If you had a reasonable shot at getting into an Ivy League school, what would be legitimate backup schools?

DeVry or MIT.

I’d go with which ever one was the cheapest

Rice

You're misinformed, OP. There are common application forms. Application fees are waved for many minorities at Ivy Leagues, as well.

Oh, and way back in the day, I got into 3 Ivies and my back up schools were SUNY colleges and UofChicago and got into them as well. There are at least 30 schools that are about as selective as Ivies and it's always good to apply to your best state university.

I didn't apply to any Ivies, but I do regret not applying to Duke or Tulane.

Miami of Ohio

I was accepted at two Ivies. I went to my state’s flagship, with no regrets to this day.

Cal or UCLA, r7?

Ahem—you’re silly R8

Your question is confusing. If I had an option to get accepted at any Ivy, I wouldn’t need a safety school.

A safety school is your backup in case you don’t get into an Ivy. There are equivalent-Ivy (or better in some cases) like Stanford, Chicago, Northwestern, Duke. Then there are true safety schools, usually top state schools like UVa , Berkeley, Michigan, regionals like Rice, Vanderbilt, Tulane, Wash U, or the 2nd tier northeastern schools.

Those aren’t safer schools they are alternatives. Apparently, you underestimate the number of Ivy admits who chose not to go.

Or, just as relevant, you underestimate the number of Ivy-eligible students who didn’t even apply to an Ivy.

Your post, R10, indicates a lack of real world understanding.

[quote] Then there are true safety schools, usually top state schools like UVa , Berkeley, Michigan, regionals like Rice, Vanderbilt, Tulane, Wash U, or the 2nd tier northeastern schools.

Cal, Michigan, and UVa are NOT backup schools. These days, they're extremely difficult to get in. If you were applying to Ivy League, Stanford, and MIT, you'd be a fool to think that Cal would be a reasonable backup if you didn't get in to those schools.

My question was what school would someone who had the test scores, grades, and APs sufficient to think that Ivy (or similar) were viable options, as opposed to being laughed out of the admissions office, choose as a school they'd absolutely get in.

I saw one video of a girl with comparable bona fides to what I described get admitted to Brown, Dartmouth, and Penn, and waitlisted from Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, but got outright rejected from UC Merced - MERCED, ffs. Are people who broke 1550 on the SAT, had straight As, and got 10 scores of 5 on AP tests supposed to settle for SUNY or CSU schools (or similar state schools) as the only viable backups?

Phoenix online University~

Give it Op—your premise, as written, is faulty.

[quote]If you had a legitimate chance at attending an Ivy League school, what would your safety schools be.

[quote]If you had a legitimate chance at attending an Ivy League school, what would your safety schools be.

How is this a faulty premise? Or is it your reading comprehension and knowledge of the current state of university admissions the fault part.

Listen hunny. Anyone who has the stuff to get into an Ivy now, is going to have plenty of other options for good schools. Which ones will depend on a lot of factors. So there is no one answer for you, sweetie.

International Correspondence School

[quote]Listen hunny. Anyone who has the stuff to get into an Ivy now, is going to have plenty of other options for good schools. Which ones will depend on a lot of factors. So there is no one answer for you, sweetie.

No sweetie. At the time they do the applications, they have no idea whether they'd get in. And, as I pointed out, the Ivy schools are essentially the last ones to provide admissions status.

And, as I've pointed out several times, some of these people have extraordinary academic stats and ECs, but get declined from places that were considered safety schools 20 years ago.

You'd be a fool to think you're a shoo-in to get admitted to a top tier school like Stanford, MIT or the Ivies (even the loser ones like Brown and Dartmouth) and not apply to a safety school you believe you're all but guaranteed to get accepted by.

You're proving you have no idea what the college admissions situation is like today or what it takes to get in at a top tier school these days.

You obviously are not Ivy material. You said "if you had a reasonable shot at getting into an Ivy" - which means they have great creds. Yes it's a crap shoot if an Ivy will take them, especially if they are white and not legacy. BUT as I said, with great creds, they can apply to many other great schools and will find their place. Now STFU and stop being so difficult.

Maybe it's different at the undergraduate level, but in graduate admissions, overqualified applicants to middling programs are sometimes rejected because it's clear they're going to be accepted to -- and receive a better funding offer from -- a top school. And the program doesn't want to waste time by accepting them.

Go to US News AWR’s list of Best Public Universities.

Apply to schools ranked 10-20 on this list.

Those would be pretty good backup options.

Let’s just close this thread out now…it’s a dud.

[quote]BUT as I said, with great creds, they can apply to many other great schools and will find their place.

You don't really understand how the system works, do you.

Sweetie, at the time they do the applications, they have no idea whether they're going to get in anywhere. They have great credentials, so my question was if you had great credentials what would be legitimate backup schools.

And no, they may not get in to other "great schools" if they choose poorly and shoot too high - hence the question about BACKUP schools.

R22 why would we go there? Their rankings change aver time they change their formula…seriously.

