Comparing Ivy League Colleges: Panel

Webinar Transcription

2024-08-13 – Comparing Ivy League Colleges: Panel

Lydia: Hello, everyone. Welcome to, “Comparing Ivy League Colleges: Panel.” My name is Lydia Hollon, and I’m going to be your moderator tonight. I’m also a senior advisor at CollegeAdvisor, and I’ve been with the company for about three years now. And in addition to being an advisor, I also am the proud co captain of our essay review team.

And I’m also a graduate of New York University. In addition to my work with CollegeAdvisor, I am an education consultant, and And I am a former high school teacher. To orient everyone with the webinar timing for tonight, we’re going to start off with the presentation, then answer your questions in a live Q&A.

On the sidebar, you can download our slides and you can start submitting questions in the Q& A tab. As a heads up regarding the Q& A, we cannot give you personalized admissions assessments. So please do not share your profile or any really, really personal details in the questions because we cannot summarize your chance of getting into any college or give super detailed specific advice.

So try to keep things general or make sure that the questions that you ask could also apply to other potential students that are listening to our webinar tonight. Also we will be recording this session so that you can review the webinar again later. So if you ever need to go get something. eat, go to the bathroom, feel okay doing that.

You’ll always be able to watch this back later. Now let’s go ahead and meet our panelists.

Shall I go? Yeah, you can go. Okay, hi, my name is Mariko Rooks. I graduated from Yale University, actually, twice. I did a joint bachelor’s and master’s in public health degree, so my bachelor’s degrees were in the history of science, medicine, public health, and ethnic studies, and then my master’s in public health, was a concentration in social and behavioral sciences with a specific focus on U.

S. health justice. Excited to be here today. Hi everyone. My name is Manuel Gomez Castaño. I graduated from Princeton University class of 2020 in politics. I later went on to do my master’s in the Hagan Public Administration where I’m currently doing my PhD in the same program. I’ve worked as a consultant for the United Nations and different political institutions in my home country of Colombia and I’ve also been a senior advisor here and CollegeAdvisor for around two years now and really excited to share my experience with all of you tonight.

Hi everyone, my name is Maria Acosta Robayo and I graduated from Harvard class of 2020 where I studied sociology and health policy and where I was pre med. Um, in the past four years I’ve been working in government consulting in D. C. primarily but I just moved back to To Cambridge, living on Harvard campus, um, as my partner goes to law school here.

And so it feels pretty full circle to come back, um, and be a resident tutor for undergrad. Great. Thank you. So before we get into the meat and potatoes of the presentation for tonight, I just want to do a quick poll asking the audience tonight. What grade are you in? And if you are a parent, feel free to either answer as your student or you can just choose the other option to indicate that you are not a student.

So while I give our audience a chance to answer that question, I’m curious to hear from our panelists. What makes you want to attend an Ivy specifically rather than the hundreds of other selective schools that are in the United States?

That’s a great question. I think for me, one of the biggest focuses was how am I going to get a rich, interdisciplinary education surrounded by students that are equally motivated to not just go to college to, you know, have a good job and like secure a better life, which, you That’s a totally reasonable, um, you know, expectation, right, of, of college and in our particular country and meritocratic system.

Um, but also kids who are really, really interested in changing the world and building new things. And I think that the Ivies have a lot of flexible infrastructure and funding to allow you that chance to build and create. And so seeing that across the board at all eight of these schools made me feel confident that I would be able to really imagine and create things across a variety of disciplines outside of the classroom.

I’ll go second. Um, to be perfectly honest, I never had dreamed of even applying to an Ivy League university growing up, uh, coming from a low income household where no one had gone to university before. It wasn’t really something that I, you know, I had even thought about, but, uh, certain conditions in my life around high school.

Kind of led me to that aspiration and I dared to dream and I ended up being able to go to the university that I wanted to go to most. So I think it was just a lot of luck and fortune. Yeah, I would say my story is similar to Manuel’s. I, my parents always, um, had big dreams for me and encouraged me to do anything I set my mind to, but I think moving to the States and not really having a network and knowing people who had gone to an Ivy League just made it seem Kind of like one of those, um, just kind of like shoot your shot kind of decisions in senior year.

Um, I was very dead set on becoming a doctor. And so my mindset was, I’m going to be the best possible doctor I can be, whether I go to Harvard or I stay local in Miami. And so I kind of just shot my shot with the grades that I had. And it was more so the mentality of, um, I’m going to try my best in school, try to get the grades that would be necessary for any, or, and the achievements that I wanted to do in high school, um, and hope that that was going to be something that allowed me the opportunity to either walk through an open door in Miami for schools there, or to an Ivy League, um, and most of my consideration there was Ivy Leagues have a big endowment, and so I knew I needed it.

a scholarship, um, and knew that the Ivies would be able to provide that. Great. So I’m going to go ahead and close the poll now. And I think this is the first time I’ve ever moderated a webinar where we got 100 percent of the same response. So 100 percent of the audience listening tonight is in 11th grade, which makes sense.

Um, 11th grade is a great time to be thinking about what colleges you may want to explore and just be thinking about college applications in general. So hopefully everyone listening tonight will benefit from this conversation. I’ll go ahead and pass it off to you all now to get into the gist of our presentation.

Wonderful. So I think I’m up first. I’m going to talk a little bit about my college application process and then I’ll pass it along to everyone to do the same. So for me, my situation was a little bit different than perhaps your average student, because when I was in high school, I was not only being recruited.

Sort of academically by different colleges and taking the normal steps of, you know, you tour, you decide you like the college and you apply, but I was also being recruited athletically for a couple of different sports. And so my timeline was a little bit different. Normally, when you’re considering an athletic recruitment offer, you want to have your college locked down by your senior fall as opposed to your senior spring.

So I definitely started looking a little bit earlier than, um, you know, folks who are not being recruited athletically. And so that very much shaped my decision. Not only what I was looking for academically, but also what I was looking for, um, in terms of an athletic and team environment. And so when it came to the Ivy specifically, I actually found though that the recruitment process both academically and athletically was rather easy.

