Why is Penn's name so stupid?

tortoise
Tue, 01 May 2012 10:20:15 +0000

T26E4:

If I can offer a counter argument to tortoise’s assertions about Ivy students and alumni:

I find that most students and alumni of Ivy schools quickly realize that the hype or stereotypes or “prestige” quickly loses its glamour and shine. I’ve found that non-Ivy people invariably tend to make a bigger deal about Ivy alums than ourselves.

Sure, a few pompous fools strut around but mostly, people tend to be humbled by the institutions they attended and the quality of their peers and peers’ accomplishments. It levels us out – in a good way.



T26, nobody cares. Really. “Non-Ivy people” don’t give rip either, much to the dismay of some “Ivy people,” who’ve made the mistake of basing their college decision an institution’s “ivy” status.

Yes, the issue looms very large in high school and, again, to those who work so hard to land a spot in an ivy league school. But what you soon find is that the “ivy badge” means something only to those who don’t have anything more meaningful in life over which to obsess.

In other words, the only people “out there” who care are those people who aren’t really doing much with their lives.

I say this, btw, as the product of three “elite” institutions (UChicago, Stanford, Harvard) married to a diehard Yalie (college and law).

Once again: Ivy league “status” means absolutely nothing to anyone of consequence. Those who argue otherwise are traveling in the marginalia of this world.