This is just nasty. Although there are a few gramatical errors and examples of missing capitalization, his was an entirely clear, readable, and relevant post. He even used a semicolon correctly.
What is it about any person being in high school that brings out the crotchety old geezers to make ad hominem attacks that completely ignore the substance of a post, even when (such as in this case) the OP contains a validly Pit-worthy subject?
I don’t want to hate on the OP or you (yeah Philly!), but where’s the semi-colon?
First sentence - of post #53. Nicely balances out the comma abuse in the final sentence! 
The bottom line is that if the OP’s entrance application looks anything like his posts, then his not getting in is completely understandable- where does he offer any reason that he should have gotten in on merit, other than saying he is smart and hard working?
This assumes the OP did apply there- being pissed at a lesser student for getting into a school you didn’t apply for would be a bit odd.
Hey! Watch the CMU slams, bub.
I have to agree with Brown Eyed Girl. The lack of certain elements of style make the OP difficult to read, but a bunch of posters are shitting tales out of their asses. Sadly, it is not uncommon, but crafting facts out of thin air to rail against a new poster is a pretty shitty practice.
It think that the association came about is because each was essentially its state’s original “state (colony really) school.” Thats my theory anyway. I just need to figure out why William and Mary isn’t in there and Cornell is.
You need to re-read the OP because you’re just making stuff up here. Hint: he never said he applied to Harvard and never argued that he deserved to be accepted to Harvard over the schmuck that got in.
Right. Don’t assume. Why is it odd to rail against perceived injustice when the injustice doesn’t apply to you? Is it odd that white people supported blacks in the fight for equality back in the 60s? Is it odd to expect a school like Harvard, which claims excellence, to reflect that claim in its admissions policy?
I’m reading between the lines, because its kind of odd to rail against injustice that may have hypothetically happened- this student getting in may have prevented another more qualified hypothetical student from getting in? If that’s exactly how it is though, it seems pretty petty to be pissed that someone you don’t like got something you didn’t want anyway.
Do schools like this have exact maximums anyway, like this student got in, and this prevented another from getting in, no exceptions?
Hey, this forum is rife with misdirected righteous indignation. So what else is new?
IANA College Admissions expert, but I think it’s safe to assume that even well-funded universities have limited resources and can only accommodate so many students. So, yes, it is conceivable that someone who really wants to go and deserves to go, doesn’t get to because there’s just no more room. It would be a shame, if it is the case, that worthier individuals get left out in favor of lesser qualified with a family of alumni.
Since we’re reading between the lines, you could fill in anything really; like his twin brother, the valedictorian and rowing captain, who was really looking forward to attending Harvard from the time he was four years old, was the one that got rejected and they watched with stunned dismay as Mr. Silverspoon, who is really not that impressive of an academic, gets the acceptance letter.
Yay for reading between the lines and for run-on sentences! :o
William and Mary considers itself a “Public Ivy” (as apparently there are a few schools that call themselves that), it actually isn’t an Ivy League School, because it’s a Public institution, the Ivy’s are Private schools. That’s the key difference.
So now you know. 
Hark upon the Gale!
Nope. The Ivy League is a sports league, and the only difference between the Ivies and the non-Ivies is membership in that league.
Ignorance Fought.
walks away from a Pit, having learned something new
This history of Ivy League admissions practices should both enlighten and placate you. It isn’t a record they can be all that proud of.
But I’m sure you get the picture by now - it isn’t about academics, it’s about money, and your ability to be a generous donor later in life. The Ivies are not the academic elites their reputation has it, they’re about being In The Club. Friends of mine who’ve gone to them acknowledge that the hardest part is to get in, and once you’re in, they’ll do all they can to keep you in until you graduate and start donating.
Harvard is a serious hockey power, btw. They won the NCAA not long ago.
Perhaps the admissions committee saw something of merit in Mr. total ass that you’re not aware of.
Except Cornell.
There’s also the Ivy Group, something created by their note-sharing admissions offices to include the Ivy League plus MIT. Once in a while, RPI and Duke get included in the term, but only colloquially, not formally.
Yes. There are plenty of perfectly qualified kids who don’t get in. We had a kid waitlisted at Harvard this year who got a 35 on his ACT, has already scored a 4 or 5 on 15 or so AP exams, Youth Elder at his Church, National Honor Society president, 4 years of swimming and lacrosse, Validictorian of his class, great rec letters (I wrote one), good essays. Now, he got into some other very good schools, so it’s not like he’s without options, but the days where a kid like that was a shoe-in to any Ivy are long past.
Cornell is an Ivy mostly because of its private parts (does that mean what I meant to say?). Here are my rankings of the true Ivy’s. Please note that these are no special order and all are definitely good schools although not necessarily better than many other great schools in the land.
Harvard - The richest and most prestigious university in the world. It’s campus in Cambridge, MA is urban but very distinguished. It is also the oldest university in the U.S. dating back to the 1600’s. It is also famous for being famous and has an outstanding endowment that has grown greatly in recent years. If Harvard wanted to start say, an Ethiopian studies department, it could just buy Ethiopia and move it to Massachusetts to study.
Princeton - The most direct competitor to Harvard. It is an elite university in a pretty New Jersey setting (no really). Einstein chose to go there.
Yale - Another direct competitor to Harvard. It has the disadvantage of being located in the shit-hole that is New Haven, CT however and that can never be overcome.
Cornell - This is the school that takes the hard-ass route. The upstate New York setting is bleak and it will get much more bleak when they assign average grades to students that never got anything less than perfect ones. When the number of suicides go down, the standards need to go up another notch or two. Directories to the local bridges and hardware store are in the student manual. Please use them.
Columbia - This one is actually a big fuck-up. It is located in America’s largest and most cosmopolitan city and yet it ranks a big meh in Ivy league terms. The neighborhood isn’t great and they have problems with a coherent campus structure.
Dartmouth - This is where I went to graduate school. The population is both the smallest of the Ivy’s yet the campus is probably the prettiest. The student population is supposedly the most conservative of all the Ivy’s and it is the one most focused on undergraduate education.
Brown - This one doesn’t fit in much with the typical Ivy League schools yet there it is. Located in Providence, RI it doesn’t have all that mush going for it except it is probably the most artisy fartsty of all the Ivy’s.
University of Pennsylvania - Who knows what to do with this one? It sounds like a big state school but it isn’t. They have some great programs like many other schools do. I fail to see the prestige except for their Wharton Business School which kicks the ass of all of the above.
Outside of the Ivy’s, we have tons of exceptional schools which are probably better in many ways to the ones above. That includes prestige. A big strength of the U.S. is that we are awash in great and even extremely elite colleges and universities. Other countries flaunt their rigorous high schools. We just cut to the chase and build great undergraduate and graduate schools that others can’t match.
Are you sure about this?
Wikipedia seems to list Cornell as a private university. Check it out
And going to the website, it has this to say about itself under “identity”:*
Cornell is the federal land-grant institution of New York State, a private endowed university, a member of the Ivy League/Ancient Eight, and a partner of the State University of New York. It has been described as the first truly American university because of its founders’ revolutionarily egalitarian and practical vision of higher education, and is dedicated to its land-grant mission of outreach and public service.* Cornell Stats