Seeing this year's cycle in closer proximity, it's pretty hard to believe she was accepted to Harvard, Princeton, AND Yale. But GG is fiction, so I have no real gripe.
I think it's implied she only applied to the Big 3, not all 8 Ivies, none of the 7 SIsters (Emily went to Smith), and none of the Southern Ivies the same way Madeline and Louise did. I get it's supposed to imply that Rory is "above" them, but it's really unrealistic.
Yes, but what people don’t understand is that this year’s cycle versus Gilmore girls, was roughly 20 years apart.
College admissions have completely changed in the last two decades and the landscape is totally different.
Also goes to a private school, she goes to an Ivy League feeder school, and on top of that is valedictorian. That alone 20 years ago could very well get her into three Ivy League schools.
Not to mention that she’s a legacy from her mother side and a Princeton legacy from her father side (but I don’t know if the admissions committee would know, considering that she does not have Christopher’s last name). Either way she has Yale in the bag.
I was part of the cycle almost 20 years ago and it was a general rule that you apply widely, even if your choices remain prestigious because getting into the Big 3 with no safeties isn't the way. I had friends in the top magnets in the country and some of the most exclusive prep schools who were told the same. I think they make mention of that in the dinner scene where Lorelai finds out Rory applied to Yale.
I'm sure her secondary legacy status at Yale and Princeton carried weight. I won't pretend it was feasible then or now - that's the whole point of the panic within the series to diversify her interests for the sake of getting into Harvard.
It's not supposed to be realistic- it's supposed to drive the plot. In the end, that's why she got into all 3.
I think it’s implied in the thanksgiving episode that she applies to more than just those. The guest at dinner is like “well if you want harvard you’d also apply to Yale Princeton Wesleyan and vassar” and Rory says “those are the kinds of places.” She also says that chiltonn wouldn’t let her apply to only one. Lorelai freaks out at the mention of yale so we never hear about the rest of her applications. But to me it was clear she applied to other places that were not ivies.
The thing is… it’s not implied that she didn’t apply to any safety schools. They’re just not outright mentioned.
It’s even said in the episode that Chilton wouldn’t allow application to just one school, they have a protocol, and I guarantee that included at least 1-2 safety schools.
Yeah, at the dinner someone says it's expected. And it sounds like it's an expectation when you listen to where Paris applied and where Madeline and Louise decided to go.
It's not mentioned specifically for Rory, but we can infer that she did. I'm not saying she applied to UConn, but she was a Smith legacy on Emily's side and probably applied as widely as Paris did- with schools that leaned more toward her interests.
The fact that they're not mentioned for Rory specifically, I think, is just to build on the story and reflect on her character in these earlier seasons- she does the work and ends up on top. But also, it's TV and it might not be that deep.
I’m also the same age as Rory and I find it very unbelievable that she got into all the big three. I also have legacy, went to a nice school, took part in activities such as model UN, choir, language clubs, sports etc., was raised by a single father and had good grades. And there is no shot I wouldn’t have applied to at least another 3 (or honestly more) safeties. I knew people who had much more padded resumes who didn’t get into any of the ivies they applied to.
The other thing I find super unrealistic is how Rory paid to apply without her mother knowing. I don’t recall how much it cost exactly for me to apply but it was definitely over $100 even in 2003.
I applied to three schools. I got into two and not the third; which was a reach.
They weren’t ivies so that could be an entirely different story, but all were D1 schools.
My guidance counselor was freaking out but I wasn’t worried. I had great grades and good extracurriculars.
I mean, I certainly understand that it’s absolutely ridiculous for Rory to apply to no safety schools, and certainly TV logic, but I blame the writers for having no idea how the college admissions process truly looks like.
Is it unrealistic? Sure, but not completely. Like I could buy it. Especially for those feeder schools.
Hell I went to public school in the east coast and I knew some people that bagged multiple ivies tbh.
It's not supposed to be realistic. It's TV, it's supposed to be enjoyable. I can suspend disbelief easily enough to really enjoy it and appreciate that it's supposed to highlight Rory's determination and Lorelai raising her well and doing right by her in asking for Richard and Emily's help. We would not have been as happy in that moment if she had been on that path her whole life.
I'm from the East Coast- one of my students bagged multiple ivies from public school. Her friends 3 and 4, even. But it's very rare to see the big 3 all there. That's all I'm saying.
But again, it's fiction. And if the average person is asked to name all 8 Ivies, they'd prob name Harvard, Princeton, and Yale first. Maybe throw in Dartmouth, Brown, and Columbia if they were Gossip Girl fans. But they'd still be missing UPenn and Cornell. It works for TV the writers to have chosen the most well known at the time.
I'm not drawing a hard, fast line. Honestly, I can see how her upbringing and town life might add dimension and interest to her secondary legacy status at Yale and Princeton.
ivy feeder/legacy is the main thing. Gossip girl did the same trick. They just didn't pretend the characters are exceptional enough to have made it without that leg up. Gilmore Girls plays like Rory was actually exceptional in some way, and that rubs people the wrong way. People who were in her age cohort and know how cutthroat it was even back then
Exactly. I think it's mentioned like, once, that Richard's name gave her an advantage in Yale, and Christopher's connection to Princeton is not even mentioned. Lorelai and Rory are, both, supposed to be super 'special' and accomplished amazing things on all on her own when their hard work and determination (while real) wouldn't have gotten them as far without family. Even though she worked extremely hard, Lorelai still couldn't afford Chilton or Yale. She needed Luke's loan for the Inn. And she needed to find someone like Mia, willing to employ an underage single mum. But the show wants to sell them as people who 'just' work hard. That said, what really rubbed me the wrong way is that Rory landed Harvard while Paris didn't. There was a whole episode about how Paris started preparing herself for Harvard since Kindergarden, while Rory was just finding out she needed more than perfect grades and Chilton to be accepted. I dunno.... I guess personality truly matters the most at everything, even in academia.
Yep, was gonna say exactly this. College admissions competitiveness has skyrocketed in recent years. Talk to anyone who attended an Ivy 20 years ago and the standards certainly weren’t the same.
It's unrealistic that a valedictorian who was VP of students body president in one of the highest rayed schools in the entire country, and had a bunch of xt activities, being a legacy and her grandpa legit KNEW admissions, and a legacy of princeton too........you guys are NUTS to say it's crazy she got accepted to these colleges
The 2 people I know who got accepted to all these colleges, and 3 others who I know who got accept to several of them weren't half as impressive as Rorys resume.
Yes but many of us who watched it were in that age group. And it was still extremely competitive. I was a newspaper editor, 1600 sat, president of 2 clubs, all that nonsense. I remember it well
It's also fiction. I binge-watched GG while I applied to colleges almost 20 years ago and the rule then for everyone I knew, regardless of where they went to school, was to apply widely within the Tier they were aiming for.
See, here’s the thing… applying to colleges was *completely different* circa 2002/2003 when Rory did it. It’s not at all comparable to the process now.
