What Are Ivy League Schools and Which are the Cheapest? (2023)

FAQs

What Are Ivy League Schools and Which are the Cheapest? ›

Princeton. Princeton is commonly regarded as the “cheapest Ivy” thanks to its extensive financial aid offerings. 62% of admitted students receive financial aid.

Cornell is considered the "easiest" Ivy League to get into because it has the highest Ivy League acceptance rate. While it's easier, statistically speaking, to get into Cornell, it's still challenging. It's also important to remember that students apply directly to one of Cornell's eight undergraduate colleges.

Ivy League Schools Tuition Comparison

Columbia University in the City of New York has the most expensive tuition & fees of $66,139 and Harvard University has the lowest rates of $57,261. The average graduate tuition & fees of Ivy League is $50,486 in the academic year 2022-2023.

Yale University Tuition

This immense financial support results in equivalently low tuition rates, and Yale offers the lowest average net cost among Ivy League schools, at under $18,000 per year.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Like Harvard, MIT is based in Cambridge, Mass. Some rankings consider it among the most elite schools in the world, and it offers free tuition for students whose families make less than $140,000 per year.

While 3.7 is a good high school GPA, Ivy League schools are incredibly competitive and a 3.7 GPA alone likely isn't enough to differentiate yourself. Applicants generally have a better chance of getting into an Ivy League school if they get closer to a 4.0 GPA.

You should also have a 4.18 GPA or higher. If your GPA is lower than this, you need to compensate with a higher SAT/ACT score. For a school as selective as Harvard, you'll also need to impress them with the rest of your application. We'll cover those details next.

Harvard University

The most challenging Ivy League school to get into is Harvard, established in 1636 and based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. According to Harvard Admissions, only 2,008 out of 43,330 candidates were accepted to the college. These figures translate into an acceptance rate of 4.6%.

Harvard University

As one of the most prestigious universities in the world, it comes as no surprise that Harvard has a student body that is among the wealthiest in the country. Many of the students at Harvard come from families with significant wealth and influence, and many go on to become leaders in their fields.

As you might expect, the colleges that produce the most billionaires are largely Ivy League universities.

Which Ivy is the most generous? ›

Among the very best universities in the world, Yale University is the one that statistically offers the most generous financial aid. The following statistics from Yale Office of Undergraduate Financial Aid demonstrate the financial aid that first-year students in the Class of 2023 received on average.

‍Brown, Princeton, and Columbia offer non-repayable scholarships to meet their students' financial needs. Depending on a student's demonstrated needs, this can include full tuition and a percentage of room and board costs.

What Does Harvard Cost? Harvard costs what your family can afford. We make sure of that. If your family's income is less than $85,000, you'll pay nothing.

For Everyone. Yale is committed to an admissions policy that does not consider a student's ability to pay, and a financial aid policy that meets the full need of all students with no loans required.

Just one bad grade in an advanced level course is not going to ruin your chances at an Ivy League. However, consistently underperforming in advanced classes in your area-of-interest classes will penalize you in the applications process.

(Most schools use a weighted GPA out of 4.0, though some report an unweighted GPA. With a GPA of 4.18, Harvard requires you to be at the top of your class. You'll need nearly straight A's in all your classes to compete with other applicants.

Generally speaking, if your GPA is not at least equal to 4.18 then Harvard University may be a reach. However, Harvard University considers the ENTIRE application - we can make up for a weak GPA with more factors that we'll discuss below.

Normally, you would expect the highest score to be the 'perfect' 4.0 score, however, there are several things that a student can do to receive an even higher score. For example, one student actually managed to get a 10.03 GPA score. He did this by taking 17 advanced classes at his school, which awarded him many points.

Is a 6.0 GPA good for Harvard? ›

To get to Harvard your GPA has to be at least a 4.0 and even then if you get in your lucky but they require at least a 4.18 GPA only .

If your GPA falls below 2.0, you are in poor academic standing. If you remain in poor academic standing for the following two terms, you are required to withdraw from the degree program. Your transcript will reflect this new status: RW (required to withdraw).

The Hidden Ivies are colleges and universities considered to rival the eight Ivy League schools without being part of that prestigious group. These schools offer similar academic opportunities to students but might get overlooked because of their lack of popularity when compared to the famous Ivies.

Campus happiness: Brown is widely known as the happiest Ivy, perhaps because of students' freedom to choose courses with almost complete autonomy. Students report feeling less competition amongst themselves and an overall sense of campus community.

Counting all degrees, Harvard University comes in first place in terms of the total number of billionaire alumni. The University of Pennsylvania comes in first if only bachelor's degrees are counted, according to the most recent 2022 Forbes report.

There are about 9,600 so-called centimillionaires living in the U.S., or people whose net worth is greater than $100 million, the report noted. About 35% of them attended one of eight U.S. universities: Harvard, MIT, Stanford, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Yale, Cornell and Princeton, the analysis found.

Some billionaire alumni at Harvard include the Los Angeles Clippers owner and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and the founder and CEO of Citadel, Ken Griffin.

AUSTIN (Austin Business Journal) — The public Texas high school that sends the most students to Harvard, Princeton and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is right here in Austin. Westlake ranked No.

