Holding on for Dear Life: How America's Prep Schools Get You Through College," author and founder of PrepScholar.com, which prepares high school students for college admissions. * * * The college admissions game of tennis requires a high level of skill and knowledge. Unlike tennis, which is a one-on-one sport, there are several players (the universities) on the college admission tennis court. Not to mention you have to play one another as well. You've read Chapter Two, "The Big Four," which discusses the "new normal" in college admissions: how to think about the colleges that matter most to your chances of getting in, how to develop the skills and traits that admissions committees find important, and how to take advantage of some opportunities that the colleges make available. In addition to Chapter Two, this chapter discusses the following: * ■ An Overview of College Admissions * ■ The College Admissions Plan * ■ What Will the Admissions Office Want to See? ## THE BIG FOUR A college admissions expert says, "Once you get into the colleges that matter most, you may as well make sure you end up where you want to be." Which schools matter most? The answer: The "Big Four" — Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Stanford. As of this writing, just one student from a public high school has been accepted at each of these schools. For those of you who do not have the grades or test scores to get into any of the Big Four, this chapter will help you think about which of these schools to target. We'll also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of these four "flagship" schools. The Big Four, as well as a few others, can help you create the strongest high school resume and academic performance. You may be thinking to yourself: How can the same colleges be the "Big Four" when there are several other great public high schools in your region? The truth is that these are the most selective colleges, and many students from many areas of the country want to attend these schools. As we'll see in this chapter, there are several advantages of getting into these four colleges. * * * Just in case you were wondering, the four most competitive colleges are Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Stanford. * * * ### Which Schools Matter Most? The odds of getting into Harvard, Princeton, Yale, or Stanford are slim, but the chances of getting into one of these schools are much higher than getting into most of the other colleges in the country. Many students from around the country are trying to get into these schools. Every year, the colleges make about four thousand new admissions offers to high school seniors. Of course, the truth is that there are colleges that are just as good as these four — perhaps even better. However, they are not the Big Four. Getting into one of these four requires a lot of effort and strategy. It will require that you take advantage of the opportunities these colleges offer and that you pay close attention to the specific admissions procedures each of these colleges uses. Why do the Big Four matter so much? Why have so many smart students and parents put so much time and effort into getting into these four schools? The reason: because they matter. The Big Four, particularly Harvard and Princeton, rank at the very top of college rankings. So why are they the Big Four? They get plenty of attention because they are excellent, prestigious colleges. The fact that you want to get into one of these schools is an indication that the education these colleges provide has real value and importance. You do not choose these schools for the grades you'll get, but for the opportunities they will give you. And as long as you work hard, you have a good chance of getting in. * * * _The Big Four can help you improve your chances of getting into an Ivy League school. If you want to be a little more sure of getting into Harvard or Yale, check out the strategies for getting into these colleges in Chapter Eleven._ * * * Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Stanford—The Big Four ### Harvard and Princeton Even though all four schools are outstanding, Yale and Stanford have more students from all over the country. Harvard and Princeton, however, are much more selective. (In fact, Harvard and Princeton together have fewer than three thousand students each year.) Most of the other colleges in the country are "mid-tier" colleges, and most students at these schools are looking to get in to a "flagship" school. * * * Harvard and Princeton: two of the Big Four. * * * ### If Harvard and Princeton Matter, Why Not Yale or Stanford? Both Yale and Stanford have tremendous academic reputations. It's hard to have a better track record than these schools. Both have their own admissions and financial aid offices, and both award financial aid to the vast majority of applicants who are likely to be admitted. Both have their own libraries, which are the best in the country, and they have the most famous professors, like Paul Krugman and Niall Ferguson. Both schools also get a lot of press. While Harvard and Princeton get more attention because of their academic reputations, both Yale and Stanford get lots of attention from the media because they are located in New York City. A high school student from New York City will likely be one of the few who gets into Yale or Stanford. Most high school students in the northeast are not able to apply to these schools. With that said, if you are applying to any one of these schools, you have to understand how the college admissions process works. The good news is that, even though they have a lot of applicants each year, Harvard and Princeton have not been overrun with applicants in recent years. Harvard and Princeton now have about nine thousand applications each year, whereas Yale and Stanford have more than ten thousand. With just four thousand slots in each college, there are many more applicants at Yale and Stanford. In the end, if you get into Harvard and Princeton, you have got it made. Your college experience will be so outstanding that it will almost be like getting into Yale or Stanford. If you get into one of these schools, you may even do just as well as a student who gets in to Yale or Stanford. In fact, you might be able to get into Harvard or Princeton because you were accepted by the mid-tier schools. At the same time, you should realize that these schools have their own set of issues. For instance, it is not unusual for Harvard and Princeton to have many more applicants than they have slots. That is one reason why getting into Harvard or Princeton is more competitive than getting into many of the other schools in the country. ### Rankings of Ivy League Schools Even though Harvard and Princeton are the best schools in the country, many of their alumni, including presidents, Supreme Court justices, Nobel Prize winners, and Wall Street tycoons, have gone to other schools like Yale and Stanford. Many of them don't even realize that they didn't get into Harvard. As a result, many of them think of Harvard and Princeton as almost interchangeable. In reality, these schools have their own cultures and personalities, and each college has a distinct personality. In order to get an idea of what these cultures are like, let's take a look at some rankings of the Ivy League schools. The rankings were created by _The Daily Beast_ and use the following three criteria: how hard they are to get into, how high the acceptance rate is, and how great their professors are. _The Daily Beast_ ranks these five schools in the order of how difficult it is to get into each college. In other words, a low ranking means that it is more difficult to get into that school than the others. The rankings by _The Daily Beast_ are as follows: Harvard and Princeton: the best two schools in the country Yale and Stanford: the best mid-tier schools Cornell: the third best school Penn: the fourth best school Columbia: the fifth best school Notice that Yale is in the second position, and not Princeton, Stanford, or Harvard. This is very unusual because almost everyone who applies to these schools applies to Harvard and Princeton. There are hundreds of thousands of applicants to these schools, and the competition is fierce. So why does Yale rank so highly? Yale has great acceptance rates, a great track record, and great professors. Its students also benefit from a lot of cultural amenities, including very high acceptance rates to the professional schools like Harvard Law School. A student from Yale is about ten times more likely to get into one of these law schools than a student who gets into a "tier 2" law school like Michigan, Northwestern, or Penn. (There is much more about this in Chapter Fourteen.) The other important thing to notice is that the ranking for Princeton is higher than the rankings for Yale. Harvard ranks higher than Princeton, Stanford, and Columbia, but only marginally. In general, the differences between these rankings are very minor. * * * Harvard is generally ranked first, Princeton is generally ranked second, Yale is generally ranked third, Stanford is generally ranked fourth, and Columbia is generally ranked fifth. * * * It is also important to remember that these rankings only compare these five schools in relation to each other. They do not compare any of them to state schools. For example, a student who wants to get into Harvard but is rejected would likely apply to several other public high schools in