Ivy League

Getting into an Ivy League college is unarguably a matter of prestige. The eight Ivy League colleges (Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton and Yale) form a clique of elite universities that share distinct characteristics: All are well-established, private universities, all are highly selective – and all are very expensive. Even more, the resume value of having an Ivy League education, not to mention the network of highly successful people you automatically become integrated into, are all motivating factors for students vying for Ivy League admissions.

What it takes

Each Ivy League college has a highly personalized set of selection criteria that measures a vast variety of factors, including academic excellence, social responsibility, leadership skills, emphasis on sports, extra-curricular activities and certain personality characteristics. While standards are at a premium, the differing criteria mean that to aim for the Ivy League requires a different strategy for each different school. That, and the fact that Ivy League colleges are highly selective, ensures that students pay special attention to their applications (something that all colleges want, after all).

The two key hurdles to an Ivy League education are your profile and your finances. With acceptance ratios of below 20 percent (and in the case of Harvard, between 10 to 12 percent), it’s fair to say that even the better applications tend to get rejected. Sometimes this happens simply because the students don’t match the baseline criteria, but surprisingly, a lot of the times this happens because the application is not tailor-made to suit the college’s unique needs. With such low acceptance rates your chances to succeed in an Ivy League college depend largely on how well you can present your case. Simply having the top scores will not be enough.

The financial barrier is something that students by themselves can do little about. Various avenues of college funding are discussed elsewhere on this site, but when it comes to the Ivy League, it’s important to remember that like in business, the extra money you are paying is for the brand – the market value that an Ivy League education provides. Scholarships are extremely difficult to achieve in the Ivy League and the combination of student loans and self-employment is not enough to always pay the tuition bill.

The world beyond the Ivy League

Some of the best, and most respected colleges can be found outside the Ivy League (MIT and Julliard, amongst many others), and Ivy League colleges do not hold the monopoly on excellent college education. If you’re simply looking for quality education and a great value on your resume but cannot afford the price tag (or the stringent admission requirements), then the Ivy League may not be for you. However, if you can afford the bill, and if your profile fits (meeting baseline requirements AND a customized application that anticipates what the college is looking for), an Ivy League education can be your ticket to further success.