Um, for me, the Ivy’s were kind of really hit or miss on my personal vibes and I am a big instinct person. And so I could sort of tell when I, set foot on campus that this was a school that felt like it was the right place for me, or this was a school that didn’t feel like a particularly good match. And one of the, my favorite questions to ask on these tours that I felt was a really good list, this test of a particular place was asking a, whoever was doing the tour, um, what they would change if they could change one thing about their school.

And that actually helped me get a sort of real sense of, um, not only what You know, people’s honest answers were to that question, but also sort of what the university itself was prioritizing and the kind of image that I wanted to put out to the public and what that said about what the school institutionally valued.

I also very strongly feel that you should go where you’re wanted. Um, if a school makes a really big effort to recruit you and to retain you, um, then that is something that I think, uh, should not really be overlooked. And actually was what ended up. Getting me to choose Yale, despite the fact that I was not offered a like division one priority recruitment for that school was that academically, I received a likely letter, which means that I was informed that I was accepted through regular admission, not athletic admission early.

And. They did a really good job of calling and following up and offering me resources and offering me support even before I actually went to this school and that made a huge, huge difference for me. As some of our other panelists have touched on, financial aid at private schools, particularly schools like the Ivies, which do have these incredibly large endowments, um, It’s actually sometimes stronger or they’ll give you more aid than public schools.

And of course, this depends on your family’s location and tax bracket, but being from California in particular, where property values and cost of living is really high and having a private school that was willing to sort of leverage that as part of my financial aid package that made a huge difference for me.

In terms of what it came down to when I was looking at my final option. So, um, I think that a lot of folks tend to think that schools like the IVs, um, are really, really expensive and that is true. But if you’re someone who qualifies for financial aid, that aid actually might be better. So I would thoroughly, thoroughly encourage all of you to check out.

Um, every school’s financial aid calculator, and if you are with CollegeAdvisor to book an appointment with our financial aid team, I think they’re really fantastic at giving you a realistic overview of what you might actually need and what you might actually get as part of your college process. Um, so I was considering a couple of different Ivy’s.

My final three choices were. Dartmouth, Yale, and Pomona College, which is similar in statistics, though not part of the original eight Ivy schools that were the first founded in the U. S. I ended up choosing Yale specifically, first and foremost, because I saw an incredible amount of formal institutional support that I knew would really get me through this college application process and the transition process as well.

I am from Los Angeles, and so I knew that anywhere on the East Coast was going to be a huge move for me away from my family, away from my friends, and away from my community, and I wanted to ensure that I would have a safety net, and Yale was really intentional about demonstrating the ways in which it would make sure, the school would make sure that I wouldn’t fall through the cracks, and that I would have the support I needed, um, from my family.

really hands on first year counselors that act both as RA’s but also as your de facto support system. They review your schedule with you, they make appointments with advisors, they connect you to faculty members and students that might be of use, and they are on call 24 7 to having the residential college system, which a lot of folks talk about at Yale.

Um, basically think of it like Hogwarts houses, uh, but there’s 14 of them. You eat there, you sleep there, your academic Dean is based there. You have events like house, uh, like house dances that are there. Um, and you also get to live in a suite system, which is basically a mini apartment system with your friends.

Um, so I knew that from a living perspective, I would be really well supported. And as a BIPOC student or Black Indigenous People of Color, collectively, I really, really love The level of support that students are offered at the institutional level. Yale has four cultural centers that are all funded by the university and also provide, um, full time professional development staff, uh, at those centers to support you and your needs as a student, academic, cultural, social, and political.

There are also. really great pre orientation programs for students of color and marginalized students specifically that orient you to campus and give you resources such as extra time with financial aid, extra time with class scheduling advisors, and all sorts of other really useful community building networks that made a huge difference for me in terms of feeling prepared going into college and sustaining me throughout that process.

So, Those things were really, really important to me and really swayed me in my decision making. Uh, the next thing I would say is that I think Yale’s culture and approach to learning really centers joy and curiosity and exploration. Um, with the exception of a couple of like really big weighted pre med classes, there’s not a ton of direct competition between students for things like grades.

And I think that really sort of. To and the way in which students support and relate to each other. I would have friends that were really brilliant specialists in their own fields. Um, and it was really wonderful to be able to sort of cheer them on and to not not go into an environment that felt. Really sort of directly competitive from an academic perspective, which was what I had found a lot in high school.

So I really cherish that and I feel like I learned best that way. So I really, really appreciated that particular approach. Um, as I mentioned, I was sort of directly recruited from an academic perspective. And so the likely letter process also really did help. Um, I would get calls for almost two months.

At least once a week from a student or faculty member or Yale administrator who wanted to talk to me about the school and give me sort of resources and options if I were to choose that particular school. And so that campaign worked. Um, shout out to my admissions officer. And so that certainly helped me consider the school at the time, but that is a little bit unique to my experience, I think.

For students who are thinking about applying to Yale, I would say my first piece of advice, and I think this goes for any selective school, is truly understand why Yale or why that school, whatever school it is you’re applying to, understand what you like specifically about that school. All competitive schools have comparable academic and job prospects.

Like you will get a great education, whether you go to Princeton, Yale, or Harvard. So ask yourself what it is about Yale’s culture, priorities, and infrastructure that make it a school that you can see yourself at for four years or maybe more. And I felt like across the board, there were so many different things that I could attend to specifically that made me feel like Yale was going to be a really good fit for me.

The next thing I’d recommend is to take a tour. Um, there are now virtual tour options available for lots of different schools, but I’d really recommend doing in person if you can. Um, I’d really pay attention to what the tour highlights. If you’re in person, how you feel in the space and about the space.

And I’d also recommend staying in touch with your tour guide if you take an in person tour. I’m actually still friends with my Yale tour guide. She was really essential in helping connect me with folks that made the decision making process much easier. And as a tour guide at Yale, I’m still in touch with people that I gave tours to.

