<p>So, do you wear a HYP sweatshirt ? Do you own a HYP sweatshirt ? Maybe I should start a "Why people from HYP mostly don’t wear HYP sweatshirts " thread .</p>
<p>^No, I do not, fm. I learned to hide my affiliation while I worked on Wall St in the early 80’s.
Hiding my gonads was something else that undoubtedly would have been helpful, too!</p>
<p>But my experience being an equal at the Ivy probably did help me forge on in the male-domiated environment I was in…
And my confidence in my intellect as well as my intellectual curiosity kept me going, too.
But these were internal engines, not visible to outsiders, god forbid!</p>
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<p>I wore BU and BC sweatshirts a long time ago. Then the prices went crazy. Today, I usually wear stuff with Nike, Adidas, Patagonia, Champion or New Balance logos.</p>
<p>To offer just one data point, my FIL graduated from the USNA and got his MBA from Harvard. Typically he does not wear clothing with writing on it but when he does he wears gear from the colleges his children, and now grandchildren, attended (no Ivy or near-Ivy among them for undergrad.) In fact, I believe all the baseball caps he wears for golf are from those colleges.</p>
<p>I cannot quite put my finger on why but I know if PMKjr had gone to Yale, I’d be very hesitant to advertise that (it seems like bragging?) He attends Northeastern and I am writing this in a Northeastern hoodie, drinking from my Northeastern mug and our cars with Northeastern window decals are sitting in the driveway. Very few people down here in south Texas have even heard of Northeastern, so I feel free to put Northeastern on just about every item and I don’t feel like I’m bragging but I’m not sure why not. Hmmmm…</p>
<p>Ivy grad here mid 80s. Doors did not fly open & I barely moved up the later (Wall St operations side) so I decided to stay home w kids. Didn’t make sense to pay for child care with the salary I was making. </p>
<p>I don’t regret any of it. It is fun to be a grad of my alma mater. I had to get a college degree somewhere (& was I paying for it myself). </p>
<p>Someone once asked me what I was doing for work. I had been home for a few years at that point. When he heard he said something to the effect “gosh, that seems like a waste after you worked so hard”. (Yes, I was insulted.) Oh well. I’ve had great experiences, got to be there with my kids & lots of fun during the whole ride! </p>
<p>Also back at work & basically picking up where I left off 18 years ago!</p>
<p>livesinnj-
Good for you on going back to work!!!</p>
<p>I think livesinnj had been at work during those 18 years. She just didn’t get a salary. (I don’t think Performersmom meant to imply otherwise, though.)</p>
<p>I think it’s pretty clear that the grownups here think success isn’t all about the money, and that if you just want to make a pile of money, maybe you’re better off not spending money on an Ivy league degree.</p>
<p>I was surprised when I clicked on this thread…I thought it would be about what sort of people HYP etc. grads are, not if they make 6 figures or 7. To echo others, money isn’t everything.</p>
<p>I have friends who graduated from Yale(2), Harvard(1), Brown(1) and other fancy places. None of them are bankers, and I doubt any earn 7 figures. But all are good, interesting people, and not obnoxious swell-heads, or they wouldn’t be my friends. :)</p>
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<p>Isn’t the answer kind of obvious - they are people like anyone else?</p>
<p>^Or what they made of themselves. I was just surprised that the focus was on $$…couldn’t tell from the thread title.</p>
<p>Well everything else is subjective.</p>
<p>Tbh I was only interested in money.</p>
<p>Pretty ordinary lives:
Mom and Dad came from prestigious university in the old country. All of us kids worked in the fields as early/teens. Even Mom.
