<p>I visited UConn today and the rising seniors giving the admissions presentation were eager to talk about how the First-Year Experience courses aren’t really academic or challenging. The LACs I’ve been visiting almost all have first-year seminars that are supposed to be one of the toughest courses you ever take.</p>
<p>Wiscogene, while there are some snobby people who go to Ivy leagues, that is not a fair generalization to make. Additionally just because someone is a legacy doesn’t mean they aren’t just a intelligent or more intelligent than everyone else. While it is true some legacies are children of large donors (for example, Samantha Perelman goes to Penn and her family has donated over $200 million), most are not and held to the same academic standards as everyone else even thought they are accepted at higher rates.</p>
<p>If you have excelled in undergrad, going to a top school will help you when applying to grad school. Professors often know each, so that can be a huge boost for recommendation letters. We also have a ton of resources when applying for internships/jobs that not many places have. I know a kid who got into NYU Law and Columbia Law, another at UChicago Law, one who got choose between Harvard and Stanford for biophysics among others.</p>
<p>Well, what do I know? I won’t be getting into any Ivy League schools anyway, but I consider myself on the cusp of being intelligent enough to know what they are about without actually being accepted.</p>
<p>It has been my experience that the prestige carries over in business and the liberal arts, where “who” you know is more important, but does not carry over in he sciences where “what” you know is more important. This isn’t to say the science departments are less than excellent, but that you can get a comparable learning and lab experience elsewhere.</p>
<p>I agree that you can get great lab and learning at state universities and other top private schools. People over emphasize the “Ivy League” In all honesty it doesn’t matter a damn whether you go to an Ivy or state school if the department you are interested in has the curriculum you want and is well-ranked (though I have scruples with the bull**** US News and World Report and Forbes pull to favor their schools with ranks-the military institutes shouldn’t be ranked above better schools because the education is “free” [serving in a war zone for 5 years to pay for an education is a pretty high price for some])</p>
<p>I digress. If the program is good and the school offers the atmosphere you want, the name on the degree means nothing because it’s all about what you do, not where you go.</p>