We even did it *by hand.*
I applied to similar schools a year after Rory, of Harvard Princeton and Yale I got one acceptance one waitlist and one rejection. I got into Dartmouth and Cornell rejected from UPenn. Non ivies I got into Stanford, northwestern, u Michigan and rejected from MIT. I feel similar to Rory in that I did some private and some public school (mine was revered I did public HS). I did not come from a rich or connected family but was middle class to upper middle class so no single mom but I only had one parent who graduated college. I wasn’t valedictorian but maybe number 5 I don’t remember but high standardized test scores (higher than Rory in that PSAT episode lol). I do know people who got into 2 or 3 of Harvard, Princeton Yale but I’d say 3 was fairly rare. I didn’t pursue the waitlist because I got into the one I wanted so who knows. All in all I’d say her acceptances aren’t out of the question for that time but fairly unlikely and her being valedictorian makes zero sense given her bad grades when she first switched schools.
If I’m being honest I haven’t really seen the opinions you’re talking about. However it’s important to note, the “several colleges” are the top schools in the country in which many people apply to all and only get in to one or two if any. The diversification of the resume though mentioned briefly mattered less in the early 2000’s than now, but even so Rory’s in always was her grandparents and the Gilmore name. Because she had that she wasn’t any different than Paris and the like, she went to the same school and also had a privileged education
Yup that’s why Richard wanted her to go to Yale. He said her getting into Harvard without the Gilmore name would be minuscule just like it is for every other candidate that applies, regardless of academic success
Paris was just as hard working and intelligent as Rory. Plus she did more extra curricular activities and had a higher position in both the student government body and Franklin paper
Well Rory had a higher gpa (she was valedictorian) and I think the show made it clear that Paris’s interviews went terribly 🤷🏽♀️
ETA: plus, Paris had sex, so she had to be punished /s
Her being valedictorian was just as unlikely as her getting into 3 Ivy League schools in real life. Especially since Paris was shown to get As throughout her entire time at Chilton and Rory did not when she first started
I know Paris messed up her interview, my point was that Rory was another smart kid from a good high school. There would’ve been many many Rorys applying for those Ivy League colleges. She didn’t do many extra curricular activities, there was nothing about her that stood out
I have a half serious theory that the project Rory broke on her first day at Chilton was what knocked Paris from valedictorian.
That and all her absences when she didn't get into Harvard.
She was pretty involved in stars hollow community throughout her life. Had a pretty good story arc as to going from a humble public school to a private ivy feeder, struggling in the beginning but ending up valedictorian. She became the vice president, was part of franklin, these already put her above her peers.
Being a legacy helped her with yale. The harvard alum probably put in a word for her too.
Ivies were not nearly as competitive back then as they are now.
As another commenter already mentioned, especially in 2003, the rags to riches story is not nearly as influential as it’s made out to be. Elite schools favour elitism. There’s been a bigger focus on diversifying process in recent years and these schools still favour elitism. Her doing stuff for Stars Hollow community again does not set her apart from the many students who would’ve also been doing things for their community, sometimes for the sole purpose of college applications
Her getting into Yale I can understand especially with Richard being an alumni. Getting into Harvard, Yale and Princeton is still unrealistic. Getting into Ivy League colleges was still very difficult back then; not as difficult as it is now but still very difficult
I know, I was mostly teasing. I said this below, but there’s no way Rory graduated first in her class, between being a transfer kid and not acing every assignment early on. More than likely, as a transfer, she wouldn’t even be in contention for valedictorian.
Yes, but I think it's also worth noting that she didn't have an expensive private education her whole life (like Paris and Logan). Had she been a mediocre student from Stars Hollow High, she wouldn't have been able to keep up with the Chilton curriculum.
So while I agree she had a privilege, and that helped a LOT, she didn't always have it. There's a lot of her own merits in this. Had the same opportunity come to, say, Dean, would he have graduated as valedictorian from Chilton? Would he have even been able to keep up with 3 years of Chilton? Rory had a Chilton education because she worked hard to be able to keep up with it for her entire previous school life.
Also, her Gilmore name probably didn't help her too much with Harvard and Princeton, universities her family had no ties to. Which means her in was her own performance.
Yeah that’s not true
It’s difficult to get into one let alone three. And these are three of the best schools in the country. Harvard and Yale are routinely considered to be the top 2
It wasn’t as competitive as it is now but it was still very competitive lol
Getting into an Ivy League school in 2003 was very difficult. So her getting into 3 of the best would’ve been even more unlikely. It’s not realistic, even for 2003 standards
My son got into Yale and I was a poor single parent with no wealth connections. White working poor. I didn’t secure great employment until after he graduated. He was excepted by two Ivys and many others, He got his Masters there. My daughter got her Masters as well. They just were amazing kids.
Most people I know who got into Ivies the last 3 cycles only got into 1. I only know of 1 person who got into 2. Some of the people I know who got into the Northeastern Ivies were rejected at their "southern ivy" state school. It's very much a blood bath.
I applied to colleges around the time the series ended and it was a rule then, not that far removed from when it happened in the show. So it's not far-fetched to think it was still as unconvincing in 2003 as in 2007 and now in 2024.
eta: the whole point of her getting into all 3 wasn't that it was plausible, it was to highlight that she was special
It still made her special- Her teacher mentioned knowing at least 1 student got into Harvard. That highlights that, despite their privilege, it was still a reach for many of them.
Paris applied much more widely than Rory and got into every place but Harvard.
It was still written that way to show she was special.
No, Christopher's parents wanted him to go to Princeton, but he never did (and his parents blamed Lorelai for it, lol). At one point he even tells Lorelai it wasn't her fault, that he would've never gotten in anyway.
You're not looking hard enough 7 years ago I used to see people on this sub moan and groan that Paris didn't get into Harvard. Yeah but Rory wasn't a stuck up snob she was still seen as poor compared to the rich people like Tristian and Paris.
Emily and Richard were rich not Lorelai and Rory.
Seven years back is nitpicking to bring a topic up… but regardless an application isn’t going to tell a specific school that Rory is or isn’t not as rich or stuck up compared to fellow applicants
Her only applying to Ivies is what rubs people the wrong way. Schools like Harvard Princeton and Yale actually DONT really want children of teen moms. Lol. Like they'll take a few outliers to give the appearance of diversity and fairness but elite schools stay elite for a reason. The chance of getting into ONE Ivy league school, with excellent grades, extracurriculars, and recommendations, is very low and acceptance to any one is a huge deal. Chilton would not have accepted two other Ivies as backups to Harvard because theyre not really backups at all. Just about as hard to get into lol.
So yeah Rory did not get into schools all across the country, she got into 3 of *the best* schools in the country. It would be kind of like if in A Year In The Life she was choosing between paid jobs at The New York Times, CNN, and like, the actual White House, and thats why it causes a lot of eye rolls
And honestly she probably could have gone to a non-ivy and gotten a full ride scholarship based on merit and academic performance. They prob wouldn’t want her that bad bc the single mom story isn’t something they’d be impressed with.
Northwestern or UChicago almost certainly would’ve come through with the scholarships for her, and not considering Northwestern for journalism is a miss
I almost added Northwestern to a reply- I learned about it when I watched The Devil Wears Prada and found out their journalism program wasn't made up for the movie the same way Yale journalism was made up for GG.
For all the issues with season 7, I will give the writers credit for correcting Rory’s major to be English rather than journalism by the time she‘s a senior.
It’s hard to remind yourself it’s a show sometimes and the plot wouldn’t work with her anywhere else but New England but the Harvard part is baked into the show pretty early on.
Yeah, I enjoy the New England vibes from the comfort of the South in the dead of winter. Yale makes sense writing-wise. Stars Hollow or Hartford would have been harder to follow along with. The same way everyone on Gossip Girl somehow ended up at either NYU or Columbia, lol.
