Lately, I have been having the hardest time coming to grips that I most likely won’t attend a ivy league school. I can’t help to think that not going to a really good college if I want to pursue law or engineering will prevent me from becoming successful. My GPA’s looking pretty weak for the end of my soft more year being estimated to be about a 3.2 and I can nowhere near afford a single semester of an ivy league school. I really wan’t to go to a good school out of Texas, but my confidence level is convincing me otherwise… Any advice on what to do to become one of the many few who have “made it” without an ivy and could tell me the best out of state schools I could get into?
Thanks a bunch 
Ivies*
Most people didn’t attend an ivy, and they are plenty successful. Besides, if you’re thinking about engineering you’d be much better off at other schools. Purdue is highly ranked in engineering and fits your stats.
I think what you first need to do is figure out your personal definition of what a good college is. If we are going to be realistic, a 3.2 GPA is not ideal for an Ivy League school. What happened? Of course it’s not only dependey on GPA; we have to factor in your test scores, extracurriculars, situation/background, etc. College admissions is not the end all be all. You don’t need an Ivy to be successful and you don’t have to be successful to have gone to an Ivy. Okay this sounds weird, but there are many people who go to the Ivy League and essentially don’t automatically become Nobel prize winners and CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. Warren Buffett was rejected by Harvard. Did he not reach his goals and eventually fall off the face of the earth because he didn’t receive an acceptance letter with “Ve Ri Tas” on it? Hell nah he did not. Erin Bronkovich didn’t go to an Ivy; look where passion took that women. Now here’s what I’m saying: you do not need an Ivy. There are tons, literally tons (think of the thousands of schools and how many bricks were used to build them) of schools that would accept you. Granted, it’s going to be difficult to go out of state because $$$$. But the least you can do is try. Take a summer class, dive into a passion. Work on those common app essays; tell your story and talk about passion without using the word “passion”. Heck, don’t listen to me and follow your gut with those. You need to think about yourself; not the Ivies. They come second. Please, use got resources to your advantage and look at more schools. Like 98% of us are bound for disappointment with the Ivies. Don’t apply to all of them, chances are you probably couldn’t care less about Dartmouth(sorry if you do). Please. Don’t worry. Don’t worry. Undergrad is not as important. Find a school you truly love. One that matters because of something other than brand name. Find yourself and learn about what you love. Fill your life with zest. Don’t spend 4 years looking at at a brick building only because it’s famous. Spend 4 years inside brick building that may be 200 years old, but brand new because it has filled your mind and your life with beautiful, fresh ideas and knowledge. Ivies are not everything. In the game that is college admissions, you can do better.
For the most part, employers prefer to recruit from big State U:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704358904575477643369663352
Here are the top JOB RECRUITER picks by major.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703376504575491704156387646
I think you need to use some common sense. the vast, vast majority of “successful” people - however you define success - did not attend an Ivy League school.
Thank you everyone for the comments! I wasn’t in my best mental state when I posted this late last night and I do apologize for my grammar mistakes.
Depending on the area of engineering, a really good school for engineering is the University of Maryland, College Park. If you have a strong junior year and have decent SAT scores, it will be within reach. In terms of a successful career, it is one of the top schools from which companies recruit engineers. The employment rate of new grads is extraordinary.
I think it is much more based on WHAT you did in college. People don’t care too much about where you graduated from, they care more about what you can actually do for the company. This means work and research experience is so much more important than brand-name.
Companies don’t necessarily want people from Harvard or something, they want people that will be able to immediately contribute to the company.
The only places where brand-name matters significantly is something like financial consulting because the average person will be more inclined to trust in a person who graduated from Wharton rather than an obscure school with their money. That’s just how people are, they like brands, but for engineering (don’t know about law), it is so important that you take full advantage of your opportunities in college.