Oh for crissakes - someone that smart will figure out. They will try for Ivies, AND the "new" Ivies, and a state school, and maybe a couple "C List" choices. Which for these bright young things, C list would still be good schools. Now shut up. It's not complicated.

Trump University

[quote]Go to US News AWR’s list of Best Public Universities...Apply to schools ranked 10-20 on this list...Those would be pretty good backup options.

Based on what I saw in the videos, I think that might be shooting too high and not provide a shoo-in admittance, as well as the fact people are doing 15-20 applications, so probably already included most of those schools since places like Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth are among the 10-20th ranked schools.

[quote]Which for these bright young things, C list would still be good schools. Now shut up. It's not complicated.

Why so hostile. It's such a straightforward question. I was simply curious what schools people saw as backup schools.

Are you just butthurt that your aspirational school was a safety school for the rest of us? You sound jealous that some people worked and studied hard enough to have options.

Just stop. NOW.

No honey. I graduated from 2 Ivies, Sorbonne and EPFL Switzerland. I already explained to you - the very bright young thing's "backup schools" are going to vary greatly and be regional. There are at least 200 to choose from and also left-field choices. THERE IS NO LIST, you stupid fuck. But you keep whining for one. But it doesn't make sense that there is a list of "national" safeties. That's not how people decide.

Cornell or Penn.

[quote]There are at least 200 to choose from and also left-field choices. THERE IS NO LIST, you stupid fuck. But you keep whining for one. But it doesn't make sense that there is a list of "national" safeties. That's not how people decide.

No one is asking for a "national" list of safety schools - you dumbass. Only your woeful lack of reading comprehension would assert that that was the question.

And, I definitely buy you went degree shopping at two Ivies, Sorbonne, and EPFL - your posts reek of arrogance.

Sweetheart, if you haven't figured it out, many of us graduated from similar schools for both undergrad and graduate programs. None of us are impressed by your name dropping.

If you actually had the mental wherewithal, you'd recognize that the reason I posed this question to DLers is exactly because so many of us graduated from such schools in the past, so was curious what DLers with such qualifications would think about such a topic.

You sound like the typical over-achiever who is insecure so needs to name drop your educational bona fides as if they'd impress us. The rest of us just quietly understand that the hardest part was getting in. After that, it's about what we did with that educational opportunity while there and, more pointedly, what we did AFTER getting the golden ticket.

Seems like you want a list of safeties for Bright Young Things. If that is not what you want, what do you want? You haven't been clear, as others have noted.

[quote]Seems like you want a list of safeties for Bright Young Things. If that is not what you want, what do you want? You haven't been clear, as others have noted.

Well obviously, what I wanted was a pedantic debate with someone who subtlely, but concretely, changes the parameters of his argument in order to prove his initial jackass comment was correct.

Also, I desperately wanted to quibble about the difference between an "national list of safeties" and a list of safeties vs. the general opinions of DLers about schools they'd view as safety schools. Of course, it would also be important to argue that schools that are clearly no longer remotely "safe" schools for anyone who knows anything about the current state of college admissions are "safety" schools. Finally, I really wanted a granular discussion on the metaphysics of people ending up at the right school for them.

OK, OP -- my question is, why?

Of for crissakes you're a twat. Isn't school years behind you? Are you a professor? In the admissions or development biz? If not, isn't it creepy for you to be watching such videos by 17 and 18 yo's? Bye. You're a nasty and muddled conversationalist.

An associates degree from a community college used to complete a back at a state university. I and so many others would never even consider someone from Harvard or the like. They're considered looney bins now.

Caltech all the way

UVA, UNC, UGA , Univ of Texas, and, inexplicably, Florida are all pretty well ranked public schools that would make good and semi-affordable safety schools for someone who thinks they have a shot at an Ivy.

But, really, you’re probably more likely to be drawn to a good regional liberal arts college. Most offer good financial aid packages.

All colleges look at their own needs when they evaluate applicants . If the band director tells the admissions office he is short on tuba players, they look for tuba players. If a physics professor needs additional undergrads to do research on a topic that is paid for by a large grant, they look for applicants who have a passion for physics. If the college's student literature publication has seen 75% of its staff graduated, they look for applicants who love to write. The college's needs change from year to year. The goal is to maintain an active college community over time.

Most applicants who are accepted with a very competitive applicant pool have done something major in their spare time. I know a young man who developed a summer "robot building" camp for middle schoolers. He enlisted the aid of teachers and administrators to make it happen. He did it all four years he was in high school. He got into a university which accepted less than 10% of their applicants.

A young woman wanted to volunteer at a women's shelter, but she was too young. She saw the sad state of the furniture there, took pictures of it, and then went door to door asking for donations to replace it. She worked for months, she raised over $20,000 and she was featured in a local tv news story. She was able to get into her dream Ivy school.

It isn't just the great grades and the standard extracurricular activities. You have to stand out in a major way within the applicant pool.

Dunning Kruger University might be right for OP.

[quote]Dunning Kruger University might be right for OP.

Coming from someone who is NOT using Dunning Kruger correctly...