And one of my favorite stories is that my very last year of school, one of my, uh, tour guides chose Dartmouth and we actually ended up playing against each other in a water polo tournament. That was a very fun full circle moment. Um, I would say that as you do your application, be honest, um, but with your best foot forward.

So obviously don’t reveal things that you shouldn’t be revealing in a college application, but do try to. Be true to what you actually like and what you actually care about and not just what you think admissions officers want to hear because If they like you for who you are You will probably be the best fit at that school and if they like a person that isn’t really you That may not be a good fit for you in the first place first place if you’re trying to like contort yourself Into something that you think that school might like Um, and my last piece of advice generally is be earnest and like things unironically.

It’s okay You To be into stuff, even if that stuff doesn’t seem like cool or it doesn’t seem like it’s important. Um, having enthusiasm and having passion and I think especially at a place like Yale about things that are a little bit quirky and a little bit niche is something that’s really valued. And I think that’s something that carries over into everything from the kind of events that the school throws to the conversations that you’ll have with people in the dining hall or as you’re walking down the street.

Um, so those would be things that I would say. Resonate really well and Gale applications and make it easy now as an interviewer to tell who might be a fit here and who might really enjoy the process of being at the school. Okay, turning it over to the next panelist. Awesome Rico. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences.

Um, so what was my college application process like? Well, as you’ve heard, I graduated from Princeton, but in the beginning, I’ll be honest, there was a lot of doubt and uncertainty. I didn’t really know how this process worked, what I was supposed to do. Um, I knew since junior year that I wanted to apply to Ivy League schools, but I didn’t really feel that confident because I didn’t understand the process.

Similar to Mariko, I Was also being recruited, um, because of sports. I played football. I also played basketball and I did a track. Um, so during the summers I would go to different universities, attend different camps, and I think it was during all of those visits that I ended up realizing that this might be something realistic.

Um, but then again, I didn’t have, at least from Princeton, That direct recruitment interest. Um, I had focused on other schools at the time in terms of athletics. So I did try to seek guidance. You know, from counselors, from teachers, which helped in a sense, but at the same time, I still felt a little bit uneasy.

Um, so I just kind of started with what I thought made the most sense. So I created a first, my list of, of dream schools, which, uh, you know, a term that you would hear quite often, if, and when you join us at CollegeAdvisor, you’ll hear about reach schools, um, which are schools that, you know, are very competitive, and even if you do.

Uh, meet the requirements of kind of the kind of student that looking at, you know, it’s still hard to get it. Um, but I wanted to be somewhat strategic without even knowing that I was doing something that kind of has formally been described as targeting safety schools. But I also tried to apply to schools that were maybe a bit easier to get into, um, although they were still somewhere competitive.

And that’s what I mean by somewhat, you know, some important conditions. I still wanted to apply to schools that I would be happy going to, even though they were easy to get into. So that was the first thing that I did was create this list. Um, throughout my junior summer, you know, aside from going to these camps and trying to be recruited in different schools, I began to prepare for my applications.

Um, what did I know preparing my applications? Uh, entailed it with just a Google search, you know, with basically the basic information that I was able to find. That’s kind of what what I did, um, for for good or worse. That’s what I ended up doing in the beginning and everything that I read, you know, told me that in senior fall, I had to really dedicate my time to the application process.

So that’s what I did. Um, and I dedicated my time daily to perfect every component of my application. Um, there’s a lot of parts to an application, right? You have your activities list, you have your resume, um, you have smaller essays. But what I tried focusing on the most were, were. Uh, the bigger essays, the common app essays.

Back when I applied, it was a little different to what the essay process looks like today. Uh, we didn’t have as many choices in terms of, uh, you know, which prompts you could pick. It was a little bit more, more forced upon you. But nevertheless, that’s what I did kind of on a daily process, a daily basis.

Um, I ended up applying to most Ivy League schools and some other schools like Stanford that are not Ivy’s, but that are also very prestigious. And in March I knew that I was admitted to Princeton, Columbia, and Stanford. I didn’t apply to any school early. Um, I didn’t even know that that existed, to be quite honest.

So I applied to all of them regular decision. That’s why in March is when I knew that I was admitted to these schools. Aside from Princeton, you know, were there any other Ivy League schools that were kind of at the top of my list? Uh, yes. So, Harvard, Columbia, and Penn were schools that I was also very interested in.

You know, for the most part, the reason why these schools were interesting to me, uh, first was location. So, I wanted to at least be near or have access to a major city or at least access to an urban setting. You know, I kind of grew up my whole life in these urban settings. So, uh, very rural schools was something that kind of worried me.

I wasn’t sure whether I would feel too comfortable in that kind of setting. So that was something that was very important. Um, the next thing was financial aid, you know, as I mentioned before, uh, I would be the 1st person in my family to have gone to university. I came from a low income. A single parent household.

So knowing that financial aid would be there was, uh, I think also one of the things that called my intention the most to applying to Ivy League schools, because for the most part, they are extremely, extremely generous and in my, you know, uh, advising process throughout, I think, seven years now, advising.

In college application processes, they basically all have the same philosophy that they don’t want money to be an issue. If they accept you, it’s because they think that you are a very good addition to what they have on campus. And, you know, a quick note of clarity, this is not. Uh, taken into account in your application.

They don’t accept you or not accept you based on your financial aid profile. That’s something that is completely independent and irrelevant and irrelevant to that. So they do try to stick to that kind of philosophy that they don’t want money to be an issue. Um, aside from that, you know, sports and culture was something that at the time was important, I say at the time because, um, you know, once you end up beginning to, to study and you kind of open your eyes to new opportunities, maybe things that were important to you before end up becoming less important later on, but at least at that moment, sports was a huge thing to me.

So I also wanted it. To at least be in a school that had a winning program that had dedicated, you know, resources to, to, you know, to sports. So all of these schools for the most part, you know, maybe except Columbia, um, definitely had that. And then the last two things that I really looked at was, you know, I wanted the school with an undergraduate focus.