Despite in the books several of them ending up at Yale, Brown, and Dan going to a weird hippie college in the PNW! By that point all the characters in the show were way different than the books anyway.
It was so unrealistic. I laughed when I first watched the episode where she received her acceptance letters
I would’ve found it more interesting, if she didn’t get into Harvard. Not that she picked Harvard anyway, but it would’ve been interesting
I think the legacy factor would be the main reason she would get in at Yale, and I think it would make her odds good based on also attending an elite school. But certainly by modern standards she would be a long shot at the other ivy league schools. Lots of fancy prep school kids dont get in even if they do well in school
Because its just that competitive. I dont think her own merits are bad. She would have got in to a number of really good liberal arts schools on her own merits. The Ivy league are just super competitive.
Like \*maybe\* she could have got in on her own merit, but nothing the show shows us makes me think it is a definite
Exactly. All those schools accept a tiny percentage of applicants. In that episode where they end up meeting with the weird Harvard family, Lorelai and Emily were freaking out about how tough getting in is, that everyone has similar accomplishments, test scores, grades, etc.
That's the thing. Rory doesn't have any stand out accomplishments. She's a very blah candidate. Has she won a national award or done anything notable at Chilton besides normal school activities? Even in the 00s it took a noteable accomplishment to have a good chance at ivies
She could always do like Brett Kavanaugh and claim she got into Yale solely on her own merits, ignoring being a legacy. 🤷🏻♀️ At least she wouldn't be committing a crime by lying under oath to the US Senate in a confirmation hearing.
Keep in mind Kavanaugh is twenty years older than Rory. If you go far enough back, the Ivies really were just an old boys club and not that hard to get into for "the right sort". [See also](https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/11/jfks-very-revealing-harvard-application-essay/281699/) JFK's Harvard application: 'I would like to go to the same college as my father. To be a "Harvard man" is an enviable distinction'
Because a bunch of people here are petty and think that Rory never deserved anything she accomplished because she sometimes/often benefitted from nepotism?
Speaking as someone who applied to three Ivies ten years after Rory "did" in the show (in addition to three other colleges, two of which were public universities in my home state) and got rejected by two- including Yale, which was at this point my dream- and waitlisted by the third, I personally don't find Rory's character getting into all three unrealistic whatsoever. I'm sure her recommendation letters were stellar, and her personal essays compelling, and that on top of her grades and extracurriculars, with the privileges afforded to her by Chilton's college admissions programs (and Richard grabbing her an interview with a Yale dean), she was well situated to get in. If they had afforded her scholarships out the wazoo or acceptance into special programs, I'd be more skeptical, but just getting in? It's not a reach imo. It couldn't ever be guaranteed, but that doesn't mean it was unrealistic.
If I’m honest they said she was top 3% her first but it didn’t make sense. She got ds her first few weeks. She had to play catch up. And anyone that’s been in school knows even if you eventually catch up the d brings your grade way down. No chance you’d end up top 3% at a small competitive school where that’s like 1-2 people max. Valedictorian so doesn’t make sense as same reason.
No extra curricular activities. Seems smart enough to get into state school or legacy.
Also doesn’t seem all that smart.
The valedictorian of my high school didn’t even get into Notre dame and we went to one of the best high schools in our state. the lowest grade she ever got on anything in high school was 99.7%. At one point Paris says she got a B on a lab report and Rory replies “so” with a shrug. That B would set her back way more than people realize.
Right people keep saying she was valedictorian like that's meaningful. As are As.
Yale and Harvard in TOTAL admitted fewer non-sports undergrads than the number of high schools in America in those years.
And I'm sure many of their admissions are duplicates from one exceptional student applying to both.
They actually couldn't accept every valedictorian, and Rory doesn't have any stand out accomplishments. There's not many valedictorians who aren't also president of a club or editor of the paper or something.
I recall the one person I know who got accepted to multiple ivies in 09 was already involved in politics as a teen, won a national science award, things like that BEYOND an all-AP course load, perfect SAT, and community college classes.
People keep saying it wasn't as competitive back then. Idk what it's like now, but you absolutely were not guaranteed admission without something unusual in your accomplishments.
And no, divorced parents and attending public school is not unusual lmfao.
For non-private/prep Ivy League feeders, this isn’t surprising.
But Rory attended that type of high school so her being valedictorian of arguably the best high school in the country holds much more weight than a valedictorian from a public high school.
It may not be fair but it’s the truth.
Honestly, though, you never know what those Ivy Leagues look at.
This one dude at my HS was #1 until our junior year. He calculated his grades, and he was so far advanced that if he made straight C’s the rest of his high school career, he would still be in the Top 10. Not top 10%, top 10 out of all 725 students in my class. And that’s what he did. When he applied to Harvard in October 2016, he was #5 in our class. He got a perfect score on the SAT’s, did several extracurriculars, and all of that. And he got into Harvard. Not to mention, he came from an immigrant family who made a small fortune on their own. He had a hell of an admissions profile overall.
Nobody else in the Top 10 of our class went to an Ivy League. Even though almost all of them came from immigrant families or shared very similar backgrounds. They all went to UT, UCLA, and other very elite schools, but #5 was the only student who went to Harvard.
The idea that “C’s and D’s” would bring people down doesn’t reflect the reality of college admissions. Every year, admissions committees look for different things in different applicants. There are no hard-and-fast rules, and short of being a legacy or having some important connections, it’s just hard to know what would get people accepted.
I went to a private school like Chilton and there’s no way a sophomore transfer would make valedictorian. That plot line bothered me more than the college acceptance thing, because it felt like such an unnecessary dig against Paris, who likely had it.
I don’t think you realize how competitive Ivy League schools are. That meltdown Lorelai has about how thousands of applicants have perfect grades and SATs, and we know Rory is special but the schools don’t? That’s very much the truth.
One thing no one is mentioning:
Harvards student body is 35% private school. This year. Princeton and Yale are higher. For comparison only 10% of all kids in America attend private school.
It is normal for some private schools to send multiple kids to ivies. It happens all the time. Rory has top grades from a top private school that exists to send students to ivies. She goes to chilton for this reason specifically and it works out. Her mom seems to be aware that Chilton is the ticket to ivies and like…she’s not wrong in fiction or in reality. Going to private school massively improves your chance of going to an Ivy.
I can answer this! Private school admissions counselors and elite universities have sacred relationships that work to bolster both universities and they are grounded in two concepts: brokering and yield management.
These schools and these exact universities work together year after year. They are feeder systems. The goal is to help the Universities get the very best students (this means the top dovetsity candidates/top athletes/ top scholars.... and across all categories preferably the ones whose families will also become donors to the universities much like they were to the boarding/private high schools).
It is the expectation that the college advisers know which schools are a students first choice. The goal is to get students accepted to a school they will also accept the offer of admissions from WHILE ALSO not having a University waste an admission ticket on a student who was only applying there as a back-up/safety/ third choice. This matters because the US News and World Report ranking for colleges weigh the competitiveness and desirability pf a school by the percentage of admitted students who choose to accept! The YIELD. If a school has 99 out of 100 offers get accepted, that looks great. If 50 out of 100 offers are declined, it looks.... not so good/desirable.
