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How I Snuck Into The Ivy League. And You Can Too.

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Re: How I Snuck Into The Ivy League. And You Can Too.

#41

Post by andrewjshults »

pandafood wrote: post #9

This sort of sneaking in is pretty pointless though. The only really good reason to go to one of these schools is that everyone knows how hard is is to get in. If you go to a different part of the school that isn't as hard to get into (this is what GS is at Columbia) then you throw away that advantage and you're left paying three times what you should be for an education that, as was alluded to elsewhere in the comme…

I think more importantly it ignores the networking effect that being in the general undergraduate program has. While I'm sure that people who attend the GS type programs at the various top universities are bright, you don't generally get to make the same connections as regular undergrads do (at Penn most GSE classes were later at night and I believe it was much harder for GSE students to take the regular undergrad classes).

I would say that while I loved everything I did while I was in school, it was the outside the classroom opportunities (student government/organizations) which were generally restricted to just undergrads that really taught me the most useful skills and connected me to a much broader network of people that I've found very helpful in my professional life. While I wouldn't say that it's a bad idea to "sneak in" I don't think it's the same experience/value as the regular undergrad program.

Re: How I Snuck Into The Ivy League. And You Can Too.

#42

Post by jim_dot »

brianbreslin wrote: post #40
jim_dot wrote: post #39

Could somebody help me out here - I was under the impression (and perhaps this is just the case for Canadian schools?) that you need a student number to register for courses. If you're not admitted to the school, how can you get a student number to register for courses?

Most us schools offer student id numbers to non degree seeking students. They are charging/filtering mostly for the prestige of their degree.

interesting...

Re: How I Snuck Into The Ivy League. And You Can Too.

#43

Post by achompas »

radq wrote: post #8
Alex3917 wrote: post #3

I think a much better strategy would be to just become among the best in the world at something in high school. This is a lot easier than you'd think, as it really only takes 4 hours a day to become better than 99.9% of HS students at virtually anything. Failing that the author's strategy is probably the best backup, assuming you're committed to getting a college degree from an elite college.

I am probably nitpicking, but there is a major difference between being the best in the world at something and being better that 99.9% of HS students. It is not easy to become the best in the world in any field you choose, and the choice of field would also be quite important from an admissions perspective.

You also run the risk of becoming very good at something you might not like very much. That's just wasted time.

Re: How I Snuck Into The Ivy League. And You Can Too.

#44

Post by InfinityX0 »

terryjsmith wrote: post #24
InfinityX0 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like the design, but I absolutely hate the brand name. You will forever be a Mashable-ripoff because of it. Nothing you can do now but ick, that was not a good decision.

I'm not sure I follow. Just because they end in the same 4 letters doesn't mean they have anything to do with one another. They are completely separate target audiences and demographics (technology aficionados/18 - 30 males compared to women's fashion and entertainment news/18 - 24 women). We've much more copied some other sites in our space like Gawker, Lemondrop, etc. Glad you like the design though :)

I agree to a point - but not when the first brand gets to a certain popularity mass. Look, for example, at the "tube" segment. They all make me think back to Youtube as a brand. The four letters won't matter if they don't come after a brand that's massive like Mashable, in this case, it does though.

But it seems you will be OK for the reasons you say - much of your audience might not even know what Mashable is - or care enough to make the same association I did.

Re: How I Snuck Into The Ivy League. And You Can Too.

#45

Post by kmfrk »

terryjsmith wrote: post #24
InfinityX0 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like the design, but I absolutely hate the brand name. You will forever be a Mashable-ripoff because of it. Nothing you can do now but ick, that was not a good decision.

I'm not sure I follow. Just because they end in the same 4 letters doesn't mean they have anything to do with one another. They are completely separate target audiences and demographics (technology aficionados/18 - 30 males compared to women's fashion and entertainment news/18 - 24 women). We've much more copied some other sites in our space like Gawker, Lemondrop, etc. Glad you like the design though :)

Think what you will, but I think that many tech visitors will make the same mistake - I almost didn't bother reading the link because of it.

The site is a bit of a font party, so I'd love to see how it would look with more Georgia and a bigger base font.

I love the concept of a pink colour scheme, but the colour of pink to the right seems to burn my eyes a little.

I'd also get rounded corners on all your pink boxes.