And I think here’s where Princeton really stood out to me. Um, I wanted the field that I was in a school that I wasn’t just one student amongst many. But one student that was going to receive a lot of attention that was going to be able to speak to professors one on one, uh, to be able to feel like I’m being taught directly, um, and Princeton’s.

Undergraduate program just really, really hit that on its head. That’s kind of what their main focus is. Um, so that was something that definitely called my attention to Princeton more than Harvard, Columbia, or Penn. And then the last thing, and it’s the last thing for a reason. So, I mean, ranking and prestige is something that crossed my mind.

Um, obviously you can’t go wrong with any of these schools. They’re all, they are all extremely prestigious. Um, but I guess I put ranking there, Because I want to be honest with myself. If ranking or procedure is not important, I would not have applied to any Ivy League schools. So obviously that was something that I took into account, but it was the last thing on my mind.

I could care less if they were ranked 1st or ranked 5th or any of those sorts of things. Um, I think by the time that you are applying to Ivy League schools or. Ivy League, similar sort of schools, you can’t really go wrong. And it’s more about finding, as Mariko was saying, a place that you feel comfortable in and a place where you would see yourself for four or more years.

Um, so ultimately, you know, Princeton for me was the most appealing offer. And I think this list last detail is very important. My visit really sealed the deal. So, um, I didn’t visit campuses previous to being accepted. Thank you You know, when I did visit campuses was during the summer for, you know, these sports programs that I was talking about, but that’s, that’s very different because you kind of go for a very specific, um, objective, but in terms of actually going to campus and kind of seeing how classes are run and stuff like that.

I didn’t go previous to being accepted, but after, so I only visited schools that I was already accepted to. And when I visited Princeton, you know, for me, that was kind of a deal breaker. You know, once I got there, I knew and felt this is where.

And in terms of, you know, what advice I would have, so I think I would definitely, uh, you know, piggyback off of what Mariko has said, um, understand the why of that school. So for me, I would say, do your research. So, um, you know, you’re going to hear a lot of things about prestige and ranking and all these sorts of things, but.

What I mean by research is going above and beyond that kind of what kind of professors are there, you know, for the topics that are of interest to you. You know, what kinds of classes do they have? Uh, what’s your campus like? Um, what’s your culture like? What are the different things that, you know, students say about, you know.

Uh, the vibes, right? Uh, about how it feels being there. So that’s what I mean by doing your research. So that’s what I did a lot of, you know, I definitely took advantage of Google. Um, I had a lot of tabs open back then, you know, trying to get as much information as possible about all these different schools to really see maybe where I would feel the most comfortable.

Um, I would say plan ahead. I think the worst thing you can do in terms of applications is leave things to the last minute. You’re really just doing yourself a disservice Your application is not going to be as good as it could have been if you had planned ahead So that’s something that I would definitely say plan ahead Schedule your time do things little by little and then that way, you know, you’re just going to have a much better application Um, you know, I would start creating your student profile.

I mean since you’re all in 11th grade I think you’re kind of in that do or die moment where you have to start doing this Um, and what that means is, you know making strategic decisions, right? You know, everything that you do, the activities that you do, have it be a combination of both things that you like doing, but also things that are going to strengthen your application.

If you have a specific club that you, you know, enjoy, you know, try really putting your best foot forward within that club so that you can end up being in a leadership position, being able to occupy or do things that are really gonna, you know, strengthen your application. So that’s what I mean by creating a student profile and making strategic decisions.

It’s basically. Think of both things, your personal happiness at the present, but also how it’s going to affect positively your application in the future. Um, you know, invest time on your applications, especially on your essays. I think this is the point that I, um, you know, stress the most. You know, essays are, for me, the most important part of the application.

It’s your opportunity to shine. It’s your opportunity to stand out. You know, for the most part, the rest of the application is kind of similar amongst all students. You know, you’re all gonna have resumes. You’re all gonna have your grades. You’re all gonna have your activities list, but your essays is where you can kind of voice who you are, where you came from, what your story is, all these different kinds of things that allow you to hit that uniqueness factor, which is kind of like that sought after, uh, thing that everyone is looking for in these applications.

It’s being unique, right? But in a positive way. In a way that, you know, a, an admissions committee is going to say, this is the kind of uniqueness that we want on our campus. So, your essays are where you’re going to be able to accomplish that. So I would definitely say invest, invest the most amount of time that you can on your essays.

And the last thing, if you can visit, you know, for me, I didn’t have the opportunity previous to being accepted or during the application cycle. Um, but it is something that really makes a huge difference. You know. The 3D online, uh, virtual campus tours are great too. You know, not everyone has the, the financial resources to, to fly out or to take a train or to be able to visit and all, all of that is understandable.

So if you can’t do that, you know, virtual tours, definitely do them and see as much as you can. But if you do have the opportunity to visit, I would say do so. Um, there’s just something that can’t really be expressed in words, but. When you visit, you definitely feel, you feel in the different places, whether you want to be there or not.

Um, it’s not something that you can really explain, but it definitely is something real. And for me, that was super real when I went to Princeton. Uh, just looking around campus, I said this is where I want to be. This is definitely where I want to be. No other school is going to make me feel this way. So I would definitely stay, visit.

And with all of that, I now give it over to our next panelist.

Great. Thank you so much, Al. Um, so I’ll share a little bit about my experience and then I think, um, I’ll try to do this quick so we have time for q and a as well. Um, but my experience was also pretty similar. I think we have several varsity athletes on this call. Might have just been by accident, but um, yeah, that we all share that kind of thread.

For my application process, it started with applying to QuestBridge. So I had heard about QuestBridge. As an opportunity for, um, students from low income families to get matched to Ivy League schools are very highly ranked schools, um, in a way that felt really personalized that felt like they were, um, considering the different challenges and obstacles that, um, sometimes you had to face growing up in a low income household and, um, Just providing a lot of support in the actual application process.

