Can Ivy alums share their specific experience where the Ivy network made a known and significant impact on their career? Thank you.
How are you going to compare any anecdote to a successful networking experience by a non-ivy graduate?
Not comparing. It is often mentioned as an advantage.I want to know ( as much as anything can be proven on CC) whether the alums frequently and specifically have benefitted from it - or just assumed that they have.
An advantage compared to WHAT?
If all buildings have air conditioning, then is air conditioning considered an advantage?
I don’t know why you have a problem with the question. A better similar question would be even if all buildings have air conditioning, did yours work well. And that question can be asked and answered without comparison to the ac in another building. Basically, I want to know if Ivy grads have specific certainty that their network was valuable to them. I don’t say it is an advantage, others do, I am trying to probe why. I think this is the second time you have questioned why I want to know something. I can’t figure out why the reason I want to know something matters to you.
The problem is that a LOT of people would say their network has been valuable to them. For example, in Texas, it’s quite common for engineers who graduated from UT to give preference to other UT grads when they’re hiring. So that’s why your question doesn’t make much sense to us.
That answer makes no sense to me. I for example would say that the alumni network from my college and grad school ( top tier and a Ivy by the way) didn’t help in any way. You act like everyone will say their network is valuable specifically to them and that is simply not so. But we all know that Ivy grads tout that network. I want to know why they are certain it is valuable. And if it is the case that all networks are of significant value, then why does anyone ever bring it up when talking about any school? At any rate, you and some others may think it is nonsensical, but many people have clicked in so far. So…
How is anyone going to know with “specific certainty” that whatever outcome was due to an ivy network and not just networking in general?
Aha! Now you get to the value of my question. I am asking people to say whether they know for sure. For ex, this just happened to my child. A recruiter told her directly that because they had gone to the same school the kid would be at the top of his list for placement. So I want to know from people who went to Ivies where the network is touted whether they KNOW that they have SPECIFICALLY benefitted from the network. Versions of those two words were in the original question for a reason. But once again, these questions about the question have probably intimidated anyone from answering.
You think job recruiters disproportionately graduated from ivy schools?
In terms of absolute numbers of graduates, recruiters are more likely to have graduated from State U.
In fact, in this WSJ poll, job recruiters ranked big State U as the preferred hunting ground for job for hiring new grads:
The value of the Ivy League in terms of network and alumni in a relative sense has weakened over the years. Schools like Stanford, Notre Dame, Duke, Vanderbilt and Boston College are stronger now.
I think this is kind of a chicken or the egg question. Do Ivy League students get opportunities because they are in Ivy League or because great students go to Ivy League schools? Studies seem to show it’s the latter.
It is definitely a legitimate question. Some kids/people are either naturally gifted at networking or make a concerted effort to do it. I have no doubt that they benefit from it. At Ivy league schools if you are personable and involved in clubs and organizations you cannot help but make friendships and associations with people who are going to be influential. Those relationships could be very meaningful.
Yes, but OP doesn’t want to hear “I have no doubt” or “relationships could be meaningful.” OP wants to know actual specifics. You know: an employer saying “I only interviewed you because you went to Yale.” Hard to come up with stats like that.
I went to Cornell, and while I can’t necessarily say for sure that the network has helped me get to where I am, I will say that it was a mixture of hard work and help from peers.
I came into Cornell not knowing what I wanted to do at all. During freshman year, I decided to double major in Communication and AEM (the undrgrad business program). That summer, I worked a small local internship that I got off Cornell’s career services portal.
The next summer, however, I worked at a large telecommunications firm in New Jersey. My manager on the school paper had interned there, and put me in contact with the HR recruiter that works with Cornell. I went through the normal process of the online app, but only after asking the recruiter which position would be best. I actually was not supposed to get the offer - they wanted an older student as I was just a sophomore - but that fell through and I was the backup. I don’t know whether they contacted me fast because I had already spoken to the recruiter or if because I truly was the second most qualified, but it ended up working out. And when I started working, it ended up that my boss was also a Cornellian.
The summer after that, I worked at a financial services company in NYC. I will say that Cornell, Michigan, and Wharton made up the majority of the intern class. But once again, I did not know anyone at the company - I took advantage of coffee chats and asked older peers who had applied/interned there for advice. I found that once I got to the company, there were various Cornell networking events/happy hours and whenever I needed help for my project, it was easy to find people across different business units that were Cornell alums.
As far as my full-time job - in a well-known consulting firm in NYC - I also did not have any connections. But this firm recruits heavily at Cornell, with almost 15% of the starting class in the NY office being Cornellians.
In my personal experience, I suppose I benefitted from attending Cornell just because they respect the name. But I would like to think that I was chosen due to my own merit (because I definitely did not have family friends or connections at any of these firms). For me, knowing I have a loose bond with other Cornellians is great as they have been very friendly and helpful. It’s good to know that those people will be around no matter where I go.
Legit question, and I can say “not really” for myself, and for most of my classmates that I know personally (not necessarily a representative subset, but I’ve stayed in touch with a fair number of people). At best, it served as a sort of first cut “seal of approval” for my first job (which was no big deal), but really, not much impact beyond that.
So is there some advantage? Sure, you’re likely to rub shoulders with a bunch of ambitious strivers and maybe meet some people you might not otherwise have met but that doesn’t really translate into anything unless you’re a networker to begin with, in which case it’s the facility with networking that’s your real asset, less so the ivy environment.
Straight out of college, the kind of jobs that a Penn State Business grad and a Penn/Wharton grad interview for will be somewhat different. Sometimes it is hard for state school grads to see that as they are not exposed to those positions until later on in their careers.
It’s a sort of silly question. First, it’s not an Ivy network, it’s a network specific to a school. Second, are there people who have gotten the introduction, the interview, maybe even the job because they went to a specific Ivy League school and so did the person who was hiring? Sure. Of course there are. Just the same as there are people who have benefitted from networks of non-Ivy schools.
Thinking about it logically and leaving aside any particular individual’s networking skill, the value of a network is going to be a function of (a) the size of the school and thus the sheer number of alums (Harvard has more than Dartmouth), (b) the presence of alums from that school in the relevant industry (Harvard network more useful for investment banking than being a forest ranger) and © far less quantifiable, the general level of enthusiasm among alums for helping others from their schools. This is true for all schools, Ivy and non.
The Ivy network likely has a reputation as being particularly helpful because the schools are well known and well regarded and leaders in many industries have been coming out of Ivies for many, many years.
You want to quantify the actual, specific value of an Ivy network, presumably to compare to other schools? Ok.
The value of the Harvard network over a lifetime is $163,472. The value of the Cornell network, being in some minds the least prestigious of the Ivies, is only $95,237. All the others are ranged in between. All other schools’ networks, regardless of prestige or presence in an industry are lower because they’re not Ivies, except for any year in which Stanford is 1st in the USNWR rankings, in which case the value of its network shoots up to between that of Yale and Columbia for the next 3.5 years. See? Trying to assign an actual, specific value is silly.
In short, yes a network can be useful. No, you can’t assign an actual, specific value to a particular school’s network, much less to the “Ivy network” which isn’t a thing.
Take a look at the undergraduate schools for the senior leadership of the type of company you hope to work for. Although I’m sure you’ll find exceptions, you may be surprised at how little evidence there is of an ivy edge. Or read Bruni’s Where You Go is Not Who You’ll Be.