-used, with slight alterations, for a couple different schools.
And then there is the personal interview process. Sometimes done by a local almnus, but sometimes only done ON CAMPUS by admissions staff, so that may require a trip across the country to one, or several, different campuses, depending on how many you apply to.
Of course, it goes without saying that you must be qualified to attend said elite campus. That would include a rigorous high school schedule that include virutally every "A.P." class offered by your high school. That would also include a very high Grade Point Average and a very high class ranking (top 5% of your class).
Oh, and then there are all the extras these schools ask for. Some have asked Melen if she applied for, and recieved, any US Govenment Patents. If she founded any charities or foundations. If she started any charities. Notice they also ask if you participate in clubs, charities, but they are asking if you actually started these things!
I'm glad they didn't ask me that stuff when I applied for college. Then again, while I went to a very good school, it was not one of the 'elite' schools.
BTW, viturally every one of these schools has an applicant REJECTION RATE of 85% or higher.
Now if you want to get into a "top 50 school" that is ranked somewhere between #26 and #50 then the odds are a little bit better, but not much. You still have to do almost all of the same stuff it takes to get into the schools ranked #1 to #25, but the top 50 schools may only reject roughly 75% of the applicants who apply.