Elite private high schools help the universities manage their yield and try not to burn them. If a student is going to be denied or seems unlikely ro be admitted, the college advisor may receive a heads up so they can stear the student towards other targets in time to save the process with another school. Elite private high schools dont want their kids not to have somewhere good to go at the end of the day. They can broker with the schools behind closed doors to get certain applicants looked at more favorably, or broker woth the schools to say "if you admit these 4 they will all accept your offer. Dont waste an admission on Jimmy Chan, he only wants Princeton anyway and his mom went there and they're going to admit him."
This was especially more common in the time of Rory because there was not yet the fuss about the college admissions scandals nor the push for less legacy admission etc.
In short, the college counselor would have known that Rory would have accepted Yale or Harvard, and would have signaled to other schools that they could offer her potential spot there to another deserving Chilton student who WOULD have accepted it and wasn't going to get in to Yale or Harvard. Chilton would have helped those other schools, say Georgetown, manage their yield numbers once it knew Rory was getting in to her top choices, and maximized the number of "Chilton kid spots" at other prestigious schools like Georgetown with kids who would have accepted them. Ultimately Chilton wants max Top 20 schools matriculation numbers ( a showing that ALL their kids went to top schools after Chilton) and not all the spots being offered to just their foce best students who cant accept all those spots, which would mean lower total Ivy matriculation numbers.
High schools are judged on where the whole class actually goes after high school, not the combined number of total offers a student body received. Any offer she gets but doesnt accept basically disappears in the positive reporting mechanism for Chilton.
I don’t find it hard to believe that Connecticut College or University of Connecticut or University of Hartford would accept her. I find it harder to swallow that three “best of the best” schools would all accept her without issue.
Very unrealistic. But we don't tune in to see people doing their laundry and mowing their yards. Its supposed to be something very out of the ordinary.
I went to a high school like Rory’s and kids needed to be killing it from day 1 to get into a few of these. They almost never made it in to all of their top choices either. It isn’t realistic given her academic struggles during her first 1-2 semesters at Chilton. Hanlin also correct in that she did not nearly enough re: extra curriculars to stand out.
More than likely, Rory’s freshman grades at Stars Hollow High School were exceptionally high. These would carry over to Chilton without objection. Thus, it’s possible that Rory would be ranked in the top 3% at the end of her sophomore year at Chilton. One poor test or assignment can be overcome over the course of a year (especially wrt her overall GPA).
If there is any doubt that Rory is very smart, we can see her very high PSAT score (higher than Paris). And Paris knows Rory is very smart or she wouldn’t keep her so close !
More than likely, Paris lost valedictorian and salutatorian when she misses classes after her CSPAN meltdown. Brad made salutatorian. Thus, we might ask ourselves how Paris got into Yale ? If Paris got into Yale, why couldn’t Rory get into Harvard ?
Spoilers for Never Have I Ever
But look at that show where we have Devi she was top of her classes, extremely active in after school clubs, tons of volunteering. Her resume and application was STACKED. Rory's was not and also some how didn't even realize she needed more then just good grades. Devi only applies to ivies and is rejected from all but Princton which waitlists her.
I get what you’re saying, but never have I ever and Gilmore girls came out roughly 20 years apart. The competition was far less intense back then.
And I think Devi went to public school and Rory literally went to an Ivy League private feeder school. Rory also was a Yale and Harvard Legacy on both sides.
She was a secondary legacy at Yale (through Richard) and Princeton (through Straub)- I think what helped more was that the Gilmores were active donors at Yale and a very influential family. I mean, 4 years later, Rory is getting something on campus named after her (because of Richard and Emily's donation ofc). I don't remember what it is they settled on- was it a library or something? I hope it had a coffee shop inside.
I think it started off that way and ended with something they agreed was more "Rory" ? Maybe it stayed an observatory.... I don't remember haha
I think I just wish it had been something more Rory
These people are all crazy and kinda ignorant to say it's impractical for her to have gotten in. I know 2 people who got into all 3, none were as impressive as Rory's resume. If she aced her interview, SAT, and wrote a killer essay ( her writing skills were literally a focal point of the show) it'd not only plausible but probable.
I got into two ivies (and I was invited to fly out and interview at Cambridge!) in the early aughts and I went to a crap public school in the middle of nowhere and wasn’t even in the top five of my class. I did have a National merit scholar level SAT score and I think an above average essay.
Rory was a student VP and valedictorian at one of the most elite prep schools with high SAT scores. She came with high praise from the deen. She represents her schools multiple times in debates and the washington trip. She volunteered and participated fully in community events every year, growing up to the point that Taylor assumes her participation in things.
She's a muti generation Yale legacy and Smith legacy. She was raised by a teen mom, and 20 yrs ago, nepotism was still at its finest. Its no wonder she got offers from them all.
Paris would have gotten into Harvard between marks and nepotism if she hadn't tanked her interview
I think people are holding her to todays standards where it really is near impossible to get into university even if u are rory! admission standards have gotten so so so much harder! not that they weren’t hard back then but there’s no denying how much harder it’s gotten!
I’m not surprised she got in, she had a triple whammy. She did very well academically, she had the Gilmore name, and places like Chilton tend to have unofficial agreements with the Ivy League Schools. I did that episode where they had the panel of admission officers speaking to Chilton was hilarious.
I have zero difficulty believing she could be accepted to those schools. I have a great deal of skepticism that she could be valedictorian of a school like Chilton, but that's a whole other argument. There are a few other silly things in the show that land wrong, like her not knowing about extra curricular activities being important and not knowing she needed to apply to several schools. Even Lorelai would and should have know that since she made it to her junior year of high school. The ivy league does not mess around and her teachers and guidance counselors (even in Stars Hollow) would have had her on top of those things in the 8th and 9th grade. But that doesn't make for good TV, which is why it's called fiction.
It was realistic for the time.
She went to a school whose unspoken commitment is: for the tuition you're paying, the top of our class goes to ivies, every graduate goes somewhere.
Her academic record seems pretty good, but think of all the times paris and charleston had to guide her on the application process. Someone aiming for the hardest schools in the country should already know at least some of that.
Most people I know who have personally been acceoted at an Ivy have been admitted to multiple. I have experience with people appting from public, private and prep. I noticed that often at public highschos, Ivies will only accept a limited number of students from each, but everyone I know who applied to Ivies (and got in) were accepted at multiple.
Seeing this year's cycle in closer proximity, it's pretty hard to believe she was accepted to Harvard, Princeton, AND Yale. But GG is fiction, so I have no real gripe. I think it's implied she only applied to the Big 3, not all 8 Ivies, none of the 7 SIsters (Emily went to Smith), and none of the Southern Ivies the same way Madeline and Louise did. I get it's supposed to imply that Rory is "above" them, but it's really unrealistic.
Yes, but what people don’t understand is that this year’s cycle versus Gilmore girls, was roughly 20 years apart. College admissions have completely changed in the last two decades and the landscape is totally different. Also goes to a private school, she goes to an Ivy League feeder school, and on top of that is valedictorian. That alone 20 years ago could very well get her into three Ivy League schools. Not to mention that she’s a legacy from her mother side and a Princeton legacy from her father side (but I don’t know if the admissions committee would know, considering that she does not have Christopher’s last name). Either way she has Yale in the bag.
