Have you ever dreamed of entering Harvard/Oxford/Cambridge, or are you in? Options

[bonluvdan]

as titled

These are my dreame/ideal universities! haha...
but the probability for me entering either on of them is extremely low = ="

[*mipadi*]

No, not really. I've never had an interest.

[voguelove]

^^me too.
i dont care about ivy league schools. as long as i get into my state university, im fine.

[illumineering]

While it is a worthy accomplishment for some, I'm not enamored by the thought.

[ecargnmyst]

i didnt really dream..but frshmn yr when asked what schools i was aiming for i put down princeton..yale..lol

but now im a senior..its not that easy getting into yale..so im just going to some other school..but alot of the ppl from my school got into the ivys..=\ makes me feel so ashamed

[BOOGERSHAHA]

yeah of course, but i didn't apply to any of those top ivies like harvard/yale/princeton. when i visited, i didn't really like the campus and i would have felt bad if the main reason i liked the school was the prestige that went with it.

[ecargnmyst]

^haha i think thats how my parents r ...they want me to go to harvard/yale b/c its world famous...and from what theyve heard..u get a good job once u graduate ..but thats how they screwed me over for H.S. -_- they made me go to this H.s. b/c it was famous and they didnt even care that i didnt like math/sci ><

[innovation]

I'm thinking about the London School of Economics, which is rather prestigious, too...

[silver-rain]

Actually, when I was younger, I really wanted to go to Oxford. I was entertaining thoughts of applying there too this year, but I figured my grades wouldn't admit me.

[anoniez]

If you want to go to Oxford, the best thing to do would be to apply there for graduate school because they take hardly any undergrads from the U.S., but a lot of grads from the U.S.
I don't know anything about Cambridge, though..

[Rachel]

I never actually wanted to go to an Ivy school. It's not that I was lazy, I just never wanted to go to one. Name and prestige don't appeal to me. The quality of life and education do, as well as the feeling I get from it.

[*swtcherriipie*]

No but i have dreamed of entering NYU.... I guess it was so PRETTY when i was 12 and to this day its still an aspitration.

Edit.// I got accepted YES! transferring 2007 w00pw00p GO ME!

[*mipadi*]

I never actually wanted to go to an Ivy school. It's not that I was lazy, I just never wanted to go to one. Name and prestige don't appeal to me. The quality of life and education do, as well as the feeling I get from it.

Amen to that.

[hi-C]

Ditto what Rachel said. There's nothing I could get from an Ivy that I'm getting right now from NYU (ha, although it wants to be an Ivy sooooooooo bad).

I did want to go to Oxford though, I thought that would be cool. But I looked up their application process a little to late to go through with it. I'll have to do with studying abroad in London next Spring.

[jennyjenny]

At one point, when I was little. But now it seems like a dream to me. You have to consider costs too, unless you get in on a scholarship, then that would be amazing. But right now I'm aiming at things a little less.

[jenniez618]

hmm, yes i did dream about getting into Harvard, but it was my parent's dream, but since my sister goes to Harvard, they kind of gave up on me, but I would like to go to Cornell or Columbia :).

[misoshiru]

Rachel's said what I wanted to say :D

I'd previously wanted to go to Tufts University, not for the name, but because the campus is gorgeous. But, I don't want to go there anymore, and I'm not going there.

Schools like Harvard is all about money and your intelligence. A lot of people who're the valedictorians may go to an Ivy, and realize that no, they're not really that smart anymore. And they have a hard time in college because they spend all their time trying to stay on top of things.

No but i have dreamed of entering NYU.... I guess it was so PRETTY when i was 12 and to this day its still an aspitration.

Edit.// I got accepted YES! transferring 2007 w00pw00p GO ME!

Wait..you got accepted, and then you're transferring out? Why?

[BOOGERSHAHA]

^ transferring into nyu. it doesn't make sense to transfer out...

[silver-rain]

^ transferring into nyu. it doesn't make sense to transfer out...

Eh, I'm thinking of transfering out of NYU if I get into the schools I'll apply for.

[sprezzatura]

Yes, but my goal is towards UCLA or UC Berkeley. The UC system costs less but these two universities are good.

[innovation]

Schools like Harvard is all about money and your intelligence. A lot of people who're the valedictorians may go to an Ivy, and realize that no, they're not really that smart anymore. And they have a hard time in college because they spend all their time trying to stay on top of things.

A. Prestigious institutions are not simply about "the money". Universities such as Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania have taken initiatives to increase aid for low-income families. For example, families that make less than $40,000 per year are not required to pay any tuition at Harvard University. Financial aid distribution within the Ivy League is completely need-based; even so, two-thirds of Harvard undergrad students qualify for some form of aid, the average grant being $24,000 per year.

