Ivy League Universities
What are Ivy League Schools?
It is quite interesting to note that the term 'Ivy League' originally referred to sports and not to academics. The actual Ivy League brought together football teams of eight prominent colleges namely: Harvard, Yale, Brown, UPenn, Columbia, Dartmouth College, Princeton and Cornell. These universities have some educational and institutional traits in common beyond their athletics programs. All of them are long-established, private schools; all are in the Northeastern U.S.; all are highly selective and most importantly all provide need-blind financial aid.
Is an Ivy League School right for you?
Only you will be able to answer this question! Some factors that you may consider are: - Differences in Ivy League demographics (some are located in small towns and some in large cities; some have specific religious affiliations, and some do not, etc.).
- A critical factor is what you want to reap out of your college education. Though Ivy League schools generally justify their good reputations, some of their programs are stronger than the others. For example, If you are interested in engineering, you probably would want to look beyond the eight universities listed above.
- Will you be able to survive in the Ivy environment? That's the question you need to answer! Will you be able to cope with the rigorous academic curriculum in an Ivy? Will you be able to justify your being into an Ivy?
What factors are considered for admission to an Ivy college?
• Start Early - Colleges look at your four years of high school grades (i.e., 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th), courses and extracurricular activities involvement. They want to see that students are challenging themselves year after year and going in depth of their participation in activities that are of interest to them. College admissions teams want to know that you are a master of one thing and, not a jack of all extracurriculars.
• Strong Academic Curriculum – Just as college courses are designed to get more rigorous and intense with each passing year, so should your high school courses too! Colleges want to see students taking difficult courses each year on a rising grade trend so they can understand if you are prepared to take up a heavy college course load. So, it is advisable to take the most challenging courses you can find at your school.
• Essays - The Ivy League institutions ask supplementary essay questions in extension to the main Common Application essay. For example, Brown and Columbia often ask the supplementary essay “Why This College?”. These kind of supplemental essays are extremely critical because they are usually school-specific and serve as a means for the colleges to get to understand your candidature better. It’s important for students applying to any highly selective school, not just the Ivies, to submit well-drafted, compelling essays that convey their opinion, interests, who they are as a student and person, and how they would contribute to the college community.
• Demonstrated Interest - Highly selective college that might be fighting(not literally) against one another for highly qualified candidates, want to admit students who genuinely want to attend their school and are, hence, likely to join the college if admitted. Because of this uncertainty and the necessity to manage yield, colleges consider demonstrated interest i.e. the level of interest students have displayed in their specific school so that they can predict who is most likely to enroll in their school and who is not! Things like contact with the admissions office, visits, applying early, interviews, etc. are all considered components of demonstrated interest. One of the most helpful ways for students to express their interest is to apply in the early round of deadlines, as early decisions are binding (meaning a student must enroll if admitted) and single-choice early action limits a student from applying to another private school until they receive a decision from the first school.
Is it worth applying to any other school and not the Ivies?
It is important to note that the qualities that make for a good education are not just limited to the Ivy League Schools! You can look for features like high teaching standards, low student-to-faculty ratio, strong research support at other universities and more. Moreover, non-Ivy League institutions might offer things that are relevant to you and that you could not find at the eight universities – for example, a climate that doesn't include ice and snow. Also, an Ivy League education comes at a price, both in the tuition and in anxiety over the schools' highly competitive admissions.
Yale, Princeton, and Harvard are almost always seen as the pinnacle of U.S. universities. But an Ivy League school degree does not guarantee a comfortable post-undergraduate life in a high-rise New York office complete with a beautiful skyline view of Manhattan. It takes more than just an Ivy League degree to land your future dream career and job.
Are Stanford & MIT Ivy League Schools?
No. There are only eight Ivy League institutions which are: Harvard, UPenn, Princeton, Yale, Cornell, Columbia, Dartmouth and Brown. Stanford University & MIT are elite schools, sometimes even more selective for some courses than the Ivies, but they don’t have the 'Ivy' tag.
How Mnemonic can help you to get into an Ivy League School?
Mnemonic focuses on guiding high-ability motivated and accomplished students. At Mnemonic, our admissions experts work with a few selected students and spend much more time per student than the majority of conventional 'college consultants do. We are expert in helping you draft your winning essays that stand above the slogging competition. Through comprehensive, personalized, detailed guidance and high-level strategic planning, we help maximize your competitive stature, so that you achieve success in the admissions process.
With our expert assistance and experience, our students have got admission in various Ivy League Universities and other top colleges all across the world! For details about our packages, please contact us.