Ivy League Colleges: For what purpose?

[Antithesis]

You said you were Latino earlier I think?

Is that just a cultural thing?

White parents want you the fuck out the moment you hit 18, but for sure the moment you're done with HS. Well, most of them, anyway.

I honestly don't know. I appreciate the sentiment from my mom but I just think she's being a little bit overprotective.

[Meresgi]

A good chunk of change meaning, still less money than most other colleges for a VASTLY superior education.

Vastly superior education? nah, that's all relative to each teacher for each course and each classroom.

Vastly superior potential and networking? Yeah definite.

[Zetanio]

Do they provide everything or is it just admission? If it's everything then awesome, if not then that's still a good chunk of change for books and housing but not too bad I guess. I know my cousin came out of Cornell with a lot of money owed. My aunt was paying out of pocket for a lot of the shit as a single mother who worked as a RN at a local hospital in an area where average income is probably 12k/yr. She makes I would guess 30k/yr maybe.

I don't know about Cornell (Didn't check their site) but I know at least at Princeton, MIT and Harvard they would have gone for free. Free being, tuition, room/board, meal plan. They also have a great work programs to help as well. I'm assuming they pay for books/supplies with work program monies.

[wipers]

I would respect someone that graduated from MIT Duke Berkeley etc more than I would someone from an Ivy League school.

[Rhyis.]

MIT is totally different then Harvard, Brown, Yale, etc as it's a specialized college.

If I hear that somebody has graduated from MIT, I instantly assume that person is either a mathematical or technological genius. Yale, not so much. Could just be someone with a rich daddy.

So yeah, your friend has the right to be a little bummed.

[Holly Short]

Yale, not so much. Could just be someone with a rich daddy.

Considering Bush went to Yale.. Yeah. lol

[Rhyis.]

That's actually who I was thinking about when I wrote that lol.

[Holly Short]

Hahaha.

[Ryany]

...and from my experience there I can tell you that grade inflation on the undergrad level totally exists, and that getting in as an undergrad is the hardest part. The same is often said for grad school: there is less of the weed em out mentality. Don't get me wrong, there are many, many brilliant people, but you can find them on any campus.....

I've always been in favor of higher acceptance rates and higher weedout rates. (like maybe going form accepting the top 2% to the top 5%, but make the same percent graduate) I feel how someone performs at the college level should be a better gauge of what kind of student they are than how they perform the high school level. (especially with the inequality of high schools) I do realize that many of these schools may not have the classroom space to do such a thing.

[Furtwangler]

I know OP isn't really in this situation but I think some other ppl that were in the thread are so I'm just going to rant haha.

I always thought in the back of my head that going to an Ivy would be the best thing, and I realized it was mainly because of the allure that just dropping their name has. I think everyone else has summed up pretty well why they can be better. I think the most important thing to say is shit's situational.

It really depends on what your major is going to be. I looked into Harvard and Yale etc, and for a technological degree ( CS, Networking, other computer stuff) they are almost useless schools. I wanted to get into MIT, but I didn't want to go that far away from home, so I settled for RIT (in rochester, ny) and I realized after I got here that you just need to find schools that have good reputations for your program of choice.

I'm 10x better off where I am now for software engineering than I would be at almost any of the Ivy schools. MIT is possibly the only other school that would've been a better choice, and it could always be debatable. If I did like a chemistry degree, or maybe a law degree, well yea then Yale or Harvard, Cornell, etc would've been ten times better. Look at what you want to do before you pick schools to go to.

[Meresgi]

I've always been in favor of higher acceptance rates and higher weedout rates. (like maybe going form accepting the top 2% to the top 5%, but make the same percent graduate) I feel how someone performs at the college level should be a better gauge of what kind of student they are than how they perform the high school level. (especially with the inequality of high schools) I do realize that many of these schools may not have the classroom space to do such a thing.

I agree with you on the highschool stuff. I ended up having to go to a Bible Thumpin Highschool for grades 7th - 11th, and then went to college as early admit to finish up my 12th grade year and 1 year of college at the same time (My school closed down when I was in 11th grade). My GPA for highschool was horrible, due mostly to the fact that I didn't care at all to pay attention to Bible Class or other classes like that. Meanwhile my GPA for my college degree was 3.8 because I was learning a topic that interested me.