B. According to Boston Magazine, Harvard is more likely to "select students who typically have shown some all-consuming passion, and will dedicate themselves to it even at the cost of their academics." During the admissions process, Harvard scrutinizes a candidate's character, for its admissions officers weight each of the applicants' teacher/counselor recommendations individually.

C. Of course, schools like Harvard value your intelligence. But a GPA or SAT score in no way predicts a candidate's future success at the institution and beyond. Selective schools want students who demonstrate significant potential for leadership and excellence so that they can contribute to both academic and social life at the university.

D. Students work to find their "niche" at Ivies. Yes, the schools are competitive, but because interests and passions are so diverse, students grow through their interactions with classmates. Students go to Ivies to be challenged, and this is exactly what they get at the Ivies. Of course they're going to struggle at times to maintain balance in their lives. It's a skill that they need to develop for life.

Just because you don't feel that such an institution would appeal to you is no reason to stereotype like this. And I wouldn't say that applying to Tufts for its beautiful campus is any better than applying to it for its prestige.

[jenniez618]

A. Prestigious institutions are not simply about "the money". Universities such as Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania have taken initiatives to increase aid for low-income families. For example, families that make less than $40,000 per year are not required to pay any tuition at Harvard University. Financial aid distribution within the Ivy League is completely need-based; even so, two-thirds of Harvard undergrad students qualify for some form of aid, the average grant being $24,000 per year.

B. According to Boston Magazine, Harvard is more likely to "select students who typically have shown some all-consuming passion, and will dedicate themselves to it even at the cost of their academics." During the admissions process, Harvard scrutinizes a candidate's character, for its admissions officers weight each of the applicants' teacher/counselor recommendations individually.

C. Of course, schools like Harvard value your intelligence. But a GPA or SAT score in no way predicts a candidate's future success at the institution and beyond. Selective schools want students who demonstrate significant potential for leadership and excellence so that they can contribute to both academic and social life at the university.

D. Students work to find their "niche" at Ivies. Yes, the schools are competitive, but because interests and passions are so diverse, students grow through their interactions with classmates. Students go to Ivies to be challenged, and this is exactly what they get at the Ivies. Of course they're going to struggle at times to maintain balance in their lives. It's a skill that they need to develop for life.

Just because you don't feel that such an institution would appeal to you is no reason to stereotype like this. And I wouldn't say that applying to Tufts for its beautiful campus is any better than applying to it for its prestige.

True, the tutition at Harvard is like around 56,000 dollars a year, but since my family's income is low, my parents only have to pay like 3,000-5,000 a year.

[innovation]

^ And that's why need-based financial aid is good. It helps.

[AngelinaTaylor]

Does Julliard count? I'm going there for my third year..

Taylor``

[BOOGERSHAHA]

Eh, I'm thinking of transfering out of NYU if I get into the schools I'll apply for.

whoops sorry, i meant in the context of her post. she was really excited about nyu and it wouldn't have made sense for her to want to transfer out.

[_sarcastic_]

i've dreamed of getting into Harvard when i was young, but now in H.S. i realized my grades aren't going to get me there anyways
so now i'm aiming for my state's college or UCLA

[Looow]

i've never dreamed about getting into a college of that. i've never thought about it. i know i could never get the grades that i need to get there even if i tried. i'm not tripping though.

[*mipadi*]

When I was younger, I really, really wanted to go to MIT, and I feel like I could've gotten in had I applied myself more in high school. (I was pretty lazy back then.) I mean, I like where I am now, but MIT has a really, really nice CS program...

[kyttiekatt]

actually i'm more of a yale person, but cambridge sounds cool

[*mipadi*]

actually i'm more of a yale person, but cambridge sounds cool

What does that mean?

[chasingvictory]

at one point at my like ( i was around 8 or 10 ) i wanted to go to YALE. Now since I'm going to grad. next year I want to go to ODU here in Norfolk,VA.

[EddieV]

No, I never really thought of Ivy League, my biggest dream is probably MIT. But that's about it, I'm not really the type of person to persue big careers, rather I want easy-going freelance jobs, or to own my own business.

[*mipadi*]

MIT isn't an Ivy League school.

[EddieV]

^ Yeah I know, I just realized that after I posted.

[x__rilind]

as a child i always dreamed of going to oxford, mainly for reasons i don't even remember anymore.

after a time, i gave up on the idea. and now i'm not even going to school in england. yay united states university...

