Students aim high
Speaker helps ‘de-mystify’ attending universities like Yale, Brown, Harvard
Students from Porterville Unified School District’s Migrant Education program gathered at the Granite Hills High School library on Friday to attend the second in a year-long series of seminars hosted by the Ivy League Project, and the guest speaker had some encouraging news to share about pursuing an education from what are widely considered the finest universities in the world.
Elizabeth Hart, former senior admissions director for Brown University, worked for over 30 years in Ivy League universities in admissions and as an academic dean, and shared a wealth of eye-opening information on the Ivy League admission philosophy, lifestyle and scholarship opportunities.
“I love to help de-mystify how all of this works,” said Hart.
Hart began by encouraging students to consider the advantages that Ivy League schools offer. She offered anecdotes from her own Ivy League education as examples of their reputation and educational resources. She shared with students how she was able to physically examine 2,000 year old vases as part of a freshman seminar on ancient Greece. She also recalled a Japanese history course she took that was taught by a professor who had been a US Ambassador to Japan, as well as an art history class that provided the ultimate visual aids to accompany the lectures.
“Every week when we walked in, the room was hung with original art. I particularly remember the week that we were talking about Rembrandt, and the room was hung with original Rembrandt drawings,” said Hart. “These are the kind of resources that [Ivy League] schools are able to offer their students.”
Next, Hart addressed the issue that deters many aspiring students from seriously considering an Ivy League school-- cost. She explained that while the total cost to attend an Ivy League school is about $65,000 to $68,000 per year, the schools have such large endowments that they have much more financial aid available than local community colleges or state school systems.
“Financial aid guidelines vary a bit from school to school, but generally, if your family income is under $65,000, your family is not expected to pay anything to send you to college — zero family contribution,” said Hart. “It will be cheaper for you to attend Princeton or Yale or Harvard than to go
to your local community college.”
Hart said that financial aid extended to students who meet this criteria are offered as outright grants or scholarships with no loan component, enabling students to graduate after four years with no debt. Aside from money earned by students through required summer and on-campus jobs, financial aid covers the entire cost of attendance, and even includes allotments for personal expenses and airfare to visit home.
The last part of Hart’s presentation focused on advice on how students can distinguish themselves from the
thousands of other Ivy League applicants. She explained that Ivy League schools typically admit only 5 to 10 percent of applicants every year, and they have the luxury of being selective about who they admit.
“It is important, if you want to be a competitive candidate for these institutions, to build the strongest academic foundation in your high school years that you possibly can,” said Hart. “One of their big concerns when they consider a student for admission is whether or not this applicant is prepared to do the work successfully.”
Additionally, Hart noted that Ivy League schools value diversity in life experience, interests and intellectual curiosity
among their student body. The most appealing candidates will not just have excelled academically in high school, but will also contribute their unique cultural perspective to the campus community and be engaged participants in all their pursuits.
As a result, Ivy League schools want to know about the character of their applicants and what makes them special. Hart emphasized that letters of recommendation and essays included in the application process should explain who the applicant is as a person and as a learner.
“Envision a good friend of yours, someone whose friendship you value. Now imagine that you are introducing them to me for the first time, and you want me to understand that they are special. The first two sentences out of your mouth would never be, ‘Her GPA is this,’ or ‘His class rank is this.’ That does not describe why a person is special,” said Hart.
The Ivy League Project was founded in 1992 by Martin Mares, an administrator at Parlier Unified School District, to encourage economically disadvantaged students to apply to the most prestigious universities in America. The program began with six students from Parlier Unified School District, four from high school and two from junior high. Three years after its creation, the program helped three students get admitted to Ivy League schools, two to Yale University and one to Brown University. The following year, four students were admitted, two to Princeton and two to Brown.
Project Ivy League is now at 20 different locations in California, Arizona and Texas, and is scheduled to begin offering services in Miami and Chicago next year. The project has helped over 300 students gain acceptance to Ivy League schools, and another 1500 have gone to UC schools and private universities in California.
“Just because some of our kids are poor doesn’t mean that they have to have low education,” said Mares. “My goal is to empower communities in the Valley to get kids involved.”
The program consists of two parts, the first of which is a series of Saturday seminars throughout the school year that focus on personal goal setting, networking, oral communication skills and the Ivy League selection process.
The second part consists of a series of professional speakers and current college students that share their experiences and expertise. The most talented and promising 10th and 11th grade students will also have the opportunity to take part in an eight day tour of Ivy League universities.