I think the site design would also benefit greatly from having only a single sidebar. Multiple sidebars is a trend I hate, because few, if anyone, are able to pull it off. Speaking of sidebar, it doesn't look as good with boxes with different widths compared to having a sidebar with similarly sized boxes.

Is the blog an Awl-Jezebel-esque concept, or what is the overall idea? It looks interesting.

Re: How I Snuck Into The Ivy League. And You Can Too.

#46

Post by rubyrescue »

Quoting from a friend who went to a similar school:

Wow, that is total misinformation. Yes, all the Ivy League schools have General Studies programs but they are looked at as an adult/evening education program. For example, Penn's General Studies program doesn't even require standardized test scores:

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/undergraduate/ba/

I'm sure a person can put on their resume that they have a Bachelor's from Columbia or something but then if someone who went to Columbia (or any Ivy League school) asks them about their experience, it will inevitably come out that they were in the General Studies program and then the person is in a really awkward position because they know that the other person knows that it was General Studies and it seemed like they were trying to pass as a regular graduate, which then starts to feel like resume fraud.

Re: How I Snuck Into The Ivy League. And You Can Too.

#47

Post by kmfrk »

iskander wrote: post #26

There's a more general lesson here: personal interactions are the quickest way to bend the rules. You may have a stellar application/resume, but so do many other candidates. If you want to get an unconventional outcome, do it in person. Related: I was a terrible student as an undergrad and when I later applied to grad schools I got rejected by every university with half a shred of self-respect. So, I enrolled as a no…

I'd rather say that the lesson is that getting in comes down to people, not rules. A bureaucracy requires bureaucrats.

There are many people who'll stand in your way of getting into a university moreso than arbitrary rules. I don't know if you have a good term for people who occupy their administrative desks like thrones (here, we call them "desk popes" translated directly.)

I recall applying to a highly-esteemed British university once, and I was aghast at what a sordid mess it was to apply as an international student (no info wheresoever, and Open Days was announced mere weeks beforehand), not to mention the admission gatekeepers themselves.

It's worth noticing how she got in:

>I spoke to a counselor at General Studies, who was similarly encouraging. I showed him my transcripts and the As I’d gotten at Columbia so far. He said: “Great! Yeah, you’d be a terrific candidate for GS!” He encouraged me to keep taking classes at Columbia and apply to GS for the following semester. I told him I didn’t want to keep spending money at Columbia if I wasn’t eventually going to get a degree. He told me I wouldn’t have any trouble getting in. And the credits would go towards my degree.

>

>Except it didn’t work out that way. Three months later, I applied to matriculate at Columbia through the General Studies program. My application was rejected. Let’s just say I was a little pissed. I could have applied somewhere else. Or returned to SUNY Geneseo. But taking two semesters of classes at Columbia is EXPENSIVE.

Did she get in, because the rules allowed it, or because a guy there screwed up, and she called him on it? She got in because and in spite of him.

Re: How I Snuck Into The Ivy League. And You Can Too.

#48

Post by wittgenstein »

The title of this article is highly misleading. Does the author really think she accomplished something significant by gaining admission to the General Education program of an Ivy League university by knowing someone? The truth of the matter is that those programs are just not at the same level as the normal programs, and that you don't get an equivalent degree.

Re: How I Snuck Into The Ivy League. And You Can Too.

#49

Post by cpr »

Another way to sneak into the Ivy League: apply about 35 years ago, like I did, from an out-of-the-way place (San Diego), and you're in. They liked geographic diversity, and there wasn't much competition. ;-)

Oh, I guess Trip Hawkins (of EA founding fame) was from San Diego, too, at the same time, but, still...

Re: How I Snuck Into The Ivy League. And You Can Too.

#50

Post by kyro »

A physician on the admissions board for a top 40 medical school told me the secret to their process. They separate each applicant into their respective ethnic background, take the top 5% of each pile, and then take a closer look at the individual applications. His words, verbatim, were "So if you're a black guy with a 3.2 gpa, you're good. But an Asian dude with a 3.9? You see that all the time; so good luck." The arbitrary nature of the admissions process of schools in America is pretty ridiculous. I like the way the UK does it -- fairly structured, and your candidacy is more typically rooted in your actual achievements and performance. That and they limit you to the number of schools you apply to, so you don't get kids firing their flak cannons by applying to every school in the nation, taking up spots in 'back up' schools that could be better taken by those who actually want to go there. I could go on and on.
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