So in my head, that was a great opportunity to one apply early and if anything, just get a lot of advice and counsel on the application process, considering I didn’t have that background. Um, so because, uh, the application is so early, I had to confirm like my teachers of recommendations really early on in junior year.

Um, I had to like take my, all my standardized tests. I think I took it my junior spring. Um, started doing, like, my essays the summer between junior and senior year. Um, and regardless of whether you’re applying to CrossBridge or not, I highly recommend that you start doing essays in the summer, just because a lot of these essay prompts are really existential questions.

Um, sometimes, like, it just asks about, like, your identity, like, obstacles you face, like, very, Um, difficult questions that if you’re 17, 18 years old, you might have not really had the time to process all those things. Um, and so giving yourself enough space to not just be like, Write well, but to also think about those moments and like enjoy a little bit of the catharsis that comes with writing about those prompts Um was really important.

So and I started that pretty early on in my summer Thought about what my safety and my likely schools were gonna be and pretty much for that I was looking at what schools have programs that I found interesting and that are close to home because I needed If I wasn’t gonna get a full school Financial package from the school that I needed to stay home.

And so I was thinking about schools in the Miami area. And so I had the schools that I wanted to lock down. Then I looked into what schools had big endowments and provided generous financial aid. And that kind of determined the reach schools I was gonna apply to. And with QuestBridge, um, the benefit there is that if you do get selected or matched with the school, um, they give you four years of full financial aid.

And so that was like my other strategy was very financial, um, aid focused in my case. Um, so I applied to the school. So yeah, I got matched, uh, with Princeton. Um, and for me personally, I just had grown up in a city surrounded by lots of different like other cities. And so I know I wanted to be, um, in a location that was really close to a big city like Boston.

And so for me, Cambridge was perfect. Um, and so I thought more about, okay, if I know I got into Princeton, it’s an amazing school. I would love to go there. I was like, I even like posted my Facebook picture. I was on my route there. And then kind of had to take a step back and ask, okay, now that I feel like the piece that I got into a really great school, do I want to put in the extra work to apply to a school that would potentially be a better fit for me?

Um, and so that’s when I applied to Harvard because again, of the just location preference. I think also, um, I had just heard the name Harvard come up so much when I was like young, that it just seemed like this, like a dream to try to apply to. And having gotten to Princeton, I was like, okay. Maybe this is an opportunity for me to kind of shoot my shot there.

Um, and so to tell you the truth, like, And this might be the case for others on the call or others that listen to this webinar. It just became like, the names that I was familiar with really guided me in figuring out like, okay, which one do I want to try? And that’s totally okay. I think in hindsight, I really wish I had done even more research to see if it was just something that I had, and grown up with or whether it would really be the best fit.

Luckily, I did go to a campus visit that kind of confirmed some of those. Um, but if you’re in this position, I definitely, uh, would take a moment to step back and think about, okay, what are the schools I’ve heard are really great. Let me actually do some of my own research to see if they would be great for me specifically.

Um, but yeah, I got a likely letter for Harvard, um, similar to like Mariko. And so I kind of got a sense of, okay. I actually had no idea what a likely letter was. To be honest, I thought I had gotten in initially. And so for those out there, the likely letter doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re in, although it often does like kind of follow that.

If anybody else was wondering, like, what that likely letter was, it is usually kind of a a testament of them really wanting you to come to their school, but it’s not a confirmation. And so just take that into account. Talk to your admissions, uh, your advising counselor at CollegeAdvisor at your school.

Um, and so I was really excited when I got that a little bit confused, but equally excited when it actually got accepted, um, got a chance to celebrate with my family. And then I went to, um, opening days. I could, I could choose to either go to Princeton or to Harvard. And so I had another friend from like a neighboring school that was going to Harvard, so we both decided to go together, really loved it, loved the campus.

Um, I agree with, uh, what both Manuel and Rico have said in the past about, or previously on this call about, um, just feeling like if you’re walking around campus and it kind of feels like it could be home and you’re liking, again, for lack of a better word, just like the vibes in the school and the environment that you’re in, um, just trust your gut on that.

Um, I did and I really loved it. Um, Again, I’m here again, four years after graduating, and so definitely in a very different position, but I really loved the campus feel. I love the city, um, and I think specifically for pre meds, um, it was just a really great opportunity to be close to some of the best hospitals in the country.

And so I got a chance to do a lot of great research because of that. So, uh, was that considering other Ivy League schools at the time? I was. Again, Princeton was a fantastic school that I was excited to go to and, um, I gave some of that info in the previous slide, but that’s the school that I was mostly looking into.

Um, what I looked at to decide whether I was going to go to Princeton or Harvard was, um, programs of study. I think both of them were very similar in that they had liberal arts programs. They had pretty much the same majors and minors that I was interested in. And so that didn’t change things too much for me.

Um, but I did, um, I was interested in medical anthropology, um, which is kind of, An opportunity to look at medicine through the lens of like stories and focus a lot more on like the patient experience and pretty much the father of medical anthropology was teaching at Harvard and I that immediately kind of ring alarm, not alarm bells, but like.

bells of like, wow, I really want to go to the school and take a class with him. Um, the late Paul Farmer, Dr. Paul Farmer was also teaching at the school. Um, and he was just the doctor I had like read books about and also did a lot of things in regard to like, um, social impact in medicine. And so I was looking less so about like the class titles and the, uh, programs of study and more so who are the professors teaching?

And do I, you know, Would I be interested in taking their classes? And again, unfortunately I had read about some of, um, some of the books and materials that professors had taught at Harvard. And I knew like, I would be so excited to take their class. Um, another consideration was financial aid. Again, thankfully for both, um, they gave me full financial aid.

Harvard was not part of the QuestBridge program. And so I didn’t know at the time that Harvard would offer me full financial aid. And so as I was making that decision, one of the key considerations is can you match what Princeton is giving me through QuestBridge? Um, so once that was met, I think that was, um, again, one thing off my plate.

