No flagship in NYS.
Clare Malone Georgetown
Perry Bacon jr Yale
Jody Avrigan Wesleyan
My understanding is that they were brilliant FGLI whose life changed thanks to the colleges they attended. But they were clearly hired for their credentials. How many were hired who had attended a flagship let alone a regional public university ?
Sometimes, once you’ve reached a certain level of material and cultural comfort, everything that lifted you or was aborbed becomes invisible to you. It creates a well-meaning person who misses a key point.
4 Likes
Might I remind members of the forum rules: “Our forum is expected to be a friendly and welcoming place, and one in which members can post without their motives, intelligence, or other personal characteristics being questioned by others."
and
“College Confidential forums exist to discuss college admission and other topics of interest. It is not a place for contentious debate. If you find yourself repeating talking points, it might be time to step away and do something else… If a thread starts to get heated, it might be closed or heavily moderated.”
The Ivy League is an athletic conference.
One of my kids went to a patriot league school, that’s an athletic conference.
Nate Silver drives me nuts! He’s devolving into writing things that he knows will be controversial. It’s getting tedious.
Does U Chicago even have sports?
2 Likes
Ds2 has a bff who played football for UChicago. 
My son’s former teammate plays soccer at U Chicago.
I know this was probably rhetorical 
and I’m not going to say there’s a lot of athletic spirit there, but…
-Men’s soccer and men’s tennis won their respective D3 national championships in spring 2022 and fall 2022, respectively
-Multiple M/W swim and XCTNF athletes have won individual national championships over the last five years or so
I agree Nate Silver seems to be trying to stir up controversy. It definitely makes me less interested in reading/following his work.
5 Likes
You see the athletes hang out in large groups around campus. Usually the football players all major in Business Economics and join a particular fraternity.
2 Likes
My thoughts on the article in the OP:
I’ll begin with saying I don’t put much stock into Nate Silver’s opinion. I also feel people don’t need to get defensive, when he claims the motivation for attending an elite private school is status-seeking. You don’t have to justify attendance at an Ivy, an elite private or a state flagship school to anyone.
I know when I’ve shared my family’s experience at our state flagship, I didn’t do it to denigrate people who don’t make the same decision. I do it to help those who are usually concerned about the educational experience and degree outcomes compared to a school that might be a financial stretch and perceived as having “more prestige”.
That said I think there are two points in the article that are thought-provoking.
-
There is a significant drop in confidence when it comes to higher education.
-
What that “perception of higher education” means for the future in his opinion.
Concerning the first point and the chart, “Shifting Confidence in Higher Education Among Demographic Groups, 2015-2023” in the article, I tried to think of reasons why this might be occurring. I was surprised how few actually had to do with higher education institutions.
The main reason in my opinion is that we are experiencing change at an accelerated pace. Confidence comes in part from knowing what to expect…and in general we no longer feel like the future is predictable.
Technological advances are coming so quickly. Their impact in our lives is accelerating social and cultural change. I think most would agree that there’s often a complicated ripple effect with each “advancement”.
As for the second point Nate Silver says,: “Importantly, I expect the decline in perceptions of elite private colleges to extend to people tasked with making hiring decisions.”
Hmm. I would not attribute broadening hiring decisions on a decline in perceptions of elite private colleges, but I may consider that it’s due in large part to an increased appreciation for graduates of state flagship schools. Many public universities have stepped up their game. jmo
1 Like
Just saw this:
2 Likes
Ooh…that’s an interesting article! I can’t reply right now but I will admit I gave a little squeal when I saw the Illinois photo!! Lol
Thanks for sharing.
That was posted this morning. Public Ivy League Schools (Forbes Article)
Oops. Somehow I missed it!
I went to school with his sister many years ago when he was much more humble. In the last 5+ year or so, dude has become insufferable but occasionally makes good points.
Was coming here to post it. 
Except…The opinion above the 2 lists is really full of holes The main one is a contradiction between the title and the content: the people interviewed are careful to note they AREN’T souring on Ivy League grads, but value State flagships equally, perhaps more so than before. In short, exactly as this website has been advising, what you do in college matters most as accomplished students find their way (though it really varies depending on the university and the subject…)
.
The lists are another look at universities and hopefully will matter to those who value rankings (their criteria eliminated all UCs BTW…)
2 Likes
This is how I feel about a lot of clickbait opinion articles.
6 Likes
Outside of CC and these kinds of lists, I’ve never actually heard anyone refer to a school their kid went to as a “public ivy.”
Certainly not every other family on my block that sends their kids to SLO. We all know that is a fantastic school, no need to cite anything else. This concern about people stealing the valor of the True Ivies is strange. Literally, nobody except parents describing generally the kinds of schools these top flagships are–and even then they use the terms I just said: flagship, top flagship. No trophies given, no valor stolen, let’s move on.
3 Likes
Heh…my first thought on reading “The Ivy League and other elite private colleges are losing esteem — and they deserve it” was…“funny, I’d say the same thing about Nate Silver”
4 Likes
The first nuclear reactor was built under its football stadium.
1 Like
My kids attended Princeton and Duke. Their employment recruiting opportunities were significantly better than those of their cousins who attended one of California’s top UC’s.
3 Likes