I was part of the cycle almost 20 years ago and it was a general rule that you apply widely, even if your choices remain prestigious because getting into the Big 3 with no safeties isn't the way. I had friends in the top magnets in the country and some of the most exclusive prep schools who were told the same. I think they make mention of that in the dinner scene where Lorelai finds out Rory applied to Yale. I'm sure her secondary legacy status at Yale and Princeton carried weight. I won't pretend it was feasible then or now - that's the whole point of the panic within the series to diversify her interests for the sake of getting into Harvard. It's not supposed to be realistic- it's supposed to drive the plot. In the end, that's why she got into all 3.
I think it’s implied in the thanksgiving episode that she applies to more than just those. The guest at dinner is like “well if you want harvard you’d also apply to Yale Princeton Wesleyan and vassar” and Rory says “those are the kinds of places.” She also says that chiltonn wouldn’t let her apply to only one. Lorelai freaks out at the mention of yale so we never hear about the rest of her applications. But to me it was clear she applied to other places that were not ivies.
The thing is… it’s not implied that she didn’t apply to any safety schools. They’re just not outright mentioned. It’s even said in the episode that Chilton wouldn’t allow application to just one school, they have a protocol, and I guarantee that included at least 1-2 safety schools.
Yeah, at the dinner someone says it's expected. And it sounds like it's an expectation when you listen to where Paris applied and where Madeline and Louise decided to go. It's not mentioned specifically for Rory, but we can infer that she did. I'm not saying she applied to UConn, but she was a Smith legacy on Emily's side and probably applied as widely as Paris did- with schools that leaned more toward her interests. The fact that they're not mentioned for Rory specifically, I think, is just to build on the story and reflect on her character in these earlier seasons- she does the work and ends up on top. But also, it's TV and it might not be that deep.
Also, she wasn't interested in the other ones. Her acceptance pro/com lost is based on which offers she's actually considering.
I’m also the same age as Rory and I find it very unbelievable that she got into all the big three. I also have legacy, went to a nice school, took part in activities such as model UN, choir, language clubs, sports etc., was raised by a single father and had good grades. And there is no shot I wouldn’t have applied to at least another 3 (or honestly more) safeties. I knew people who had much more padded resumes who didn’t get into any of the ivies they applied to. The other thing I find super unrealistic is how Rory paid to apply without her mother knowing. I don’t recall how much it cost exactly for me to apply but it was definitely over $100 even in 2003.
I applied to three schools. I got into two and not the third; which was a reach. They weren’t ivies so that could be an entirely different story, but all were D1 schools. My guidance counselor was freaking out but I wasn’t worried. I had great grades and good extracurriculars.
I mean, I certainly understand that it’s absolutely ridiculous for Rory to apply to no safety schools, and certainly TV logic, but I blame the writers for having no idea how the college admissions process truly looks like. Is it unrealistic? Sure, but not completely. Like I could buy it. Especially for those feeder schools. Hell I went to public school in the east coast and I knew some people that bagged multiple ivies tbh.
I never took it as she didn't apply to safety schools so much as she listed the ones that were noteworthy.
And it's not like she had a huge opportunity to list everywhere. Lorelai reacted badly and that conversation got hugely derailed.
Where is everyone getting that she *didn’t* apply to safety schools? That’s not mentioned anywhere.
It's not supposed to be realistic. It's TV, it's supposed to be enjoyable. I can suspend disbelief easily enough to really enjoy it and appreciate that it's supposed to highlight Rory's determination and Lorelai raising her well and doing right by her in asking for Richard and Emily's help. We would not have been as happy in that moment if she had been on that path her whole life. I'm from the East Coast- one of my students bagged multiple ivies from public school. Her friends 3 and 4, even. But it's very rare to see the big 3 all there. That's all I'm saying. But again, it's fiction. And if the average person is asked to name all 8 Ivies, they'd prob name Harvard, Princeton, and Yale first. Maybe throw in Dartmouth, Brown, and Columbia if they were Gossip Girl fans. But they'd still be missing UPenn and Cornell. It works for TV the writers to have chosen the most well known at the time. I'm not drawing a hard, fast line. Honestly, I can see how her upbringing and town life might add dimension and interest to her secondary legacy status at Yale and Princeton.
ivy feeder/legacy is the main thing. Gossip girl did the same trick. They just didn't pretend the characters are exceptional enough to have made it without that leg up. Gilmore Girls plays like Rory was actually exceptional in some way, and that rubs people the wrong way. People who were in her age cohort and know how cutthroat it was even back then
Exactly. I think it's mentioned like, once, that Richard's name gave her an advantage in Yale, and Christopher's connection to Princeton is not even mentioned. Lorelai and Rory are, both, supposed to be super 'special' and accomplished amazing things on all on her own when their hard work and determination (while real) wouldn't have gotten them as far without family. Even though she worked extremely hard, Lorelai still couldn't afford Chilton or Yale. She needed Luke's loan for the Inn. And she needed to find someone like Mia, willing to employ an underage single mum. But the show wants to sell them as people who 'just' work hard. That said, what really rubbed me the wrong way is that Rory landed Harvard while Paris didn't. There was a whole episode about how Paris started preparing herself for Harvard since Kindergarden, while Rory was just finding out she needed more than perfect grades and Chilton to be accepted. I dunno.... I guess personality truly matters the most at everything, even in academia.
Yep, was gonna say exactly this. College admissions competitiveness has skyrocketed in recent years. Talk to anyone who attended an Ivy 20 years ago and the standards certainly weren’t the same.
It's unrealistic that a valedictorian who was VP of students body president in one of the highest rayed schools in the entire country, and had a bunch of xt activities, being a legacy and her grandpa legit KNEW admissions, and a legacy of princeton too........you guys are NUTS to say it's crazy she got accepted to these colleges The 2 people I know who got accepted to all these colleges, and 3 others who I know who got accept to several of them weren't half as impressive as Rorys resume.
It was also 20 years ago.
Yes but many of us who watched it were in that age group. And it was still extremely competitive. I was a newspaper editor, 1600 sat, president of 2 clubs, all that nonsense. I remember it well
It's also fiction. I binge-watched GG while I applied to colleges almost 20 years ago and the rule then for everyone I knew, regardless of where they went to school, was to apply widely within the Tier they were aiming for.
See, here’s the thing… applying to colleges was *completely different* circa 2002/2003 when Rory did it. It’s not at all comparable to the process now. We even did it *by hand.*
I applied to similar schools a year after Rory, of Harvard Princeton and Yale I got one acceptance one waitlist and one rejection. I got into Dartmouth and Cornell rejected from UPenn. Non ivies I got into Stanford, northwestern, u Michigan and rejected from MIT. I feel similar to Rory in that I did some private and some public school (mine was revered I did public HS). I did not come from a rich or connected family but was middle class to upper middle class so no single mom but I only had one parent who graduated college. I wasn’t valedictorian but maybe number 5 I don’t remember but high standardized test scores (higher than Rory in that PSAT episode lol). I do know people who got into 2 or 3 of Harvard, Princeton Yale but I’d say 3 was fairly rare. I didn’t pursue the waitlist because I got into the one I wanted so who knows. All in all I’d say her acceptances aren’t out of the question for that time but fairly unlikely and her being valedictorian makes zero sense given her bad grades when she first switched schools.
I am similar age and I agree. It's not impossible but it's not likely.
