<p>The measure of worth is NOT just an SAT score which students obtained in High School. I would never denigrate the quality of education, particularly without first hand information, of another college or university...including the Ivy League....but what gripes me about the Ivy is this notion of noblesse oblige and their assumption because they attract and retain the creme de la creme of students with exceptional SAT scores they are apriori a better school. I will tell you this much. I have met a number of Harvard graduates in my life, including ONE college admissions officer at another institution, and some of them were less than positive about many of their experiences. Not to pick on Harvard but just saying that HIGH SAT's does not necessarily equate to a better school for EVERY student. </p>
<p>Who is to say that even a school which admits students with modest SAT scores is not a "better school' for those kids and a superb well regarded community citizen which produces quality graduates each year who enter the workforce and adult world with great skills, deep knowledge, high integrity and a zeal for learning...that such school has done a superb job of taking average or slightly above average kids and making them into great people....even some super stars in the making?</p>
<p>If someone gets into an Ivy, I congratulate them and wish them very well and every happiness and success in life. But I also think to myself that they will be expected to be superstars for the rest of their life because of that pedigree and for some that is a heavy burden to carry. I have as much admiration for a university or college that does a great job of graduating students who will become excellent citizens, parents, mentors and counselors to others and not spend the rest of their life walking around feeling better than everyone else.</p>
<p>I also think that some kids are better off at lower ranking undergraduate schools, particularly liberal arts colleges and then going to Ivy League schools for graduate and professional schools.</p>
<p>But it nauseates me to see people saying essentially, "my school is better than yours because we have better SAT scores than you." Its not just Ivy League schools that are guilty of that either.</p>
<p>In a hiring mode, I would MUCH prefer a genuinely humble but ambitious person, who has unimpeachable integrity, who has worked hard and done great things with the gifts that God gave them, particularly if they dont come from privilege. Not to say kids like that dont exist at Ivy League Schools as they have done a much better job of reaching out to underprivileged kids and to kids outside the northeastern prep schools the last 40 years or so. But if someone came in an interview and started quoting their SAT score and exuding an attitude of entitlement because they went to an Ivy League School, I would immediately show them the door. Ditto if they went somewhere else.</p>
<p>Credentialism and elitism exists in society because there are many credentialists and elitists at the top of the heap. That is unfortunate in my view. Narrow minded and superficial. Not to say a company (or hiring manager) should not pick the best qualified person....and from a pool of college graduates that person may or may not be an Ivy League graduate. They may have gone to Middlebury, or Wesleyan, or Duke or Florida State.</p>
<p>I am always, WITHOUT exception, full of joy and best wishes for people who work really hard, keep their nose to the grindstone and truly deserve the best that life has to offer....and then get rewarded for it....perhaps with an Ivy League acceptance letter. More so if they DONT come from privilege, but from a background where they had to make their own success happen without the benefit of rich parents and pampered privilege. If someone happens to have a well to do family, but is also hard working, humble, honest and considerate...never arrogant or condescending, then I am also delighted for them and offer my heartfelt congratulations. </p>
<p>But suggesting that SAT scores is the measure of what is a better or best school is nonsense in my view.</p>
<p>I went to an above average, though not elite private college. I had kids in my classes and professors there who were positively brilliant....and didnt have perfect SAT scores either. One of them became a Rhodes Scholar. There were several Fulbright Scholars in that class. I love to sit down with people who went to different colleges and have discussions about their experiences and exchange anecdotes and laughter. But enter that discussion with SAT scores and a notion of "my school is better than yours" and the discussion quickly ends.</p>
<p>If I had the stats or my kids had the stats and if we had sufficient financial aid or scholarships to attend an Ivy School would we pass it up? Likely not....but it would all depend on many factors, fit (warm and fuzzy feelings, that welcoming feeling, are people like me feeling, smiling faces, helpful atmosphere and not cut throat, etc.) etc.</p>
<p>Its true that Ivy kids generally....indeed 98% of them, have extremely high SAT scores and gpa's. Good for them! Well done! But there are hundreds...even thousands of kids with similar scores at OTHER colleges around the country. I know a small off the beaten path private college in the south. The administrators there told me that they had more than 25 kids in their incoming class (attending freshmen) who scored above 1425 on the SAT. Obviously they wanted to go there. Will they get an inferior education there? I hardly think so.</p>
<p>To me, in a perfect world, people of vastly different educational backgrounds and scores would go to college spread out all over the place and we wouldnt see a hoarding, so to speak, of the best and brightest at the elite schools. Why? Because the richness of a college learning experience in the classroom and all over campus is from talking with and working with people of different perspectives. Of course, that is not reality. No, I am not a socialist. Not by a long stretch. I am not a bleeding heart liberal either. I just have issues with elitists.</p>
<p>My diatribe is over now. Thanks for listening.</p>