<p>So, like many of you, I've been monitoring CC to get as many tips as possible to get into the Ivy League, but I can't help but ask the question: Is it really worth it? Is the Ivy League really worth the money, stress and grueling curriculum?</p>
<p>I'd like to hear from some Ivy Leaguers or admissions people. Please weigh in.</p>
<p>1) maybe
2) it might be cheaper than any other option considering the new financial aid commitments
3) not any more stressful than any top 30 college
4) not any more grueling than any other top 30 college (or even Georgia Tech).</p>
<p>In your opinion, what constitutes "worth"?</p>
<p>Definitely worth it for the academic quality, atmosphere, campus culture, friends, prestige, networking. Cornell is a great experience, although grueling. Other Ivies offer great educational experience too. If you get in, go.</p>
<p>It gives a good boost to your self-esteem and that is a big plus.</p>
<p>Is it entirely healthy to have one's self-esteem significantly affected by where you choose to go to school?</p>
<p>"I'd like to hear from some Ivy Leaguers or admissions people."</p>
<p>They would obviously be in favor of it. </p>
<p>The truth is it varies in each individual case. For some people it is, others it isn't.</p>
<p>"Is it entirely healthy to have one's self-esteem significantly affected by where you choose to go to school?"</p>
<p>That's a good point. You would hope not, but it does seem to be the case for a large portion of the population.</p>
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That's a good point. You would hope not, but it does seem to be the case for a large portion of the student population.
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<p>if you are paying the full price while you have the option of attending other schools for much cheaper, it's not worth it. </p>
<p>If you plan on going to graduate school in law or medicine, it's not worth it if you pay more.</p>
<p>If you pay full price and pursue a bs major that won't yield a high paying career, it's not worth it.</p>
<p>The best/successful students at HYP never flaunt their schools/degrees.</p>
<p>it's not worth it. You're surrounded by too many ambitious leaders. There are no balance, no fun when you have to live with the future leaders. Unless you want to become a leader one day like them.</p>
<p>Well compaq10, I think I would actually like to become a leader one day, and I do think the Ivies are worth it. Of course everything depends, but I work with a Harvard MBA and he has so many opportunities because of his alumni network. He got his last three jobs through alumni connections and he has far more opportunity than I have as a state school alumni. </p>
<p>Also, I just read a great article written by a Yale student. I think she gives a great perspective on this question: Is</a> the Ivy League All It's Meant to Be? | myUsearch blog</p>
<p>this question shouldn't be a question... ju-no it is! HELLO!</p>
<p>Depends on what "worth it" means to you. If you have no plans of going on to graduate/professional school and wouldn't miss the $50,000 price tag every year, it could be. I go to an Ivy League school now (for graduate school) and the undergrads here don't seem any more or less stressed than any other undergrads that I knew/know. I also wouldn't say that the general curricula at Ivy Leagues is any more "grueling" than other colleges -- selective doesn't always equal more difficult in college admissions.</p>
<p>Like I said, I am currently in graduate school at an Ivy League school in a top department, and my cohort comes from ALL kinds of schools. The proportion of Ivy League undergrad alumni isn't particularly high, and my cohort and other grad students I know come from everywhere from the highest-ranked schools in the country to unranked colleges I've never heard of. In very general, if you're planning to go to graduate or professional school, your undergrad matters less than what you did there. And you may want to save the money for grad-level loans, especially if you're planning on medical or law school.</p>
<p>If you're NOT planning to go to grad or professional school, or are going into an extremely competitive field in which networking really matters (business comes to mind) then a name-tag school CAN have its advantages. I'd wager that all other things being equal, an engineer from MIT is probably more likely to get hired than one from U-Mass; and a business major from Wharton more likely to get a job than one from Penn State. And trust me, one thing I've learned is that the network of Ivy League professors and staff spans FAR and WIDE.</p>
<p>Yes, the Ivy League is really worth it. On top of the networking and awesome academic experiences you will have the personal satisfaction of graduating from the most respected group of universities in the world.</p>
<p>BTW julliet, it is not the same to attend one of the Ivies as undergrad, than as a graduate student. Very different experiences. it is better to go Ivy undergrad and any other school grad..</p>
<p>Yes, it's worth it. For personal satisfaction, unparalleled networking opportunities, the chance to mock each other in IvyGateBlog, the job opportunities (my company for example only recruits at the Ivy schools)--oh, and the education. That last bit is great, but that's the one area where you can do just as well at 2 dozen other schools...</p>
<p>I imagine all posts in this threat could be placed in one of 3 categories.</p>
<ul>
<li>Ivy Leaguers saying it's worth it (which is true)</li>
<li>Non Ivy Leaguers saying you can do just as well elsewhere (which is also true)</li>
<li>And some self-styled world-weary Ivy Leaguers who profess transcendence over their pithy Ivy degree</li>
</ul>
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Like I said, I am currently in graduate school at an Ivy League school in a top department, and my cohort comes from ALL kinds of schools. The proportion of Ivy League undergrad alumni isn't particularly high, and my cohort and other grad students I know come from everywhere from the highest-ranked schools in the country to unranked colleges I've never heard of
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<p>Well, maybe this is specific to each Ivy, but I can tell you that the graduate programs at Harvard are absolutely inundated with former Harvard undergrads. For example, I can think of certain Harvard PhD programs where the number of students who went to Harvard for undergrad probably exceeds the number who went to any other non-foreign undergrad program combined. That is why I suspect that Harvard may arguably have the strongest 'home-field advantage' in terms of grad school admissions to its own undergrads of any school, rivaled perhaps only by MIT (another school notorious for having lots of undergrads stay for grad).</p>
<p>
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Like I said, I am currently in graduate school at an Ivy League school in a top department, and my cohort comes from ALL kinds of schools. The proportion of Ivy League undergrad alumni isn't particularly high, and my cohort and other grad students I know come from everywhere from the highest-ranked schools in the country to unranked colleges I've never heard of.
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The top four undergraduate origins per capita for my PhD program (Harvard; one of the top programs in my field) are MIT (16 students over the past three years), Harvard (11), Princeton (6), and Yale (6).</p>
<p>A handful of people come from no-name schools, but the far-and-away top producers are top undergraduate institutions.</p>
<p>I would like to add that grad school and career placement are not the only measure of value. The four (or five) years of your life spent on campus has intrinsic value in itself.</p>
<p>It might be worth it for people who measure success and happiness in terms of dollars.</p>