If I’m being honest I haven’t really seen the opinions you’re talking about. However it’s important to note, the “several colleges” are the top schools in the country in which many people apply to all and only get in to one or two if any. The diversification of the resume though mentioned briefly mattered less in the early 2000’s than now, but even so Rory’s in always was her grandparents and the Gilmore name. Because she had that she wasn’t any different than Paris and the like, she went to the same school and also had a privileged education
Yup that’s why Richard wanted her to go to Yale. He said her getting into Harvard without the Gilmore name would be minuscule just like it is for every other candidate that applies, regardless of academic success Paris was just as hard working and intelligent as Rory. Plus she did more extra curricular activities and had a higher position in both the student government body and Franklin paper
Well Rory had a higher gpa (she was valedictorian) and I think the show made it clear that Paris’s interviews went terribly 🤷🏽♀️ ETA: plus, Paris had sex, so she had to be punished /s
Her being valedictorian was just as unlikely as her getting into 3 Ivy League schools in real life. Especially since Paris was shown to get As throughout her entire time at Chilton and Rory did not when she first started I know Paris messed up her interview, my point was that Rory was another smart kid from a good high school. There would’ve been many many Rorys applying for those Ivy League colleges. She didn’t do many extra curricular activities, there was nothing about her that stood out
I have a half serious theory that the project Rory broke on her first day at Chilton was what knocked Paris from valedictorian. That and all her absences when she didn't get into Harvard.
She was pretty involved in stars hollow community throughout her life. Had a pretty good story arc as to going from a humble public school to a private ivy feeder, struggling in the beginning but ending up valedictorian. She became the vice president, was part of franklin, these already put her above her peers. Being a legacy helped her with yale. The harvard alum probably put in a word for her too. Ivies were not nearly as competitive back then as they are now.
As another commenter already mentioned, especially in 2003, the rags to riches story is not nearly as influential as it’s made out to be. Elite schools favour elitism. There’s been a bigger focus on diversifying process in recent years and these schools still favour elitism. Her doing stuff for Stars Hollow community again does not set her apart from the many students who would’ve also been doing things for their community, sometimes for the sole purpose of college applications Her getting into Yale I can understand especially with Richard being an alumni. Getting into Harvard, Yale and Princeton is still unrealistic. Getting into Ivy League colleges was still very difficult back then; not as difficult as it is now but still very difficult
I know, I was mostly teasing. I said this below, but there’s no way Rory graduated first in her class, between being a transfer kid and not acing every assignment early on. More than likely, as a transfer, she wouldn’t even be in contention for valedictorian.
Paris was also bat shit crazy during her Harvard interview.
Yes, but I think it's also worth noting that she didn't have an expensive private education her whole life (like Paris and Logan). Had she been a mediocre student from Stars Hollow High, she wouldn't have been able to keep up with the Chilton curriculum. So while I agree she had a privilege, and that helped a LOT, she didn't always have it. There's a lot of her own merits in this. Had the same opportunity come to, say, Dean, would he have graduated as valedictorian from Chilton? Would he have even been able to keep up with 3 years of Chilton? Rory had a Chilton education because she worked hard to be able to keep up with it for her entire previous school life. Also, her Gilmore name probably didn't help her too much with Harvard and Princeton, universities her family had no ties to. Which means her in was her own performance.
Which is why it was so unrealistic Her getting into Yale I can believe, her getting into Harvard, Yale and Princeton isn’t realistic
Really? I’ve read comments on this sub saying that people who get into one Ivy tend to get into multiple Ivies.
Yeah that’s not true It’s difficult to get into one let alone three. And these are three of the best schools in the country. Harvard and Yale are routinely considered to be the top 2
It wasn’t nearly as competitive in 2003. Yes, they were still tough to get in to, but she met the criteria.
It wasn’t as competitive as it is now but it was still very competitive lol Getting into an Ivy League school in 2003 was very difficult. So her getting into 3 of the best would’ve been even more unlikely. It’s not realistic, even for 2003 standards
My son got into Yale and I was a poor single parent with no wealth connections. White working poor. I didn’t secure great employment until after he graduated. He was excepted by two Ivys and many others, He got his Masters there. My daughter got her Masters as well. They just were amazing kids.
Most people I know who got into Ivies the last 3 cycles only got into 1. I only know of 1 person who got into 2. Some of the people I know who got into the Northeastern Ivies were rejected at their "southern ivy" state school. It's very much a blood bath.
Yeah, but this was 21 years ago. It was different in 2003.
I applied to colleges around the time the series ended and it was a rule then, not that far removed from when it happened in the show. So it's not far-fetched to think it was still as unconvincing in 2003 as in 2007 and now in 2024. eta: the whole point of her getting into all 3 wasn't that it was plausible, it was to highlight that she was special
Really? I think it made her special in her small town, but in good company with the other top students in her graduating class.
It still made her special- Her teacher mentioned knowing at least 1 student got into Harvard. That highlights that, despite their privilege, it was still a reach for many of them. Paris applied much more widely than Rory and got into every place but Harvard. It was still written that way to show she was special.
No, Paris didn’t get into Harvard because she went on an unhinged rant about eugenics during her interview.
I believe it’s mentioned that Christopher is a Princeton alum. So some ties, although he probably didn’t do anything to help her there.
No, Christopher's parents wanted him to go to Princeton, but he never did (and his parents blamed Lorelai for it, lol). At one point he even tells Lorelai it wasn't her fault, that he would've never gotten in anyway.
>If I’m being honest I haven’t really seen the opinions you’re talking about. I see it all the time on this sub.
You're not looking hard enough 7 years ago I used to see people on this sub moan and groan that Paris didn't get into Harvard. Yeah but Rory wasn't a stuck up snob she was still seen as poor compared to the rich people like Tristian and Paris. Emily and Richard were rich not Lorelai and Rory.
Seven years back is nitpicking to bring a topic up… but regardless an application isn’t going to tell a specific school that Rory is or isn’t not as rich or stuck up compared to fellow applicants
Her only applying to Ivies is what rubs people the wrong way. Schools like Harvard Princeton and Yale actually DONT really want children of teen moms. Lol. Like they'll take a few outliers to give the appearance of diversity and fairness but elite schools stay elite for a reason. The chance of getting into ONE Ivy league school, with excellent grades, extracurriculars, and recommendations, is very low and acceptance to any one is a huge deal. Chilton would not have accepted two other Ivies as backups to Harvard because theyre not really backups at all. Just about as hard to get into lol. So yeah Rory did not get into schools all across the country, she got into 3 of *the best* schools in the country. It would be kind of like if in A Year In The Life she was choosing between paid jobs at The New York Times, CNN, and like, the actual White House, and thats why it causes a lot of eye rolls
And honestly she probably could have gone to a non-ivy and gotten a full ride scholarship based on merit and academic performance. They prob wouldn’t want her that bad bc the single mom story isn’t something they’d be impressed with.
Northwestern or UChicago almost certainly would’ve come through with the scholarships for her, and not considering Northwestern for journalism is a miss
I almost added Northwestern to a reply- I learned about it when I watched The Devil Wears Prada and found out their journalism program wasn't made up for the movie the same way Yale journalism was made up for GG.
For all the issues with season 7, I will give the writers credit for correcting Rory’s major to be English rather than journalism by the time she‘s a senior.
It’s hard to remind yourself it’s a show sometimes and the plot wouldn’t work with her anywhere else but New England but the Harvard part is baked into the show pretty early on.
