I know it sounds silly, but I would like to know what the advantages of Ivy League schools actually are (for undergrad, especially). From what I have heard, the Ivy Leagues have a very intelligent baseline student body, top professors, a rigorous curriculum, and an extensive alumni/connections network. It also seems as if Ivy League students are labeled as “smart” by default as well.
But what actually are the real advantages in an Ivy education, other than rigor and prestige? Is there anything offered at an Ivy that would prevent a person at a regular state college from achieving the same (or a similar) education? Or impact?
It depends on where you’re coming from. For people from very low income families, admission to an Ivy League university probably doubles the likelihood that you will graduate on time, adopt some of the traits that affect success later in life and broaden your world view. For the middle-class, the effects may be somewhat less dramatic, though highly desirable nonetheless. For example, Ivy League colleges are magnets for Wall Street recruitment where the long work hours and high entry-level salaries will help you pay off your student loans a lot quicker. For the already well-connected, and wealthy - er, what’s the question, again?
Going to a prestigious college sends a signal that you are smart. There is some intangible value in that. There are other ways to send that signal. How valuable that signal is varies greatly depending on who you are and what you decide to do. In some endeavors it will help a lot, in some, not so much.
Sidney Frank (Gray Goose, Jagermeister) though his one year a Brown was so impactful on his life that he donated $120 million dollars to them even though he didn’t get to graduate due to lack of funds.
It depends on how smart, secure, and discerning you are. If you are smart, you can go to an Ivy League school and do well. If you are smart and secure, you can go to a state university and do well. If you are smart, secure and particularly discerning, you can go to a top liberal arts college and do well. If you are a genius, then there’s always Caltech.
You will find all of this at the top 100+ universities. At a good LAC you’ll actually get to know most of your professors, something that was important to me and helped my learning/growth as well as some deep LORs for Grad School.
You have combined a lot of questions and these points have been discussed often here. I know of no impediment to state school per se. I also know of many people who went on to famous grad schools from even modest state schools here in CA.
If you are not just looking for a general discussion but are asking for yourself, then ask specific question. Also you have chosen your state school it looks like from another thread. And you are interested in med school. Take a look at some of the informative posts in the premed forums. If you are really trying to find out what you can do to achieve your goals at a state school then get specific. Look for research opportunities. Even doing something small can lead to something else. Your father is a doctor so you may get some opportunities from him for volunteering or shadowing. You can find out what the upper division premeds are doing to prepare. Most of all ace your classes.
My mom went to Purdue and my dad went to Brown. They met at IBM, both of them had nearly the same position, my moms was slightly higher.
I can only speak from personal experience, but I think the school matters a lot less than the person. I think people care about experience a lot more than they care about where you went to school. It’s not the school, it’s what you do with what you’ve learned at the school and the opportunities the school has given you.
My mom and dad had nearly the same position and she went to a “football school” while he went to an ivy league. So that’s my 2 cents.
I think for the first glance, it’s like a stamp on your forehead that you were once smart, at least out of high school. But if you don’t live up to people’s expectations, you will be discounted heavily. Same with any school in the top 30. I remember one person that I met at one company’s orientation for new employees. For the first few years, she struggled with her job, my brother had to say to me that she went to UCLA for engineering. The kind of statement that she was not completely dumb or incompetence.
Most of the colleges within the Ivy League have large (obscenely huge, in some cases) endowments which allow them to not only provide generous financial aid packages to accepted students, but provide resources for exceptional facilities (including residence halls) and faculty.
Students admitted to elite schools do have higher GPA, SATs, ACTs, etc on average vs mid-tier students. This tends to attribute to their favorably graduation rates (obviously) when compared to mid-tier schools. But that’s just an average; not every student at an elite college is successful. That’s the point I like people to see. It’s the type of student that determines the worth of an education. If you are a smart, dedicated, and focused student, you will do well anywhere and find a good job/grad school after college. If you are an overachiever, pre-profession , or will take advantage of the exclusive opportunities an Ivy will offer you (such as research, internships, etc.), then it’s worth the money.
With that said, I will say Ivy grads do indeed have higher paying jobs on average vs mid-tier grads. Sometimes just the name is enough to beat out someone with a degree from a state school in the work force. But with that said, grad schools won’t admit a Harvard grad with 3.1 over a University of Alabama grad with a 4.0. But if they are both 3.7, that’s when they may lean towards the Harvard grad. Some elite graduate schools show preference towards their undergrads vs outside undergrads.
So first I would ask yourself, will you take advantage of the exclusive oppurtunities offered. Then I would ask yourself would you be able to come out with higher or at least equivalent statistics than if you were to go to a mid-tier school. If the answer is yes, then go for it. I’m not saying that mid-tier schools leave you with nothing because they do provide excellent education and job opportunities. However, there are people who just don’t like to admit that ivy leagues are offered more opportunities and have favorability over mid-tier grads.
Well, they’re nice finance wise, but otherwise usually not much other than the name. For instance, UPenn is an Ivy league school, but its engineering program is considered inferior to that of specialized engineering schools.
If you have financial issues but you are admitted to an Ivy League school, they can definitely support you better than most other schools, but if you’re already well off then the difference is pretty meh.
The following is true not just for the Ivies, but for the top LACs and a smattering of other top universities such as Duke, Stanford and UChicago.
Your mind is opened and challenged through the opportunity to rub shoulders and have thought provoking dialogue with consistently brilliant students and professors that are leaders in their fields in a relatively intimate environment. Not enough credit is given to the often life changing results of the mentoring and relationships with faculty and students that evolve out of this experience.
There are also careers that are extraordinarily difficult (baring connections) to access out of any but the very top educational institutions. For example, elite finance and strategic consulting. And, because it is the elite financial and consulting jobs that are looked on most favorably by business school admissions committees, the very top business schools are also disproportionately filled by graduates of the top colleges.
All of the above said, the “elite” colleges provide a better base for success, but no guarantee that a student will be able to take advantage of it. The students at elite colleges fall on a bell curve, just as students at other colleges do. The difference is that the success (measured not just in financial terms, but in the ability to do the things that excite and interest a student) of the average elite college student will be substantially to the right of the average non-elite college student. That is not to say there aren’t outliers on bell curves. There will always be non-elite college students who do very well and provide the anecdotal evidence for those who like to say it isn’t necessary to go to an elite college, and those who went to elite colleges and did poorly, again providing the anecdotal evidence that going to an elite college provides no meaningful benefit.
You only live once and should take advantage of every opportunity to live the joy-filled life God intends for each of us. To have the freedom to explore the things that interest you and accomplish the things that excite you. The elite colleges consistently provide that priceless opportunity far better than the non-elite colleges.