I’ve like trying to figure out which one to go to, um, location already talked about ranking. I think honestly, sometimes. You know, once you are, once you get into a school, you’re like, okay, well, which one would be better? All these schools are amazing. Like, they change in rankings all the time. Um, both of them have extremely talented and exceptional professors, really great residential life.

Um, and like opportunities for careers afterwards. And so I think in my head, that is, that was a consideration one that you might be having. And one that I would say I don’t think was too different between these different schools. Um, I already talked about professors for postgraduate opportunities. I was looking into going to med school.

And so I knew it’d probably take a year or two to do some research while I applied to medical school. And, um, What better place for me than, uh, Boston where there were again, lots of great hospitals. I was interested in doing research at, um, and so for different folks, like you might consider, for example, like I just moved from D.C. and folks who went to Georgetown and GW and schools in D.C. just had really amazing opportunities to attend, like, very cool political events to meet people to network. And so I think if someone’s really interested in government, yes, maybe Harvard. It’s like very high ranking and also has amazing connections in the politics world like, but the location of DC could also help with those postgrad opportunities for folks in that area, the part the parallel in Boston for me was, um, academia and biotech.

Um, so here there’s, those are two big hubs, um, in a similar way that maybe in California, it’s more like either like media and like film as well as like, uh, just like tech companies. So just think about the type of industries you want to go into is also a consideration in the school. Um, And then, and again, for me that Boston fit that bill.

Culture, I felt like even though at all of these schools you’re going to see some disparities in terms of like very, very high income students from very, very high income families, students from low income families. Um, and I thought that was going to create a bigger rift. But when I got to the school, To Harvard and the opening days, um, I met people who I had no idea what their socioeconomic income was until years after, like I was at Harvard and they were the most down to earth people.

And so I felt like, regardless of that, I didn’t feel like the people I interacted with, um, they felt like an isolating culture, like very guided by socio socioeconomic income, others might feel differently. But for me. Um, I felt like the people that, uh, were around me and I surrounded myself with, um, were very down to earth and just fostered a culture of, um, just all of us really wanting to study and, and were interested in niche topics and would be able to like talk about it, and that was the main thing that kind of held us all together.

Um, and the last thing I’ll talk about is extracurriculars. I, um, love to dabble. There was lots of different things that I wanted to try out in college. And one of the best things about Harvard is that they again, had the funding to sponsor a lot of my interests. And so there was opportunities to go ice climbing and opportunities to try new sport and to again, be on a varsity team and to travel if you were, you know, in specific music groups and stuff.

And so. Um, I thought, what a great place to just try my hand at lots of different things and have the funding to do that. Um, and so again, that was, those were all things that I considered when I was, um, deciding to, to accept Harvard’s, um, acceptance. And then, what advice do I have for students interested in applying to Harvard?

Um, I think a lot of this also applies to other schools. Um, but Carvey got time to look at your professors, classes, and just unique aspects of Harvard campus so that you could highlight them in your essays. Um, as Manuel said earlier, I think the essays are also really pretty much like a very critical part of your application, if not maybe the most important part in that it really helps to distinguish you from others with a very similar student profile.

Um, others might have very similar set of quantitative, um, data points in terms of like your GPA, your, your test scores, others might have like similar extracurriculars, but it is very rare that you would have someone with the same exact story as you, um, especially if you can tell it with a voice that sounds very unique and personal, and so I think that is really a place where you could distinguish yourself.

Um, kind of along those lines, don’t worry if your story or profile feels too common or too similar to other people’s. Um, you don’t have control over, uh, the cohort that you’re applying with. There might be in a given year, a lot of other pre meds in a given year, there might be less. Um, and so the only thing you really have control over is telling your own story as authentically and as well thought out as possible.

Um, and so don’t think about trying to make yourself sound, you know, like, Very different in an artificial way, just because you think it’s gonna stand out more. Like, just tell your story, um, and, like, trust that, like, that was the part that’s gonna stand out, because you don’t have control over any of the other things.

Um, And then if you’re an athlete, consider the recruiting process as one of the many ways to flag your name. I think, um, I don’t know, growing up in Florida and playing tennis, there was competition. There was pretty fierce. And I think a lot of students who might have grown up in in that type of environment and played sports in that type of environment might not even consider applying to college.

Um, as an athletic recruit, but I would say definitely try your hand. Reach out to coaches, ask your coaches to make connections with other coaches, go to camps if, if, uh, like Harvard has camps and other opportunities for, um, athletes to get noticed. And so I would definitely recommend, um, if you are an athlete to try that route.

Um, and then I think this goes for anyone, whether you’re applying to Harvard or not, do your best in your academics and your extracurricular extracurriculars. Um, and then An extra thing for Harvard is like an extra plus. If you dive into community service and leadership opportunities, I think a big part of the way Harvard operates is like, they want to educate the next generation of leaders.

And so if you’re showing that you’re already someone who’s a leader and not only a leader in excelling in your own interests, but willing to teach others about it, willing to bring others into that and like someone who can be a community leader. Um, I think that is something that really resonates with the Harvard culture.

Um, that’s all for me. All right. Thank you so much. That concludes the presentation portion of our webinar. I hope that everyone listening at home found the information helpful and remember you can download the slides in the link in the handouts tab. Now we’re going to move into the live Q and a well, I will read the questions that you all have submitted.

And discuss them with our panelists. If your Q& A tab isn’t letting you continue to submit questions, just double check that you joined the webinar through the custom link in your email and not from the webinar landing page. Also, you can try logging out and logging back in through the link in your email.

And just as a reminder, we cannot give you personalized admissions assessments, so please do not share your profile in the questions or ask us to estimate your likelihood of getting into a specific school because we cannot summarize your chance of getting into a college in a single chat. So without further ado, let’s go ahead and dive into our first question for the night, which is, Is it appropriate ever to apply to all of the IVs, or for most people is it best to just pick the one that most aligns with your personality or your interests?