>rilind

[flc]

Nope. I never have dreamed of that. As long as I go to a college and get a decent job afterwards.

[*Statues/Shadows*]

What does that mean?

Assumedly it means that England is more appealing than a school in America.

[*mipadi*]

Assumedly it means that England is more appealing than a school in America.

Yeah, but what does "I'm more of a Yale person" mean?

[*Statues/Shadows*]

oh, I misread that. I guess Yale has some sort of impressive aura to it? I really don't know.

[*I Shot JFK*]

I'm thinking about the London School of Economics, which is rather prestigious, too...

ooh, mindy that would be exciting!

i could come visit!

anyway, im applying for cambridge. and not because i want to go. but because my school has decided my life will not be worth living if i dont, and i cant be assed to fight them.

plus, it means i have to ge tmy apps in earlier, which is good, because it means i wont be so lazy with the schools i actually want to go to.

plus, i KINDA wanna be the kid turned down cambridge and went to nottingham

[imm]

No but i have dreamed of entering NYU.... smile.gif I guess it was so PRETTY when i was 12 and to this day its still an aspitration.

Edit.// I got accepted YES! transferring 2007 w00pw00p GO ME!

TRUE DAT TRUE DAT. I really want to go to NYU.

LOL WOW! Oxford is my dream school, if not undergrad, then grad's fine. Cambridge I'd like to go to, in case I major in Computer Sciences or something of the likes. Harvard...I used to want to go there..but not so much any more. It's respectable though. =)

[Crich323]

I wouldn't want to but I seriously think that if I did, I could get in there when I graduate.

[xPartyGrlDx]

Stanford for me. Yale & Harvard sound pretty cool too but it's just too far away. My grades are pretty good. & now that I'm graduating 8th grade, I'm starting fresh in high school. I have a good chance of keeping up my grades & maintaing straight A's. If not Stanford, any UC schools are pretty good too.

[misoshiru]

What does that mean?

It means that they think they'd fit in better at Yale than at Cambridge.

[*FreeStickers*]

When I was younger, I kind of wanted to go to Harvard, but due to the poor state of my grades, I've given up on that idea. I've dreamt of being able to afford them.

[yoshie]

if you're aspiring to become a student at an ivy league school, it's not all about grades like most people believe. you must be a well-rounded person, meaning good grades, high academic position (high class rank), leadership roles (class president), athleticism (captain of basketball team), strong personality (expressed in essay), become involved (member of many school clubs), and an extensive list of extra-curricular activities such as community service and such.

i've known several people that had straight 4.0 GPA all of HS, or even higher because of weighted AP that were confident of their chances for acceptance into an ivy league and still were not accepted. i'm not being pessimistic, but with the overall number of people that apply to those schools, chances are highly unlikely (even if you deserve it) that one would get an acceptance letter. remember to always have an additional 4+ colleges that you can fall back on.

and ivy leagues do not matter much in terms of graduate school, since most job employers could care less where you received your MA, as long as you have one.

[starlette]

no. college is the devil. at least for a person in my line of work.

[31miracles]

yea my parents said i HAVE to make it to an Ivy League School
I'm aiming fo MIT, Princeton, Yale, or Standford at lowest

[*mipadi*]

yea my parents said i HAVE to make it to an Ivy League School
I'm aiming fo MIT, Princeton, Yale, or Standford at lowest

MIT isn't an Ivy.

[misoshiru]

ROFL. People just don't seem to realize that MIT may be in the top 10, but its not an Ivy. Stanford's not an Ivy either.

[sw33t_rouge]

people who usually goes to those schools..have to be rich..or they have a sholorship

[BOOGERSHAHA]

yea my parents said i HAVE to make it to an Ivy League School
I'm aiming fo MIT, Princeton, Yale, or Standford at lowest

good luck (and have fun) with that

ps it's stanford. no d in the middle.
yale at the lowest? i thought yale was ranked in the top 3 along with harvard and princeton almost every year. if you want a "low ivy," (do those exist?) try for cornell/dartmouth/brown.

[maryissa]

I have dreamt of it. My dream school would be Harvard, Yale, or Boston. My mom's SDSU(so i could live at home). My friend's dream school Harvard and Princeton and i think Yale.

[timeflies51]

I have no desire to go to an Ivy League school. I plan to be an elementary teacher, there are plenty of good colleges that aren't Ivy League that I can attend for that. I would much rather be focused on enjoying myself when I'm at college, I don't need bragging rights. Besides, I've had many fabulous teachers that attended a state college of something like that. So it's all good.

