<p>First of all, no offense to Ivy Leagues Schools.</p>
<p>But I've seen thousands of students today strive for the 8 most prestigious schools in America with extraordinary applications stats, ranging from valedictorians to tri-varsity captains. Thousand of them worked more than 500 hours of volunteering, achieved national awards, and aced Standardized Tests. There are pupils who are killing themselves just to win the hearts of admission officers. But in the end, are they really worth it? I mean, what happens if the applicant cannot maintain his/her excellence through out the year? What if he doesn't find a job after he has graduated? Is it worth spending more than 30,000$ for the top schools if you won't ace it?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say all 8 are the most prestigious - MIT and Stanford may be more prestigious than some of the lower Ivies - and I believe that there are 8 universities ranked higher than the lowest according to US World News Report - I know rankings aren’t everything and whatnot, I just doubt that the Ivies represent the top 8 schools in the nation.</p>
<p>There are people from Stanton (the best high school in my home town) each year who turn down Harvard for UF due to finances. So to answer your question, is it worth it? Possibly not.</p>
<p>Here are some of the Math professors at MIT, the third best graduate math program in the nation, and where they earned their undergraduate degrees (#1 & #2, Princeton and Harvard, didn’t have this info readily available - at least I couldn’t find it in less than 5 minutes):</p>
<p>Martin Bazant - University of Arizona
David Benney - Victoria University, New Zealand
Bonnie Berger - Brandeis University
Benjamin Brubaker - Amherst College
John Bush - University of Toronto
Hung Cheng - Caltech
Daniel Freedman - Wesleyan University
Michel Goemans - Universit</p>
<p>It depends what you want to do. So many people are going to college now that is more important than ever to go to a reputable university. However, I think academia as a whole is a rip off. I graduated a year ago and I’ve learned much more in the past year than at any point in undergrad. So, for actually gaining an education I don’t think Ivies are worth it but for credentials to put on a resume they are.</p>
<p>exactly. Nowadays school isn’t for learning anymore. So in terms of education, no. Each person weighs other factors differently, so it’s worth it for some, not worth it for others.</p>
<p>For most, Ivies are worth it. One of the things people don’t mention is that Ivies give the best financial aid because they have the most money. I applied to a lot of top schools who claim to have great financial aid, Swarthmore, Williams, Amherst, ect. But while they were very generous, I have to pay almost $10k less at Yale then I would have had to had I gone to my second choice, Swarthmore. Sure, you can get a great education at many top private schools and a lot of publics too but there are boundless amounts of resources that other schools just don’t have.</p>
<p>^^GREAT financial aid is key for the masses. While there are literally hundreds of great colleges where one can obtain a fabulous education, there are only a few which will enable a low-middle class student to attend so inexpensively. For them, attending an Ivy (and a handful of other schools with great finaid such as Vandy and Richmond) can be less expensive than the instate public.</p>
<p>There are more than 3000 colleges in the US and exactly 8 of them are in the Ivy League. So just pure mathematical odds alone dictate that the vast majority of successful people will not have attended an Ivy League school. There are many endeavors in which an Ivy degree might help, a little, but by no means is one required. The possible sole exception is the US Supreme Court.</p>
<p>The current US Supreme Court:</p>
<p>Name - College/Law School
Roberts - Harvard/Harvard
Stevens - Univ. Chicago/Northwestern
Scalia - Georgetown/Harvard
Kennedy - Stanford/Harvard
Souter - Harvard/Harvard
Thomas - Holy Cross/Yale
Ginsburg - Cornell/Harvard & Columbia
Breyer - Stanford/Harvard
Alito - Princeton/Yale</p>
<p>Next up: Sotomayor - Princeton/Yale</p>
<p>So it looks like an Ivy degree is not an official requirement for a seat on the supreme court, but it’s pretty much the functional equivalent of a requirement. In fact one of the criticisms of Hariett Miers’s qualifications that helped sink her nomination to the court was that she hadn’t attended a fancy law school (SMU).</p>
<p>But how many of us actually plan to sit on the US Supreme Court someday? For the vast majority of careers in this society the appropriate degree from any respectable college or state U will get you there just fine.</p>