That’s a great question. Um, there are people who apply to all eight. There are people who get into all eight. They love doing a news story about that every year. I would say, though, really think through if doing eight pretty substantial applications with supplemental essays feels worth your time. And if you actually like it.

All eight of those schools. And so factoring in like, do you like the school? What is your likelihood of getting in based on your profile and how much time do you have? My general recommendation is, um, I wouldn’t say one, but if you have like two or three that you feel good about, then you can certainly apply to multiple IVs.

Um, I would suggest doing that so you don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. But I think only if you feel very ambitious, should you apply to all eight or maybe you just love all eight schools.

I agree. Um, I wish I would have told myself that a couple of years ago. I would have applied to much less schools that I, that I did. Um, yeah, I, I think it’s kind of somewhere in, in between, at least generally speaking, I would say apply to the ones that you feel, uh, the most connected to. And I feel that, you know, there’s also just a limited amount of time.

So the less applications you have, the better each one might be, you know, it’s just. There’s just so much you could do with the limited amount of time that you would have. So I wouldn’t, um, outright recommend applying to all of them. As Mariko said, there are some that are very ambitious. So if that’s you, I mean, go for it.

Why not? But, um, I don’t think it would be something that I would particularly recommend. Maybe somewhere in between. Three or four sounds pretty good.

Got it. So, um, another question that we have is kind of on the flip side of that. So we have someone who wants to apply to all eight and then another student who is wondering, I am the valedictorian of my class. I have a really high SCT score. Everyone is telling me that I should apply to an Ivy. Should you apply to an Ivy school just because you are strong academically?

Um, I can take a stab at this one first. Um, I think going to an Ivy definitely opens a lot of doors and it’s an American, an amazing, um, just education experience, uh, academic experience. And so I definitely would consider or think about why not apply, especially if you have a, such a strong profile. I think definitely think about which schools to apply to.

If you’re not in the camp of wanting to apply to all of them, then definitely take the time to really narrow down the ones you would be interested in applying. Um, but I, I think you should never count yourself out. And if you do have those strong statistics, I If you do have the interest of being in that type of academic environment, um, and having those doors open, then I don’t see, um, like a reason not to apart from, again, there is financial considerations of applications do cost money and they cost time, um, but if you are able to strategize in a way that allows you to kind of group essays together, to try to group things so that you’re not Kind of wasting time and are able to consolidate that those are just strategies to think about like potential barriers that could be holding a student back.

It’s like the fear of like, how long an application can take and definitely like surrounding yourself with support systems of talking through what are the barriers to applying, whether that is financial. Emotional or any, any other thing.

Another question that we’ve got is what is the culture like at Ivy league schools? I mean, you have so many students that were at the top of their class. Is it really competitive? Can it be toxic or is it usually supportive? So I think again, it really depends on the school, um, the structure and the format and also the kinds of students that are being selected.

Um, and I think every Ivy culture is different. I would say at Yale, it is intense. Um, people are really into what they’re into and they’re used to being good at what they’re into. And so definitely, I think there’s a lot of self drive, um, to do well. And there’s a lot of sort of push. I think everyone has internally.

Um, you know, you rarely see someone who coasts the entire time that they’re there. Um, again, though, for me, I don’t think it’s directly competitive that often, although some extracurriculars are competitive to get into, right. I think you can sort of pick and choose, um, you know, what you want to prioritize in your life that way.

But I do think like, One of the things that I do like about Yale like cultural wise are that it is very community oriented. Everyone always says the best part of the place is the people. And I really, really strongly agree with that. My Yale friends and mentors and colleagues are the best of all of those things.

Um, and also that. It’s like, I think in comparison to the other Ivies, like a little bit silly, and I really love that for us as a campus, um, in terms of the annual traditions that we have, and in terms of the opportunities that you get, um, and so I think that to me, like that like element of like fun and whimsy, um, was something that I think is really great.

Really offset, um, some of the, like, really, you know, reading 400 pages a week per class kind of energy and also, um, really encourage people to be creative and to be, and to really sort of express that sense of fun. So you do feel, at least in my opinion, like you’re getting a really full college experience.

I’d like to add on to that. Um, I think it also depends kind of what you seek. Uh, I think in my experience, having been in many places. Uh, there are things that are not super nice and others that are. Um, there’s good people everywhere. There’s not so good people everywhere too. Um, so I think it’s kind of more just surrounding yourself with what you feel is best for you.

Um, so that also just comes down to the decisions that you make. Uh, the kind of social circles that you want to surround yourself with. Um, but no, at least in my experience in Princeton, from what I’ve heard from a lot of colleagues around other Ivy League schools, they all kind of found their, their, their niche.

They found their circle. Um, there’s also people that have had bad experiences, but again, I feel it’s more of kind of what you choose to be surrounded by. In my experience, you know, even though I was a first generation low income student and in Princeton, there was definitely a lot of very affluent students from very affluent families.

Um, I never felt out of place. I never felt, um, kind of that discomfort of, you know, You know, different things that you might hear about Ivy League schools. But I think that also had to do with what I chose to be surrounded by. So I think that also plays a lot, um, in kind of the happiness that you might have in a specific place.

I would agree with that. I mean, I didn’t go to an Ivy League school, but, um, definitely with students that I’ve worked with. And even in my experience going to NYU, I think it’s definitely about who you seek out and then also, I think. At every college, sometimes it can be really specific to certain programs or a class that you’re in as well, um, that there can be a certain culture of competitiveness.

For example, I know at NYU, if it was a class that was pre med or graded on a curve, sometimes it was a little bit more intense and people not sharing information versus classes that were not like that and encouraged more collaboration. Um, it wasn’t quite as cutthroat and competitive. So. Definitely seeking out the kind of people that you want to be around.

One last thing I’d add there, just um, from the perspective of like a pre med, it also depends on what you decide to study. Um, if you decide to study something that doesn’t necessarily have a grad school after, that you need to be like grinding really hard to get a really high GPA, it could feel a little bit more, Sustainable.

