Public Ivies?

dufus3709
Mon, 23 Jan 2006 10:15:00 +0000

Greene came out with two books, “The Hidden Ivies” and the “The Public Ivies”. With 3500 4-year colleges in the US, my own opinion is that the education you would get at HYP is indistinguishable from what you would get at over a hundred other colleges. Harvard is especially known for having undergrad classes taught by grad students instead of doctorates. At any rate, personal “fit” would affect your life more than the prestigiousness of the college’s name. However, small prestigious private colleges would DEFINITELY be more fun to attend. If nothing else, the architecture on campus would be nicer and you wouldn’t be taking freshman Calculus in a lecture hall with 300 people.

The point of “The Public Ivies” is that the “fun” might not be worth the extra money. An explicit statement of this view is in “Harvard Schmarvard” by Jay Mathews. Anything that reduces the brand-name consciousness that drives so many people in so few colleges is probably a good thing.