[AnnahhbeL]

Does Julliard count? I'm going there for my third year..

Taylor``

JILLIARD??
I've always dreamed of going to that school for the arts..they're so famous for their talents..

[marzipan]

kind of. i want a job in computers/technology, so i would want to go to a university that best suits my interests. yes, harvard and the other ivy league schools are great, but i'd rather go to a tech university or something.

[Eryi]

All my life I've dreamed of Harvard, but I'd love to apply to Dartmouth.. even more than Harvard.

[innovation]

I'm thinking about the London School of Economics, which is rather prestigious, too...

Wow, I can't believe I actually considered LSE a year ago.

I was Harvard-oriented until last August, when I decided to apply Early Decision to a university that I fell in love with.

[*SayBloodyMary*]

^ I got rejected from The LSE, Mindy = (

Also from Cambridge, although I did get an interview, and through to the second round of applicants after that (Damn school is like 'Smart person Idol,' I swear), so that was nice. My interview feedback basically told me that I was what they wanted, I just didn't quite get a place.

My politics teacher was all 'reapply next year,' because I've been offered an internship with the Institute of Ideas that I could do for a while, but frankly, I lack the will to go through that again.

[chibichi15]

LOL. My dad wanted me to apply to Oxford and then I could live with my cousins in London in the meantime. BUT it didn't quite work out that well. Maybe I'll study abroad. But I would have loved to go to Oxford next year.

sorry about LSE James.

[AngelinaTaylor]

Juilliard and Curtis are in the same league in terms of music. I would love to attend one of the two (Curtis more, though), but so far I have no balls to audition. Maybe for masters degree.

[innovation]

^ I got rejected from The LSE, Mindy = (

Booo! I still love LSE; the admissions process was just too strange and complicated for an American like moi.

[breakingdawn]

I'd love to go to an Ivy League school. Not so much Harvard, just because it just doesn't appeal to me. And not Yale either because I really don't like the area it's in...at all. And I'd want to leave Connecticut. My dream is Columbia, or Dartmouth or Brown. I'd settle for Cornell or UPenn though.

[BOOGERSHAHA]

settling for upenn? :O but sometimes, that's harder to get into than princeton!

[innovation]

I agree with the above poster. Particularly the Wharton School, which has a lower acceptance rate than Harvard, Princeton, and Yale (8.3% this year). Columbia, Dartmouth, and Brown have very distinct characteristics; the one thing that unites them is brand-name prestige, which is not the primary reason to pursue a university. Don't say that you'd "settle" for an Ivy League university if you don't understand the admissions process or the quality of academics.

<--- Penn/Wharton Class of 2011, by the way.

[Gypsy Eyes]

I've always wanted to go to harvard. I have a scholarship, but it's only for the school of ballet, not the academic section. I'd never get in there.

[breakingdawn]

I agree with the above poster. Particularly the Wharton School, which has a lower acceptance rate than Harvard, Princeton, and Yale (8.3% this year). Columbia, Dartmouth, and Brown have very distinct characteristics; the one thing that unites them is brand-name prestige, which is not the primary reason to pursue a university. Don't say that you'd "settle" for an Ivy League university if you don't understand the admissions process or the quality of academics.

<--- Penn/Wharton Class of 2011, by the way.

I didn't mean settle as in settle for a lesser value, I just meant it as it's not my number one or two or three choice. I understand that all the Ivies are equally as competitive and selective, just that some appeal to me more than others. But thanks.

[synthase]

Well, if you're going to study science at Harvard, then I advise you to study somewhere else. Ivy's have low and high points

[jue]

My parents would kill for me to get into one of those schools... Me on the other hand, not so much.

[dumbie]

i hope i can be there sumday.
harvard.
wait foe me.
ahaha.
can i just be dreaming?kkkk

[Mr. Slowjamz]

i have no time for school . just read the GQ magazine and you`ll wonder why . ehh .. and i hate mostly NYU girls and mostly other women because im gay ...in fact im starting to realize how school pretty much sucks = p . but its good but its sucks . good . and the how much the city sucks . ........and you guys don`t realize .why CB sucks . but i love to suck anyway . its my job . thank you NEW HYDE PARK . RIP TEXAN .

[illriginal]

Cambridge is niiiiiice (Borat Voice)

[Mr. Slowjamz]

^

WHOAH WHOAH WHOAH .

[Mr. Slowjamz]

I've always wanted to go to harvard. I have a scholarship, but it's only for the school of ballet, not the academic section. I'd never get in there.

[shampoo192]

My sister goes to Harvard...heh my parents have less hopes for me...