Older bro is a Pton. His wife Vassar, His DD did JHS/Penn-all in NYC, all very average income for that locale. Bro’s biggest asset is his W who is manages the household, makes the investments, and is a bigwig in the coop association as unpaid exec.</p>
<p>"Tbh I was only interested in money. "</p>
<p>This kinda makes me sad…</p>
<p>Given the cost of private tuition-- it’s not a bad question. It’s better than spending $$$ on the false assumption that the prestige degree is a guarantee of a lucrative salary, if the person’s career goals can be met as well by attending a public university or a less prestigious college offering substantial merit aid. </p>
<p>There are other, excellent reasons to aspire to attend the Ivies – but the belief that will “pay off” directly in terms of substantial earnings is not one of them.</p>
<p>DH and I are public U grads and expected our kids would be but somewhere along the way the kids earned admission into top private schools and we built our income to the point that we were full pay but by no means “rich”. So we definitely faced this question.</p>
<p>First one, went forward with attending a very elite school. Got his ego severely bruised by encountering not just very bright and driven kids but also very poised and polished kids. He survived it and just as we were gnashing our teeth and wishing he’d taken the “full ride” elsewhere he announced that “*** – I’m going to take interesting classes and just find stuff out”. That led him to change gears dramatically – future investment banker morphed into future healthcare reformer/discoverer of cure to mortality – and he is both humbler and more confident if that can possibly be possible. I will not say it was all wonderful, his school loved him and he loved it back every inch of the way, but he came out the other end very different than he went in and we think maybe he got severely tested and that his scholarship runs deep as a consequence and will stay with him throughout his life. He also made some good friends.</p>
<p>Second kid just got into an equally stratospheric school and she has options that involve merit but we will probably just close our eyes, tell ourselves some day we will get that kitchen of our dreams but not now, and send her. We don’t think it will make her rich or deliriously happy but we think it is an unusual opportunity and if we can do it and not bankrupt ourselves . . . worth it. She earned the opportunity to test herself in that atmosphere. She wants to take it on. We will do what we can to give her that. We’d rather do that than buy her a nice car and remodel our kitchen.</p>
<p>Good for your kids, sewhappy.</p>
<p>I went to one of HYPS for undergrad and two for grad school. Therefore I know lots of HYPS grads. The vast majority of my friends would likely be in the top 1%, but I know a teacher, a writer, a critic, a foreign policy analyst, a pediatrician, and an editor all of whom are unlikely to be in the top 1%. With some, like a stage actor, I have no idea what they earn. More common among the folks I know: a foundation head, a university president, a department head at a medical school, partners in law firms and consulting firms etc… This group probably earns mid to high 6 figures, maybe in the low 7 figures for some. In some cases, the couple will earn this much. Then I know a public company CEO, a “wealth manager,” some hedgies, a best-selling author, lots of private equity folks, a professor who has invested in startup companies. Some like a real estate developer and a public company CEO no longer work except for the challenge (e.g., nice houses in SF and Napa, is a director for some small firms and a couple of public companies and active in non-profits). At the top end, a bunch of these guys have earned many millions (a few well over $100 MM). Almost none of these were born wealthy. While a number of those born wealthy went into finance and likely have done well, others went into fields like clinical psychology. </p>
<p>More generally, some are really interesting people doing extraordinary things. Others have relatively mundane lives – little impact upon the world that I can see but I may have missed it.</p>
<p>Realistically, if you have a good income, you can save a fair bit if you make good choices on neighborhood (live with the less wealthy), school (public rather than private), and vacations (not that exotic or expensive). You might not know that your neighbors make relatively high income (I’m thinking bottom half of the top 1%) if they choose to save – there might be a few signs like exotic trips. I always thought it was interesting living on a less fancy street in an affluent suburb. I know the occupations of my neighbors and it is likely that most make substantially less than we do – hundreds of thousands per year less. But, many of them had newer cars than ours and their kids wore nicer clothes (at least when the kids were younger). They take vacations not that different from the ones we took.</p>
<p>I can think of only three HYPS(and the like) that I met when they were in their 20s. One transferred out, one unemployed, and the other underemployed. They may be rich now but that I don’t know. All three are smart.</p>
<p>I knew one who was lawyer from H, but she never practiced, she was staying at home mom. D’s Med. School class has many, including PhD from H. My D. and some others are coming from state UG. At the end, what they will make will depend on specialty, location, maybe some other factors, but graduating from HYPS will have absolutely no effect, it will be acualy lost (except for mentionning it in some conversations) as most MD’s are dispalying only thier Med. School paper on the office wall. In D’s class all medical students are mixed together, thery do not keep it separate, HYPS vs state vs something else, they all are in the same lectures at the same time.</p>
<p>Personal ambition is a big factor in how much money will be made. When you combine that with a top degree, knowhow, and connections, then you get the best opportunity to make the big bucks.</p>