[sekaran]

Said before, but networking and name.

As for costs.. I probably could have gone to Stanford (had I applied and got accepted) for less than what I paid going through the UC system. I couldn't get financial aid for a state school since my parents made too much (even if they didn't pay a dime for my education). The upper echelon of private schools aren't as expensive as people make them out to be.

[alt]

Other things being equal, the Ivy league schools gives you the name and contacts.

I had a family friend who graduated from Gonzaga Law about 5 years ago, which is a very good law school, but not Harvard status. During her summer internship her junior year she made more money than her mom for the year. When she graduated her starting salary was 125k a year at some corporate law firm.

Granted, she graduated in the top 1% of her law school class. But still, imagine what a Harvard law graduate would be making if they finished in the top 1% of the class... 25 years old and making 125k a year would be insane.

[Ruiner]

Vastly superior education? nah, that's all relative to each teacher for each course and each classroom.

Vastly superior potential and networking? Yeah definite.

When talking about university, potential and networking come under the umbrella of "education." You could get a great education on most subjects just by going to a free library every day for 4 years, but you won't have shit to show an employer that you're qualified in their field.

[Maguspk]

lol at this thread.

Lots of my classmates went to Ivy league schools on scholarships. The hate in here for anyone going to an ivy league school is hilarious. Jealousy has never been so apparent.

Most people who end up in these schools have most if not all of their way paid for them because guess what, these schools have so much money they don't know what to do with it. There's a reason getting in is difficult. You only pay for school if you're loaded, it's just like you kids and your state schools, they see you're not rich and they help you out. Ivy league schools do the same damn thing, because they are interested in your intelligence not your wallet (at least not until you're out of school).

The disconnect here is that people assume ivy leagues are suddenly about the money, when in reality they, like any other college, are about the education and the end result (a diploma). Whether you like it or not that diploma has a nice name in fancy calligraphy on it and that fancy type matters in our world. It's not arbitrary either, these schools get more applicants and are much more selective so earning that diploma with that name is rightfully more prestigious and should be recognized more highly. Stop crying.

[Alvein]

someone is bitter

[Syntex]

I was looking for a picture as my response and a little digging I found it.

http://www.ourkitchensink.com/wp-con...12/college.jpg

It's wrong that going to a top school takes 17 years on average to dig out of because of how much more it costs even with your so-called 'better job/career'.

Why the fuck should anyone take the time and effort to do that I mean really.

[Not not Mattaru]

Stop crying.

Have you read the vast majority of this thread? Very little crying going on.


Also, I hear the Cornell winemaking dealio is tough shit from people I know at that school.

[Acturus]

I was looking for a picture as my response and a little digging I found it.

[img]long college collage[/img

It's wrong that going to a top school takes 17 years on average to dig out of because of how much more it costs even with your so-called 'better job/career'.

Why the fuck should anyone take the time and effort to do that I mean really.

I was lucky in that I went to college for free (at a state school), paid by the State of Florida because I had a very high GPA and above average SAT scores. Fuck me though, I graduated in 4.5 years, counting 3 summers in addition, with a degree in Interpersonal Communication and minors in Business and in Marketing, and I worked in a coffee shop for two years before I got my job in Healthcare.

But god I remember the silly classes that were offered. Beverage Management was a hospitality class that basically taught bartending. I personally took Beginner Bowling for 2 credits as a phys. ed. elective (buddy of mine took intermediate Golf his last semester, and yes, there was intermediate Bowling as well). We also had a math class called Physics of Superheros or something. Even better, we had History of Punk Rock in the Music department and The Works of Tolkein as a literature class offered too.

[SephYuyX]

The college/university school system is a joke. The whole thing is designed to drain as much money from your pockets as possible. Having a degree any more these days means nothing about your intellect, all it shows is that youre dedicated in wasting your time and money to obtain something.

As that chart shows, there are A LOT of bullshit classes, and it's rare for a uni to require students to take worthwhile non degree relevant classes like humanities.

I dont blame anyone who doesnt want to go to college, let alone an ivy league college, because it's all fucking bullshit. As others have said, college is for nothing but connections and getting your foot in the door, and to show your employeer you have dedication in finishing something you start while wading through bullshit.

But yes lol @ ivy school. Ill take my two degrees and various certs from my lolocal schools where I have 0 debt right out of school.