Hardest Colleges To Get Into for 2023

[Mr.G.Spot]

A lot of the elite schools went to the common app many years ago. The real reason why they went to the common app versus a very complicated, proprietary and cumbersome app - they knew it would drive more applicants and hence drive down their acceptance ratio. It was a game and they played everybody like a fiddle.

It wasn't meant to find the common applicant. It was meant to get him/her to apply so the acceptance ratio went down.

 

[Gonzo]

Sure, but very few students play sticker price. The discount rates among private schools is somewhere around 50%. It's a stupid pricing model.

It still is a Cyclone State.

I get that, but the same types of discounts are awarded at elite privates.

 

[CyCrazy]

It still is a Cyclone State.

I get that, but the same types of discounts are awarded at elite privates.

How much longer do you have to have a cyclone thing or iowa bashing in your posts? Lol

 

[Trice]

It still is a Cyclone State.

I get that, but the same types of discounts are awarded at elite privates.

Yes, and they're much more difficult to get into. That's my point, you can get most of the quality of education at a much lower price with a tiny fraction of the stress anywhere but the elites.

 

[NorthCyd]

I have known that Grinnell College is supposedly an elite college but I don't think I know a single person who has gone there. It is bonkers to me that they have a nearly 3 billion dollar endowment.

 

[ClonerJams]

I have known that Grinnell College is supposedly an elite college but I don't think I know a single person who has gone there. It is bonkers to me that they have a nearly 3 billion dollar endowment.

One of my high school friends went there. As you would expect, he's extremely intelligent.

 

[khardbored]

Having a child applying to colleges for next Fall, I see that the admission process to selective school is somewhat a lottery. I have heard the word “holistic” so many times in the last 15 months…..

First, you have to do the work: good GPA, test scores (although most schools make it optional, it never hurts to stand out), extracurricular, rigor of classes, etc. Now the essays are more important and this is when things get interesting as two people can have totally different opinions on your essays. This is the “lottery” factor.

You also have to compete against or sometimes benefit from citcumstances. Like my friend: her daughter goes to one of the colleges on the list because she is a good swimmer in HS - so she contacted the coach and she got a preference for admissions. I heard similar stories eg: the tuba player from the marching band graduates, and now if you play tuba, you might have a better chance for admission than someone with similar grades etc but doesn’t play tuba.

Public universities: it depends also on their funding: they might want to admit out of staters so they get more tuition. Some have different rules Like UNC (80% have to be in staters) Texas (75% have to be in staters and they have to admit the top 10% of each HS in Texas who apply IIRC).

Then you also have legacy admissions….

I'm wondering about HS performance's impact on college admission and financial aid ... (not just from Cyclone13 ... from anyone)

My son is an 8th grader, very intelligent. He has consistently taken math up 1 grade.

Because we value trying hard and habits of character, we have pushed him to take challenging classes (and he's in a private school that is rigorous).

My sister, who has kids that are older, would say that we're doing it all wrong. Her point is that you should take the fluffiest classes possible, get the highest GPA possible, because it's just "a game" for college admission and scholarships, and you need to look good on paper.

To a degree, she's right -- my son might end up with a 3.2 GPA while being challenged, whereas if he took easy classes at an easier school, he might be 3.9. (Even though he could likely run circles around the kids to took nothing but "fluffy" classes.)

Who's right?

(EDIT: he says he wants to go into Engineering or computer science, etc. If that matters. And I know lots of kids change their mind.)

 

[Gunnerclone]

AAU is based on grant money at the graduate level, ND does very little research, and has few masters programs. I doubt that AAU would even bother giving them a look. World class undergraduate school, with a top ranked Law and Med schools.

Also ND doesn’t need the money. They have nearly limitless Catholic dollars.

 

[Gunnerclone]

I'm wondering about HS performance's impact on college admission and financial aid ... (not just from Cyclone13 ... from anyone)

My son is an 8th grader, very intelligent. He has consistently taken math up 1 grade.

