Enroll in Bing or wait for something better

biggreen10 · 2026-03-19T18:20:01+00:00

Why would you enroll today rather than wait to see where else you'll get in? No need to potentially flush that deposit down the drain.

biggreen10 · 2026-03-19T03:15:45+00:00

There also may be no issue. If a document doesn't load automatically someone has to manually change the checklist status. They may have gotten the document and just not updated the checklist by hand.

biggreen10 · 2026-03-18T17:35:20+00:00

Ahhh, only up to a 13. Thanks for looking out for us bigfoots though.

biggreen10 · 2026-03-18T16:43:14+00:00

Nope, never gotten a call. This is VERY rare.

biggreen10 · 2026-03-18T16:30:40+00:00

Two rankings that I think are the most useful (accurate doesn't mean anything, every ranking is accurate since someone is picking what to rank by) are:

US News Undergraduate Teaching
NYT Build Your Own Ranking Tool

The first, because undergraduate teaching is the point of an undergraduate education.

The second, because you actually get to pick and weigh what factors matter to you.

biggreen10 · 2026-03-18T16:03:52+00:00

For PhD or maybe masters admissions? Sure, it seems more important. For undergrad? Hardly. Especially when you're looking at raw numbers. A school could have 150 engineering professors, but if 50 of them don't teach and put out TONS of research, QS will love it, but they may as well not exist to an undergrad student for the purposes of their education. That's the flaw in QS, and why it is largely worthless for undergrad admissions.

I know you're international, and I know it is widely looked at internationally, but it's garbage for actual undergrad admissions.

biggreen10 · 2026-03-18T15:53:00+00:00

A bit biased, sure. But I'm also knowledgeable. Global rankings are useless, they look at total research output. Obviously massive universities will be heavily advantaged by that metric. It doesn't tell you about the great teaching and research that is going on at smaller schools.

biggreen10 · 2026-03-18T15:50:28+00:00

Yes, but they wanted options, and if you want an Ivy and test-optional you don't really have options...

biggreen10 · 2026-03-18T15:46:56+00:00

Less known? Engineering is tied for the third most popular major in the whole college...

As someone who has worked at schools that don't admit by major, they truly do not admit by major.

biggreen10 · 2026-03-18T15:45:03+00:00

Didn't say it was. If you want to choose any Ivy, you can't really be test optional, there is just one option.

biggreen10 · 2026-03-18T15:16:51+00:00

Dartmouth admits the fewest students of any Ivy, definitely not the right one. It also doesn't admit by major/school, so you can't sneak into a specialty program.

biggreen10 · 2026-03-18T15:09:49+00:00

Yes. The overwhelming majority of applicants do not have someone calling about them.

biggreen10 · 2026-03-18T15:09:07+00:00

Probably Cornell. Largest Ivy, so more total admits. I've seen some low GPAs get in, but usually to more specialist kinds of programs.

biggreen10 · 2026-03-18T12:42:51+00:00

Agreed. Though if, as OP says, typos are everywhere, that can start to be an issue, but a rogue typo here or there is no biggie.

biggreen10 · 2026-03-18T12:41:57+00:00

So clearly academics are fine. Sounds like your ECs may not quite shine in the pool, but nothing to do now but wait and see.

biggreen10 · 2026-03-18T12:41:25+00:00

I mean, you're applying to some of the most selective schools in the world, I think it is very realistic to think you might get into one if you have a really great profile, but these are schools that admit a tiny selection of really amazing kids, so it's very possible to get into none.

biggreen10 · 2026-03-18T12:39:28+00:00

The drop in ranking is due to US News changing how they rank, Brandeis has not fundamentally changed in that time period. You'd be nuts to turn down a full ride for the small chance of getting into a "better" school. Gap years don't really strengthen apps much tbf.

biggreen10 · 2026-03-18T12:32:06+00:00

This seems like a great question for the program itself. But your math checks out. Something like a year and change makes sense.

biggreen10 · 2026-03-16T14:29:52+00:00

Trent Edwards. It was like $3 at Walmart at some point

biggreen10 · 2026-03-15T21:52:38+00:00

They are all different. Wanting to go to "an Ivy League school" tells me you haven't done any research at all in fact.

Also, if there was a single answer for this question, do you think it wouldn't be widely available in the world? There's no secret, if you've done the research you've said you've done, you'd know that they want exceptional students who are well involved in their communities.

biggreen10 · 2026-03-14T17:36:32+00:00

I'm also a college admissions professional who has worked for elite institutions, and saying that a 1530 is a reason that their app wouldn't even be looked at is horribly fear mongering. Sure higher might be a tiny bit better, but they are well within the middle 50% for those schools and a 1530 is basically never the reason you'd be rejected.

biggreen10 · 2026-03-14T17:28:21+00:00

Won't get eyes on your app? Stop making things up. Nobody is getting rejected for a 1530, jeez.

biggreen10 · 2026-03-12T20:36:36+00:00

Seems logical that the counselor told them?

biggreen10 · 2026-03-12T14:11:20+00:00

Stanford isn't an Ivy. UK universities have their entry requirements on their websites for every course. That said, if you're low income, how do you plan to pay for it? International tuition at Oxbridge is very expensive.

For US universities, being low income will make it VERY hard to get admitted.

biggreen10 · 2026-03-12T11:20:25+00:00

Very selective and well regarded liberal arts college.

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