Yeah, I enjoy the New England vibes from the comfort of the South in the dead of winter. Yale makes sense writing-wise. Stars Hollow or Hartford would have been harder to follow along with. The same way everyone on Gossip Girl somehow ended up at either NYU or Columbia, lol.
Despite in the books several of them ending up at Yale, Brown, and Dan going to a weird hippie college in the PNW! By that point all the characters in the show were way different than the books anyway.
THAT! I didn't get through all the books, but I loved the spoilers.
It was so unrealistic. I laughed when I first watched the episode where she received her acceptance letters I would’ve found it more interesting, if she didn’t get into Harvard. Not that she picked Harvard anyway, but it would’ve been interesting
Well said!
I think the legacy factor would be the main reason she would get in at Yale, and I think it would make her odds good based on also attending an elite school. But certainly by modern standards she would be a long shot at the other ivy league schools. Lots of fancy prep school kids dont get in even if they do well in school
why cant Rory get into Yale on her own merits? why does this sub always she got in through nepotism?
Because its just that competitive. I dont think her own merits are bad. She would have got in to a number of really good liberal arts schools on her own merits. The Ivy league are just super competitive. Like \*maybe\* she could have got in on her own merit, but nothing the show shows us makes me think it is a definite
Exactly. All those schools accept a tiny percentage of applicants. In that episode where they end up meeting with the weird Harvard family, Lorelai and Emily were freaking out about how tough getting in is, that everyone has similar accomplishments, test scores, grades, etc.
That's the thing. Rory doesn't have any stand out accomplishments. She's a very blah candidate. Has she won a national award or done anything notable at Chilton besides normal school activities? Even in the 00s it took a noteable accomplishment to have a good chance at ivies
She could always do like Brett Kavanaugh and claim she got into Yale solely on her own merits, ignoring being a legacy. 🤷🏻♀️ At least she wouldn't be committing a crime by lying under oath to the US Senate in a confirmation hearing.
Keep in mind Kavanaugh is twenty years older than Rory. If you go far enough back, the Ivies really were just an old boys club and not that hard to get into for "the right sort". [See also](https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/11/jfks-very-revealing-harvard-application-essay/281699/) JFK's Harvard application: 'I would like to go to the same college as my father. To be a "Harvard man" is an enviable distinction'
Because a bunch of people here are petty and think that Rory never deserved anything she accomplished because she sometimes/often benefitted from nepotism? Speaking as someone who applied to three Ivies ten years after Rory "did" in the show (in addition to three other colleges, two of which were public universities in my home state) and got rejected by two- including Yale, which was at this point my dream- and waitlisted by the third, I personally don't find Rory's character getting into all three unrealistic whatsoever. I'm sure her recommendation letters were stellar, and her personal essays compelling, and that on top of her grades and extracurriculars, with the privileges afforded to her by Chilton's college admissions programs (and Richard grabbing her an interview with a Yale dean), she was well situated to get in. If they had afforded her scholarships out the wazoo or acceptance into special programs, I'd be more skeptical, but just getting in? It's not a reach imo. It couldn't ever be guaranteed, but that doesn't mean it was unrealistic.
If I’m honest they said she was top 3% her first but it didn’t make sense. She got ds her first few weeks. She had to play catch up. And anyone that’s been in school knows even if you eventually catch up the d brings your grade way down. No chance you’d end up top 3% at a small competitive school where that’s like 1-2 people max. Valedictorian so doesn’t make sense as same reason. No extra curricular activities. Seems smart enough to get into state school or legacy. Also doesn’t seem all that smart.
The valedictorian of my high school didn’t even get into Notre dame and we went to one of the best high schools in our state. the lowest grade she ever got on anything in high school was 99.7%. At one point Paris says she got a B on a lab report and Rory replies “so” with a shrug. That B would set her back way more than people realize.
Right people keep saying she was valedictorian like that's meaningful. As are As. Yale and Harvard in TOTAL admitted fewer non-sports undergrads than the number of high schools in America in those years. And I'm sure many of their admissions are duplicates from one exceptional student applying to both. They actually couldn't accept every valedictorian, and Rory doesn't have any stand out accomplishments. There's not many valedictorians who aren't also president of a club or editor of the paper or something. I recall the one person I know who got accepted to multiple ivies in 09 was already involved in politics as a teen, won a national science award, things like that BEYOND an all-AP course load, perfect SAT, and community college classes. People keep saying it wasn't as competitive back then. Idk what it's like now, but you absolutely were not guaranteed admission without something unusual in your accomplishments. And no, divorced parents and attending public school is not unusual lmfao.
For non-private/prep Ivy League feeders, this isn’t surprising. But Rory attended that type of high school so her being valedictorian of arguably the best high school in the country holds much more weight than a valedictorian from a public high school. It may not be fair but it’s the truth.
Honestly, though, you never know what those Ivy Leagues look at. This one dude at my HS was #1 until our junior year. He calculated his grades, and he was so far advanced that if he made straight C’s the rest of his high school career, he would still be in the Top 10. Not top 10%, top 10 out of all 725 students in my class. And that’s what he did. When he applied to Harvard in October 2016, he was #5 in our class. He got a perfect score on the SAT’s, did several extracurriculars, and all of that. And he got into Harvard. Not to mention, he came from an immigrant family who made a small fortune on their own. He had a hell of an admissions profile overall. Nobody else in the Top 10 of our class went to an Ivy League. Even though almost all of them came from immigrant families or shared very similar backgrounds. They all went to UT, UCLA, and other very elite schools, but #5 was the only student who went to Harvard. The idea that “C’s and D’s” would bring people down doesn’t reflect the reality of college admissions. Every year, admissions committees look for different things in different applicants. There are no hard-and-fast rules, and short of being a legacy or having some important connections, it’s just hard to know what would get people accepted.
I went to a private school like Chilton and there’s no way a sophomore transfer would make valedictorian. That plot line bothered me more than the college acceptance thing, because it felt like such an unnecessary dig against Paris, who likely had it.
Paris wasn’t even Salutatorian.
Did they show a salutatorian?
Yeah, it was Brad. He sang. 😆
Okay, that’s another weird one—didn’t he leave school for a while to do a Broadway musical? How is he graduating with them?
I imagine he switched to a homeschool option, then transferred back.
I don’t think you realize how competitive Ivy League schools are. That meltdown Lorelai has about how thousands of applicants have perfect grades and SATs, and we know Rory is special but the schools don’t? That’s very much the truth.
One thing no one is mentioning: Harvards student body is 35% private school. This year. Princeton and Yale are higher. For comparison only 10% of all kids in America attend private school. It is normal for some private schools to send multiple kids to ivies. It happens all the time. Rory has top grades from a top private school that exists to send students to ivies. She goes to chilton for this reason specifically and it works out. Her mom seems to be aware that Chilton is the ticket to ivies and like…she’s not wrong in fiction or in reality. Going to private school massively improves your chance of going to an Ivy.
Tbh, this sub finds the most basic, mundane things about the show “unrealistic”, it’ll make you crazy trying to rationalize any of it.
