<p>that's a really great post from somebody who didn't warm to Chicago :-)</p>
<p>Also, I want to make it clear that I didn't write my post as someone who personally believes that--again, I applied to a host of highly selective, highly prestigious schools and do not think ill of Yale and it's ilk. But as the child of Ivy grads, I can tell you from first hand knowledge that what I said is the truth--people will be impressed, but those impressions will not always or even usually be positive. It often makes people feel uncomfortable/uneasy when they learn of my parents' alma mater, even though if they knew my parents they would know that those stereotypes couldn't be further from the truth. </p>
<p>Plus, I have noticed that if anything, Ivy grads are more aware and more appreciative of the many fabulous schools in the country. When I emailed my Yale interviewer to tell her that I hadn't been accepted and that I had decided to go to Wellesley she a) was extremely positive and sweet (she told me that Yale was wrong! :)) and b) most definitely knew that Wellesley was a great school. My parents are also most certainly aware of the many excellent colleges and universities in the country (my mother holds a UChicago MBA, after all). So, at least in my experience, Ivy grads are certainly not obsessed only with the Ivy league. Plus, it's not like going to Princeton meant that my parents didn't have to work hard, or that they automatically rose to the top of their fields--in fact, my father's immediate boss is a UIUC grad, and at this point in his life (32 years after graduation from Princeton) I doubt that anyone in his field cares that he went to Princeton.</p>