Is it REALLY that hard to get into ivy league or private universities?

It is really hard to get into the elite private colleges and ivy leagues. I stressed like crazy and did TONS of research (I graduated in June). I can only speak from personal experience, but I had a 2360 SAT, 9 APs (all 5s and one four), volunteering, club presidency, and I was rejected from Yale, waitlisted at Brown and accepted at Georgetown. Search around online, you’ll find a ton of people listing their stats and where they got in and you can see where you match up. Most of all, the elite schools are not looking for someone who is smart or motivated or has character, but someone who is rare. If there are maybe 50 people like you in the country, you may have already lost your spot 🙁

That said, however, don’t get hung up on it. Really. I don’t know what your financial situation is like, but unless you are really lucky you won’t be able to afford them anyway. I’m attending my state school on a full scholarship that includes study abroads in England, Singapore and Germany that are paid for in full. I know that if I had taken the spot at Brown or Georgetown I would have a hard time studying abroad, I would graduate in a ton of debt, but most of all I would have to work all throughout my college years and scrape every penny. Work study would mean I would have to work all year long and just send my paycheck straight to the college, and I wouldn’t be able to take the unpaid internships that look so amazing to employers and grad schools during the summers because I would have to earn enough money to last me through the school year. Also, do think about what you want to do after college. There is almost no need-based fin aid for grad school, so you would have to pay $40-60k per year, and if you go into the workforce and do something cool like live in the city you have to pay for your apartment. There’s a glamorous side to taking the cheap way out too….and I know so many people who are miserable at expensive schools. If you’re still stressed out, research top 100 CEOs or something else you admire. About less than half have prestigious undergrad schools on their resumees. So relax! It’s really a win-win for you. :O)

Most of those places have maybe 10 applicants for every position available. The university’s are not growing bigger while the number of outgoing high school seniors are. Most applicants are qualified and meet the standards that they saw in guidebooks and websites. But still, the elite universities must reject the majority of qualified applicants.

It is certainly not easy to get into the established elites. But it is really as hopeless as it seems. You can certainly apply to multiple institutions. Statistically, applying to 7 colleges with an 20% acceptance rate each would still leave you an 80% chance to get into one of them. There are also plenty of alternative options to be found in lesser known liberal arts colleges and such.

The true Ivy League? Yes.

Private universities? Not necessarily.

Just as with public universities, private universities vary wildly in how difficult it is to be admitted. For example, it’s actually harder to get into some public schools (like UC-Berkeley and UVA) than some Ivy League schools.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

You stand a chance of making it.

Now, can you pay the $40,000 to $50,000 a year tuition!

let’s just say, the janitors even have degrees, from the community college in sanitary engineering….