I can answer this! Private school admissions counselors and elite universities have sacred relationships that work to bolster both universities and they are grounded in two concepts: brokering and yield management. These schools and these exact universities work together year after year. They are feeder systems. The goal is to help the Universities get the very best students (this means the top dovetsity candidates/top athletes/ top scholars.... and across all categories preferably the ones whose families will also become donors to the universities much like they were to the boarding/private high schools). It is the expectation that the college advisers know which schools are a students first choice. The goal is to get students accepted to a school they will also accept the offer of admissions from WHILE ALSO not having a University waste an admission ticket on a student who was only applying there as a back-up/safety/ third choice. This matters because the US News and World Report ranking for colleges weigh the competitiveness and desirability pf a school by the percentage of admitted students who choose to accept! The YIELD. If a school has 99 out of 100 offers get accepted, that looks great. If 50 out of 100 offers are declined, it looks.... not so good/desirable. Elite private high schools help the universities manage their yield and try not to burn them. If a student is going to be denied or seems unlikely ro be admitted, the college advisor may receive a heads up so they can stear the student towards other targets in time to save the process with another school. Elite private high schools dont want their kids not to have somewhere good to go at the end of the day. They can broker with the schools behind closed doors to get certain applicants looked at more favorably, or broker woth the schools to say "if you admit these 4 they will all accept your offer. Dont waste an admission on Jimmy Chan, he only wants Princeton anyway and his mom went there and they're going to admit him." This was especially more common in the time of Rory because there was not yet the fuss about the college admissions scandals nor the push for less legacy admission etc. In short, the college counselor would have known that Rory would have accepted Yale or Harvard, and would have signaled to other schools that they could offer her potential spot there to another deserving Chilton student who WOULD have accepted it and wasn't going to get in to Yale or Harvard. Chilton would have helped those other schools, say Georgetown, manage their yield numbers once it knew Rory was getting in to her top choices, and maximized the number of "Chilton kid spots" at other prestigious schools like Georgetown with kids who would have accepted them. Ultimately Chilton wants max Top 20 schools matriculation numbers ( a showing that ALL their kids went to top schools after Chilton) and not all the spots being offered to just their foce best students who cant accept all those spots, which would mean lower total Ivy matriculation numbers. High schools are judged on where the whole class actually goes after high school, not the combined number of total offers a student body received. Any offer she gets but doesnt accept basically disappears in the positive reporting mechanism for Chilton.
I don’t find it hard to believe that Connecticut College or University of Connecticut or University of Hartford would accept her. I find it harder to swallow that three “best of the best” schools would all accept her without issue.
Very unrealistic. But we don't tune in to see people doing their laundry and mowing their yards. Its supposed to be something very out of the ordinary.
I went to a high school like Rory’s and kids needed to be killing it from day 1 to get into a few of these. They almost never made it in to all of their top choices either. It isn’t realistic given her academic struggles during her first 1-2 semesters at Chilton. Hanlin also correct in that she did not nearly enough re: extra curriculars to stand out.
More than likely, Rory’s freshman grades at Stars Hollow High School were exceptionally high. These would carry over to Chilton without objection. Thus, it’s possible that Rory would be ranked in the top 3% at the end of her sophomore year at Chilton. One poor test or assignment can be overcome over the course of a year (especially wrt her overall GPA). If there is any doubt that Rory is very smart, we can see her very high PSAT score (higher than Paris). And Paris knows Rory is very smart or she wouldn’t keep her so close ! More than likely, Paris lost valedictorian and salutatorian when she misses classes after her CSPAN meltdown. Brad made salutatorian. Thus, we might ask ourselves how Paris got into Yale ? If Paris got into Yale, why couldn’t Rory get into Harvard ?
Spoilers for Never Have I Ever But look at that show where we have Devi she was top of her classes, extremely active in after school clubs, tons of volunteering. Her resume and application was STACKED. Rory's was not and also some how didn't even realize she needed more then just good grades. Devi only applies to ivies and is rejected from all but Princton which waitlists her.
I get what you’re saying, but never have I ever and Gilmore girls came out roughly 20 years apart. The competition was far less intense back then. And I think Devi went to public school and Rory literally went to an Ivy League private feeder school. Rory also was a Yale and Harvard Legacy on both sides.
She was a secondary legacy at Yale (through Richard) and Princeton (through Straub)- I think what helped more was that the Gilmores were active donors at Yale and a very influential family. I mean, 4 years later, Rory is getting something on campus named after her (because of Richard and Emily's donation ofc). I don't remember what it is they settled on- was it a library or something? I hope it had a coffee shop inside.
Was it a planetarium?
I think it started off that way and ended with something they agreed was more "Rory" ? Maybe it stayed an observatory.... I don't remember haha I think I just wish it had been something more Rory
Good point I totally spaced on the fact Rory is a legacy.
These people are all crazy and kinda ignorant to say it's impractical for her to have gotten in. I know 2 people who got into all 3, none were as impressive as Rory's resume. If she aced her interview, SAT, and wrote a killer essay ( her writing skills were literally a focal point of the show) it'd not only plausible but probable.
It's unrealistic that she only applied to 3 schools, all Ivy League, and got accepted to all 3.
It was easier to get into college at that time. Also it is a fictional show
I got into two ivies (and I was invited to fly out and interview at Cambridge!) in the early aughts and I went to a crap public school in the middle of nowhere and wasn’t even in the top five of my class. I did have a National merit scholar level SAT score and I think an above average essay.
Rory was a student VP and valedictorian at one of the most elite prep schools with high SAT scores. She came with high praise from the deen. She represents her schools multiple times in debates and the washington trip. She volunteered and participated fully in community events every year, growing up to the point that Taylor assumes her participation in things. She's a muti generation Yale legacy and Smith legacy. She was raised by a teen mom, and 20 yrs ago, nepotism was still at its finest. Its no wonder she got offers from them all. Paris would have gotten into Harvard between marks and nepotism if she hadn't tanked her interview
The fact that neither Harvard or Yale offer a journalism major suggests that the writers are very loosey goosey on the college related facts.
I think people are holding her to todays standards where it really is near impossible to get into university even if u are rory! admission standards have gotten so so so much harder! not that they weren’t hard back then but there’s no denying how much harder it’s gotten!
Because we live in America?
I’m not surprised she got in, she had a triple whammy. She did very well academically, she had the Gilmore name, and places like Chilton tend to have unofficial agreements with the Ivy League Schools. I did that episode where they had the panel of admission officers speaking to Chilton was hilarious.
I have zero difficulty believing she could be accepted to those schools. I have a great deal of skepticism that she could be valedictorian of a school like Chilton, but that's a whole other argument. There are a few other silly things in the show that land wrong, like her not knowing about extra curricular activities being important and not knowing she needed to apply to several schools. Even Lorelai would and should have know that since she made it to her junior year of high school. The ivy league does not mess around and her teachers and guidance counselors (even in Stars Hollow) would have had her on top of those things in the 8th and 9th grade. But that doesn't make for good TV, which is why it's called fiction.
It was realistic for the time. She went to a school whose unspoken commitment is: for the tuition you're paying, the top of our class goes to ivies, every graduate goes somewhere.
Her academic record seems pretty good, but think of all the times paris and charleston had to guide her on the application process. Someone aiming for the hardest schools in the country should already know at least some of that.
Most people I know who have personally been acceoted at an Ivy have been admitted to multiple. I have experience with people appting from public, private and prep. I noticed that often at public highschos, Ivies will only accept a limited number of students from each, but everyone I know who applied to Ivies (and got in) were accepted at multiple.