Because we value trying hard and habits of character, we have pushed him to take challenging classes (and he's in a private school that is rigorous).

My sister, who has kids that are older, would say that we're doing it all wrong. Her point is that you should take the fluffiest classes possible, get the highest GPA possible, because it's just "a game" for college admission and scholarships, and you need to look good on paper.

To a degree, she's right -- my son might end up with a 3.2 GPA while being challenged, whereas if he took easy classes at an easier school, he might be 3.9. (Even though he could likely run circles around the kids to took nothing but "fluffy" classes.)

Who's right?

(EDIT: he says he wants to go into Engineering or computer science, etc. If that matters. And I know lots of kids change their mind.)

If he is super gifted at math and math adjacent stuff then I would just have him learn to code in a few languages and start making 6 figures straight out of HS.

 

[Gonzo]

Yes, and they're much more difficult to get into. That's my point, you can get most of the quality of education at a much lower price with a tiny fraction of the stress anywhere but the elites.

It still is a Cyclone State.

Agree, all I'm saying is that getting a quality private college degree at a Wartburg for $58K/year not including discounts isn't at a fraction of the cost of an Ivy for $74K/year not including discounts. And as someone pointed out earlier, what you're really paying for at an Ivy are the blueblood career connections and doors to the 1% life it opens.

 

[Gonzo]

How much longer do you have to have a cyclone thing or iowa bashing in your posts? Lol

It still is a Cyclone State.

One more week. I must have been really high when I agreed to those terms.

 

[SCNCY]

I'm wondering about HS performance's impact on college admission and financial aid ... (not just from Cyclone13 ... from anyone)

My son is an 8th grader, very intelligent. He has consistently taken math up 1 grade.

Because we value trying hard and habits of character, we have pushed him to take challenging classes (and he's in a private school that is rigorous).

My sister, who has kids that are older, would say that we're doing it all wrong. Her point is that you should take the fluffiest classes possible, get the highest GPA possible, because it's just "a game" for college admission and scholarships, and you need to look good on paper.

To a degree, she's right -- my son might end up with a 3.2 GPA while being challenged, whereas if he took easy classes at an easier school, he might be 3.9. (Even though he could likely run circles around the kids to took nothing but "fluffy" classes.)

Who's right?

(EDIT: he says he wants to go into Engineering or computer science, etc. If that matters. And I know lots of kids change their mind.)

Don’t have kids and am a 35 year. So take with grain of salt.

To me personally, the character and personality your building in your kid is more important than taking the easy route. Your child is probably learning critical thinking, seeking to gain new knowledge, adversity, as well as just hard work.

Your sisters child is probably not learning the character and personality needed to be as successful in the world outside of school. Taking easy classes won’t teach the about adversity, advanced critical thinking, and how hard you truely need to work.

Once you get a job, a person and character and personality will go farther in success than having good grades. And that comes from critical thinking and seeking new knowledge.

 

[CycloneErik]

One of my high school friends went there. As you would expect, he's extremely intelligent.

I know someone who went and graduated from Grinnell. She's pretty average in intelligence.
There's rarely any difference in student ability between the schools, including the elites, Ivies, whatever.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

I'm wondering about HS performance's impact on college admission and financial aid ... (not just from Cyclone13 ... from anyone)

My son is an 8th grader, very intelligent. He has consistently taken math up 1 grade.

Because we value trying hard and habits of character, we have pushed him to take challenging classes (and he's in a private school that is rigorous).

My sister, who has kids that are older, would say that we're doing it all wrong. Her point is that you should take the fluffiest classes possible, get the highest GPA possible, because it's just "a game" for college admission and scholarships, and you need to look good on paper.

To a degree, she's right -- my son might end up with a 3.2 GPA while being challenged, whereas if he took easy classes at an easier school, he might be 3.9. (Even though he could likely run circles around the kids to took nothing but "fluffy" classes.)

Who's right?

