Best overall Ivy?

I never said I was a sure thing to ever Ivy… I’ve been saying IF I get an offer because I can never be sure… Geez.

Stanford and ND are way better, do you know what you’re talking about?

lots of comments here... lots of people missing the point. harvard is, without a shadow of a doubt, the most internationally recognisable brand name (even of the ivies). if you have the chance, you should go there.

although it is probable that gibby would lose to vig in both a race and a fist-fight, it doesn't change the fact that he's a much better coach (and has much better banter). drink your milk, get 9hrs 17mins of sleep, and you'll be fine.

Female Dartmouth grad here.

I wasn't a runner in college and have no insights on the teams. But as a professor I'd say if you know what you want to major in, talk to students in those programs. I currently teach at a small D3. Some of our academic programs are great, some are not. When I was at Dartmouth, some programs were great, some were not. The schools will all say all of our programs are incredible, but the students know which really are.

Dartmouth has a really fun culture, amazing, really fun place to be for 4 years. Lots of great trails and roads for running.

I’m not tracking your logic. Running sounds like it’s important to you. Princeton isn’t going to use a slot on you. If you ED there, you cannot ED anywhere else. By the time you find out Princeton’s decision in December, all the other schools that would use a slot on you now might have moved on and given them to other runners. Also, since you brought this up, some of the Ivys you are considering are both lower ranked universities and worse teams than the top D3s.

Take the official visits at all these ivies if they offer. I would be careful of programs that can't keep or get rid of coaches often... That should eliminate 3 of your schools if you do the research. Solid times for sure but you might not get as many competitive opportunities at them compared to more competitive opportunities at top Patriots or Johns Hopkins/MIT. If either of those schools are still ones you are considering I'd be sure to ask them if they would commit a spot to you for sure now, and find out what their recruiting class looks like. Best of luck

Her logic is pretty clear:

Princeton is her #1 choice, but they most likely won't use a 'push' for her. (Although things can change between now and November 1).

She could still apply ED without coaches support with hope to get in with general ED students. Of course this would take some 'balls', but it would definitely show coach and admissions that she was committed. Since Ivies have opted out of NCAA settlement, she would certainly have a roster spot on Princeton team.

If that did not work out, she could move down the list for ED2 and regular decision. Most likely she would still be OK for choices #2,

If you’re a schweener go to Princeton or Harvard.

ooops

Ok for choices #2, #3, #4 etc.

Of course she can also just go Early Decision with a school that is offering coaches support, and have her decision and stress all finished by early November.

Either route would be OK for me as a parent. If she chose to risk Princeton, I'd make sure both coach and the regional admissions rep were aware what she was doing.

Some of your posts sound kind of entitled, I would be careful because college coaches will lurk here and it’s probably pretty easy for them to tell who you are.

You want Princeton. You have the grades to get in. But you don’t yet have the times for the push.

It is September 1, 2025. You are a distance runner. Hopefully you put the work in this summer.

It is now time to put it all together and go after what you want. You have approximately 3 months to get it done. Run fast. Believe in yourself. Go out there and f*cking dominate!

This. What stands out to me from this thread is that you OP (and most of us here) are in a position of great fortune and privilege. Everything will almost certainly turn out alright, no matter what you do. Take a moment to reflect on this privilege, and you will come to the same conclusion as any great gambler or investor: Now is the time to press your luck.

You'll get a great education at all five schools you mention but Princeton and Penn have the strongest track programs. Avoid Brown if you are serious about track. A once very strong program has fallen into a very sorry state. Just check out their abysmal results in the HEPS in recent years -- both indoor and outdoor. Cross country at the bottom of the league consistently. By the way, I went to Brown.

I graduated from Princeton some years ago -- rowed crew, didn't run, but a number of the xc/tf guys were in my club. The fact is this: HYP are a cut above every other school in the country. If you can get a supported/guaranteed admission to HY, it makes zero sense to gamble on Princeton. I hope you have an amazing running career in college, but for almost all of us college will be the peak competitive level we achieve.

I totally understand the family connection and the idea of going to reunions with my parents and siblings for years onwards sounds amazing. So I love the suggestion posted here of trying to get a couple fast times to support your application before the ED deadline. If that doesn't work though, it just doesn't make sense to gamble.

Another Yale alum here (on the mens team), and this captures my feelings as well. We were usually mid-pack at Heps, but the team environment and campus life were great. The training environment in New Haven maybe isn't quite as good as at Princeton, but it's also not as bad as people think - good trails and fields near the athletic facilities and a lot of good runs from campus through parks (East Rock, West Rock, etc).

You have changed what you first stated. Saying you are getting recruited by 5 Ivies and asking which is best, indicates that you would get an auto admit from the coaches. But after some inquiries, you now are saying that you aren't getting a push from the coaches. If that is true, the best one is irrelevant. You are scrambling to get into any of them. I don't understand why you rule out Wash U or Johns Hopkins if they would actually want you.

I don't think you have provided test scores or family income. Those things factor into the advice that people provide. You seem to want to control the advice. That is not good for an 18 year old or a 70 year old.

My son ran for an Ivy and my daughter ran for our state school. They are earning the same amount a few years out of school while my daughter is much happier with where she lives. We paid about $50K total for her education while paying about $300K for his. It would be $400K for his today. We plan to assist our daughter with purcashing a $300K condo due to the difference that we paid for their colleges.

upvote. 'good' schools might have poor programs in your academic area of interest

sup t-farmer

take a rest in between stints moving the goalposts. what are we supposed to divine from someone saying tell me which ivy to attend, and i need hear of nothing else? not, "we'll see if any even offer me." you didn't say it, you just implied it with your original premise.

455 would make you 35th best in the ivies at the mile. i am sure some of the schools would find the time acceptable because 2/3 of the list would be behind you. but the question would be are you so far back of points that they are using the mile less as an event and more as a XC recruitment standard.

in which case it would be your XC times that really mattered.

also, since your times are marginal, are your academics superior? because you're probably getting in on your own.

i'd swear i had this convo with vandy girl. vandy girl had a 1490 which while good was sub-vandy, and then vandy wouldn't answer her emails. the details matter. if the coaches are responding matters. whether you are the one they want or a fallback matters. whether you have the academics to get in on your own matters.

i say this because marginal kids seem to think track helps them off marginal admissions when they are marginal at track, too. that's not how it works.

when i had this same convo with vandy girl it was like at an ivy you will be roughly top 50 and we'll see if they grab you. at patriot -- which depending might be where your SATs are -- you're top 20 and more of a catch. at d3 you're top 10-15 in the country and that will write your ticket.

but the faulty premise of this thread, whether a troll, pot-stirring, or sincere, is you can't settle a debate like this on paper. depending which metric gets you a different answer. hence great for stirring the pot. but you get different answers depending exactly how smart or fast you are, preferences, etc.

the normal thread on this is they ask who would take me and you'd then get back some ivy, all patriot, all d3. and for the ivies that may be bs without an SAT.

for illustration's sake, someone could be like what's the best SCIAC for me. and we could have a paper debate. likely landing on CMS vs. PP with maybe some oxy fans. and then the OP comes back and says, oh, btw, my SAT is 1050. and that just blew up the whole list. at which point, yeah, we start asking, is this just a game, or is this someone so sloppy they leave out the most important details.