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All that Im saying is that most people who have to choose between H and Por Y follow the opinion of the "ignorant mob" EVEN THOUGH the "mob" knows nothing about colleges. The high cross admit rate in favor of Harvard can be explained by this IRRELEVANT factor. Despite it being a non valid argument it still bears an important influence. Most people have this inner need for recognition and want people to think that they've been to the "best"school (Im not saying thatt H is better than P or Y, just that most ppl think it is because Harvard is the oldest university in the USA)
If Princeton and Yale had the same "glimmer" for the "mob" then Im sure
the rates would be much closer to 50/50
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Yes, people unfortunately too rarely do the work necessary to look beyond the facades.
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<p>Well, I don't know if I would call it an irrelevant factor. I think what is happening is entirely rational. I think we can all agree that, like it or not, Harvard has better name-recognition and braiding than probably any other school. That name recognition tends to draw top quality students. Top employers know that Harvard has top quality students, so they go recruit at Harvard. The fact that top employers are recruiting at Harvard boosts the brand-name image and so tends to draw more top quality students, which then draws more top employers, etc. etc. A positive feedback "virtuous cycle' is then formed - the more that Harvard's image gets boosted, the more the top students and employers want to be there, which boosts the image even more, etc. </p>
<p>So let's take a guy who doesn't care about Harvard's prestige at all, he just wants to increase his chances of getting a good job after graduation. He knows that lots of top employers recruit at Harvard. It doesn't matter to him why those employers are there, all that matters is that they are there. Hence, he may want to go to Harvard.</p>
<p>Look at it from the employers point of view. All the employer cares about is getting recruiting access to top talent. And there is a lot of top talent at Harvard. The employer doesn't care why they are at Harvard, all that matters is that they are at Harvard. So the employer chooses to recruit at Harvard.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that marketing matters. The perception of power is power. Anybody who's studied economics will know what I'm talking about - if people think that you are powerful, then for all practical purposes, you are powerful. That's the influence of expectations. That's the power of reputation. That's the power of marketing and branding. </p>
<p>Put another way. Why is it that I am willing to pay 75 cents for a copy of the Wall Street Journal that I haven't even read yet? If I haven't read it, how do I know it's really worth 75 cents to me? The answer is because the WSJ has proven useful to me in the past, and so I will happily buy a new copy, sight unseen. In other words, the WSJ has developed a reputation and brand-image of high reporting quality. Similarly, students and employers are relying on the brand-image of Harvard. The reason they do it is because that brand-image has proven to be reliable in the past. Employers have hired Harvard graduates, found them to be good, and that validates the reputation of Harvard as being a place to find good employees. Students have gone to Harvard and found good jobs, and so that validates the reputation of Harvard as being a place to find good jobs. If all of a sudden, Harvard starts graduating a lot of low-quality students, or if Harvard students can only find mediocre jobs, then the reputation of Harvard will be eroded, just like if the WSJ starts engaging in shoddy journalism, eventually, I will stop buying it. </p>
<p>Note, I'm not saying that every Harvard student is good, or that every Harvard student finds a good job. Obivously it is not perfect. However, it is reliable enough that the reputation of Harvard is maintained. Toyota makes the most reliable cars in the world, but that doesn't mean that they are perfectly reliable. But they are reliable enough that Toyota has developed a (well-earned) reputation for quality. </p>
<p>Now don't get me wrong. When I say that Harvard has top students and top employers, that doesn't mean that the other schools don't. Far from it. In fact, competing schools like Yale, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, and every other reputable one also enjoy the same 'virtuous cycle' of branding and reputation as does Harvard. Let's face it. A lot of people go to Yale just because they know that lots of top employers recruit there. And a lot of top employers recruit at Yale just because they know that lots of top students are there. So it's the same thing. It's just a difference in degree. Harvard is better at it because Harvard has a stronger brand-recognition. But that's not to say that the other schools don't do it too. So other schools can't really castigate Harvard for doing the same thing they they are doing.</p>