(EDIT: he says he wants to go into Engineering or computer science, etc. If that matters. And I know lots of kids change their mind.)

Your sister is 100% wrong here. The schools weigh those harder classes differently. Once you submit your application the school (especially the elite ones) redo all that information. A kid that gets a 3.8 with all AP classes is going to get rated higher then a kid with a 4.0 with taking just basic or elective classes.

If you plan on going to grad school your undergrad doesn’t matter to the degree that it does if you plan on working right after undergrad. If they want to go to engineering go to the best engineering school possible. It pays off with connections and future relationships.

 

[ISUCyclones2015]

Hell I didn’t even get into Iowa State at first lol

Some of my classes in Ohio didn’t translate to some class list for the Regent Score. So I was originally denied. Had to work with my counselor and some admissions person to make it happen

 

[Gonzo]

Your sister is 100% wrong here. The schools weigh those harder classes differently. Once you submit your application the school (especially the elite ones) redo all that information. A kid that gets a 3.8 with all AP classes is going to get rated higher then a kid with a 4.0 with taking just basic or elective classes.

If you plan on going to grad school your undergrad doesn’t matter to the degree that it does if you plan on working right after undergrad. If they want to go to engineering go to the best engineering school possible. It pays off with connections and future relationships.

It still is a Cyclone State.

Pretty much this. And keep in mind it isn't all about academics. They like seeing kids involved in extra- co-curricular stuff, volunteering, leadership, etc. Academic accomplishments are obviously the top priority but it also helps to show involvement, varied interests, giving back.

 

[Agkistrodon]

AAU is based on grant money at the graduate level, ND does very little research, and has few masters programs. I doubt that AAU would even bother giving them a look. World class undergraduate school, with a top ranked Law and Med schools.

I'm not sure where you are getting this from, but ND is an R1 school. They are a major research institution, and brought in almost $244 million in FY22: https://research.nd.edu/about/facts-figures/

For comparison, ISU brought in a little over $284 million in FY22: https://www.research.iastate.edu/ne...llion-in-external-research-funding-in-fy2022/

The two schools are different in size, but if you standardize this by the number of research faculty, then ND brings in more research money than ISU on a per capita basis. ISU has 1,298 tenured (928) or tenure-track (370) faculty whereas ND has 890 tenured (684) or tenure-track (206) faculty. So, this averages out to approximately $274,000 per researcher at ND and about $219,000 per researcher at ISU.

Graduate school rankings also focus on PhD programs rather than MS programs, so it is not uncommon for major research universities to place less emphasis on MS programs. Even when offered, there are frequently more incentives to go direct to PhD.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

It still is a Cyclone State.

Pretty much this. And keep in mind it isn't all about academics. They like seeing kids involved in extra- co-curricular stuff, volunteering, leadership, etc. Academic accomplishments are obviously the top priority but it also helps to show involvement, varied interests, giving back.

The extra curricular stuff helps separate people when the academics are equal. They don’t bump you up enough if your scores or GPA are lower then your peers by any real margin. Also the extra curriculars for elite schools need to be challenging. It can’t just be participating in an org it has to be leading it or competitive.

 

[Gonzo]

The extra curricular stuff helps separate people when the academics are equal. They don’t bump you up enough if your scores or GPA are lower then your peers by any real margin. Also the extra curriculars for elite schools need to be challenging. It can’t just be participating in an org it has to be leading it or competitive.

It still is a Cyclone State.

Yeah that's my point. Most applicants to elite privates are going to have pretty comparable exceptional academic accomplishments. You're not going to see too many 3.5 applicants being considered. So the extra stuff is important, if that's your target school. And I agree leadership stuff is important but any kind of work involving giving back, social good, improving the community, etc., is valued.

 

[Dopey]

Was talking to a buddy about this the other day. Sometimes I wish I applied to more schools than just Iowa State. Shoot for the stars and see what happened.

But then I realize I hate networking and I would have ended up with the same degree, no helpful connections and busting my ass at the same middle management job.