I think sometimes as a pre med, like, there was just the competitive nature of there’s a certain number of schools, we’re all applying to them, and we’re all trying to get the best grades in our class, and sometimes classes were graded, like, on a curve. And sometimes only a certain number of A’s were given out.

And if you put like high performing students in that environment, they will be very competitive. And so, um, again, who you surround yourself with kind of mitigates that, but there are some fields that are just naturally more competitive and that also add a flavor to, to the culture. Definitely. So we’re going to take a quick break from the Q& A before jumping back in, just to remind you that CollegeAdvisors team of over 300 former admissions officers and admissions experts are ready to help you and your family navigate the college admissions process and one on one advising sessions.

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All right, so jumping back into the Q& A, another question that we have is, are there specific things that you should be thinking about when creating your application for an Ivy League school compared to other selective schools? So we already know that when applying to a selective school, you want to have strong academics, you want to have extracurriculars, and all those kinds of things.

But are there specific things that Ivy’s are looking for that may be another selective school, say like an NYU? Maybe isn’t necessarily expecting.

I think it’s a little bit of a tough question because I don’t think there’s one true answer to it as Maria had mentioned to you know, every admission cycle is different which kind of throws that question into a monkey wrench so, um, I think just generally speaking And also, you know, besides, you know, we’re all very different and we all have very different backgrounds, stories, et cetera.

Um, I think the best bet that you can try to make in terms of applying to an Ivy League school and what you might want to include in your application is whatever makes you stand out particularly. You know, and that could be very different for so many different people, but try to find that x factor within you What is interesting about you?

What is special about you? What makes you unique? Um, I think that level of confidence and kind of expressing why you Think what you think about yourself is something that Ivy League schools are drawn to, um, you know, aside from that, definitely hit all the other markers because it’s only going to help you’re not going to get in only with a uniqueness fact.

You need everything else to, um, but I would say it’s a lot of self reflection and kind of thinking, thinking about, you know, what makes you stand out in, in whatever way that, you know, what that you would define for yourself. And I think a big sort of thing to add to that right is again, you don’t know what they’re looking for in that cohort.

Right? So you can only be as true to yourself as you can be. Um, but to sort of also elaborate, right? Everyone will have you the metrics at that level. Everyone will have the test scores. Everyone will have the grades, right? Less, and even if you go to one of the most elite, um, sort of private schools in the country that is like a feeder to an Ivy League, that ultimately ends up being kind of a small window on your admissions officer’s screen at that level.

I’ve seen kids with perfect test scores and perfect grades not get into any Ivies, and I’ve seen kids who have scores that are not within that, like, top 25%. Get into multiple IVs. And really what it’s going to come down to is going to be that sort of other stuff, right? Your character, whatever that might be.

And I don’t think you have to push yourself to have everything figured out and to know exactly who you are. They also know that you are 17 years old and also no one ever has it figured out. Right? Um, but to have some sort of point of view that is uniquely yours, and to be able to sort of say as best as you can, right?

Here’s who I am or who I think I am. Here’s what I’m wondering about. Here’s what I care about. And whether or not I actually sort of stay in the major that I stay in or go through the program I go to, right, that I said I was going to do when I was like a free frosh or not, right, um, at least having those sort of like guideposts for yourself and who you are and what you believe in, um, that Have hopefully guided the kinds of extracurricular activities and leadership opportunities you’re doing now, and that can hopefully guide you to whatever you choose to do, being able to do it in a way that is deeply caring and deeply thoughtful and honestly, deeply successful at the next level at this kind of school.

Got it. So I’m going to ask one last question before we wrap up, which is how much do you feel attending an Ivy League has impacted your adult life, particularly your career prospects? Do you feel like it played a critical role in the person that you became and the future you were able to create? Or do you feel like it’s similar to some other people that you know in your life who maybe didn’t go to an Ivy?

I can give a quick one minute perspective on this. I think it opened a lot of doors. I think a lot of these schools just have the oper are very well connected, and there’s a really good alumni network. That being said, a lot of other schools also have great alumni networks, so it’s more so were you able to get connected to folks that you were interested in.

Um, partnering with or field working in fields that you were interested in going into, and that can be the same across, like, lots of different schools. Um, I do think like, obviously, there is a factor of when folks hear an Ivy League school, like something breaks up, like it’s a, it’s known as like being high prestige.

And so that sometimes just catches the eye. And I’ve noticed that when people ask me where I go to school, or like when employers ask. You know, what my, um, yeah, where I went to school that, so it is something that I think is a reality, um, and a benefit. I don’t think it is like a, some, I don’t think it’s something that completely has changed the trajectory of my, of my career.

Um, and I’ve seen a lot of folks who ended up at my sim company in lots of the same places I have, who were well connected in their own schools, and those were not Ivy League schools.

I would say at least from my, from my perspective, um, you know, being completely honest, yes. You know, I can’t say that applying to the jobs that I’ve applied to, um, it has not helped. Definitely has. Um, from a personal standpoint, nevertheless, I wouldn’t say that it changed me at all. I feel that I would have been the same person with the same drive, with the same attitude.

Wherever I would have been, um, I would like to think or believe that wherever I would have gone, I would have also been successful because I think, you know, That is a very personal thing. Success, you know, it’s versus what you define it as for yourself, but also it’s, you know, the work that you put in and that’s where, you know, you’ve heard of many stories of people that are successful and have not gone to an Ivy where you do not need to go to an Ivy to be successful in life.

So, um, I would say it was something. Maybe necessary to help but not entirely sufficient that you know it’s the only thing that’s made me Great.

Well, thank you all so much. Um, I know I definitely appreciated hearing you all’s perspective I know I learned a lot. I hope that everyone watching at home did as well Also, as a reminder, we do have more webinars planned for the rest of the month of August. So I hope that you all will choose to join us again for some of those future webinars.

And until next time, take care and have a great evening. Bye. Bye everyone.