What billionaire sends kids to college? ›

A Manhattan billionaire bought a $37 million insurance policy — to get his kids into the right college, according to a new report.

Many people know Brown as the “Happy Ivy,” and the Princeton Review ranked Brown as the 10th-happiest campus in the country. If you're curious, Tulane is ranked as number one.

The Most Common Dartmouth Stereotypes. Dartmouth is subject to a number of stereotypes. These include the idea that Dartmouth is a “rich kids” school, that the students are all preppy and conservative, and that there is a lot of partying and drinking, particularly within the Greek scene.

Penn scored the highest in a recent mental health report out of all eight Ivy League schools — with a failing grade of a D+.

Harvard, Stanford and Princeton, unsurprisingly, are America's toughest colleges to get into in 2023, according to Niche's most recent rankings.

The Ivy League with the best campus is Princeton. It's reputed as having the prettiest campus.

Duke, MIT, and Stanford aren't Ivy League universities only because they didn't have strong athletic programs when the Ivy League was established.

Scholarships for Harvard University

Harvard does not offer any merit-based aid and no full-ride scholarships. However, they do meet 100% of students' demonstrated financial needs. Almost half of the batch at Harvard University avails need-based scholarships or financial aid every year.

Ivy League school scholarships don't exist in any sport; these institutions only provide need-based financial aid. This is a significant distinction between Ivy Leagues and other colleges or universities.

How hard is it to get a full ride scholarship? Less than 1 percent of students get full ride scholarships, showing just how difficult it is to earn one. However, with the right background, proper planning and by knowing where to look, your chances of landing a full ride scholarship can increase.

What is the most expensive US college? ›

The average high school GPA of admitted students at Harvard is around 4.2. 73% of students had a GPA of at least 4.0, indicating that admitted students typically mostly earned A grades in high school. If you're studying the IB, this translates to scoring mostly 7s and achieving a minimum score of at least 42.

GPA Requirements

Yale University does not have a strict minimum GPA requirement for undergraduate admissions. However, admitted students typically have very high GPAs, ranging from 3.8 to 4.0, with an average GPA of 3.9.

You should also have a 4.14 GPA or higher. If your GPA is lower than this, you need to compensate with a higher SAT/ACT score. For a school as selective as Yale, you'll also need to impress them with the rest of your application.

In truth, you need close to a 4.0 unweighted GPA to get into Yale. That means nearly straight As in every class.

Any lower than 3.5, however, you'll have to either have an impressive, relevant achievement or pray for a miracle to get an offer. Therefore, it is best to aspire for the maximum 4.0 to play it safe. But as long as you have at least a 3.7 GPA, you can still get a serious chance at consideration for an offer.

Cornell's acceptance rate is approximately 7%, making it the easiest Ivy League school to get into.

And maybe, you can get into a top tier college with a low GPA. We've always stated that the lowest GPA student we've ever helped get into an Ivy League school had a 3.3 unweighted GPA. And we're not saying that we could get anyone in with a 3.3 GPA. But it has happened before – and the student was Asian American too.

None of the Ivy League schools have a minimum GPA requirement for applications, which means anyone can apply regardless of their GPA.

Which Ivy League has the lowest acceptance? ›

Yale University had a 4.35% acceptance rate, its lowest in history. Yale admitted 2,275 students for the class of 2027 from its largest-ever pool of 52,250 applicants.

Considered the preeminent institution among the Claremont Consortium, Pomona College in Claremont, California, is much like the elite liberal arts schools of the Northeast. If you are one of the rare individuals capable of gaining entrance, you won't find a better or more rigorous liberal arts education anywhere.

No, you cannot get into Harvard University with a 2.5 GPA. The minimum GPA for admission into Harvard is 4.18 on a 4.0 scale on your official high school transcript. This means that you have to be an advanced placement student to stand a chance of getting admitted to Harvard University.

What is the minimum GPA required for admission? We do not set a minimum GPA, nor do we attempt to re-weight GPA's to any standard other than what a school provides. An applicant's complete secondary school transcript (not just the GPA or class rank, if they are provided) is evaluated during the admissions process.

Average GPA: 4.18

(Most schools use a weighted GPA out of 4.0, though some report an unweighted GPA. With a GPA of 4.18, Harvard requires you to be at the top of your class. You'll need nearly straight A's in all your classes to compete with other applicants.

Harvard University

The most challenging Ivy League school to get into is Harvard, established in 1636 and based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. According to Harvard Admissions, only 2,008 out of 43,330 candidates were accepted to the college.

Going into high school, many students hear that freshman year is the “easiest” year. Some think that colleges don't consider it as much as they do one's sophomore, junior, and senior years. While this is typically true, it doesn't mean that students should entirely dismiss the importance of their freshman year.

Can you get into the Ivy League with mostly A's and a couple of B's? Yes, you can get into top schools with some B's, but it depends on the rest of your academic profile.

While each year of high school will have its own stressors, many will say junior year is the most challenging. Junior year can be the hardest for several reasons, but with the right prep and expectations, high school students can make the hardest year just a little easier.

What is the number one University in the world? ›

1. Harvard University. Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. Harvard University is the standard by which all other research universities are measured.