<p>I think that it's an honor to get accepted to an ivy-league! From the outside looking from the in a lot of people would love to go to these top institutions. From what I've discussed earlier, I think people that get accepted to these top institutions are obviously naturally intelligent and have a gift for picking up things quickly when it comes to academics. Why not use these talents and go to a ivy leauge. I feel it's a great opportunity and you'll be able to meet fellow intelligent students just like you. So the question is why are people complaining about the waste of an ivy-league degree when one hasn't been accepted yet?! If you were accepted would you not attend or would you?! No one has the right to judge until they are in this predicament. I admit it if I got accepted I would go in a heartbeat, but I'm not blessed with the natural gift of intelligence and have to work hard or harder just to get the best grades. But I'm happy at the college I'm going to so I have no shame in that! Overall, I think people should be happy for those that are putting those talents to good use instead of doing something immoral and make the best of what you have. Also don't be to quick to judge about whether you would attend if you get accepted.</p>
<p>Yeah, pretty much. I'm very critical of the (esp. upper echelon, historically white elite) educational system too, but you apply for the education and the opportunity - or at least shot - it guarantees. You have entire message boards dedicated to it because you have to acknowledge that it DOES have societal currency, and you have all this resentment because of both the currency and its implied exclusion.</p>
<p>I guess I feel like I'm in a strange spot because I don't come from a place where people have been able to have their respect for the school system survive in the face of its negative baggage - then you get serious with your education; then you get even more serious; and this is where people suddenly pop up to tell you a prestigeous education won't serve you THAT much, that the kids there are snobby, that it's overhyped, etc. Am I a snob now? Am I supposed to believe the work put into getting myself to a place my parents never could go (never even have heard of, even), and my more financially and culturally well-set peers covet?</p>
<p>Again, it has societal currency. Huge flaws; huge luggage in terms of being racist, elitist, dominated by the affluent - but still, currency. And please, for everyone that keeps marching that beat about how "employers will never hire Ivy leaguers because they're stuck up" - Elite schools are actively trying to GET AWAY FROM that stamp. Many of the students that get in because of this effort want to, and will, help change the composition of these schools for the better. </p>
<p>I feel strange and I feel proud, and I wish kids like me would disregard voices just like this and APPLY. Help change things, for these schools, for our society, for academia in general, for the attitudes of your community (if very hostile to and suspicious of academia), for yourself. I'm tired of feeling bad about going to college. Can I just dwell on being proud about this for a while in a community where people understand the work gone into the achievement, at least for a while? Please?</p>
<p>Yes frrrph, do enjoy your new community where academic achievements are admired. Best of luck and enjoy!!</p>
<p>to answer your question: i'm not going to an ivy (even though i have perfect grades, great test scores, unusual and impressive EC's) because I got a very generous scholarship+financial aid deal from another school.</p>
<p>very expensive, and all it is is a sports conference</p>
<p>I personally don't understand the "societal currency" theory where many jobs the pay is the same regardless of the school you attended. For example, teachers get paid x amount. Teachers with masters degrees get Y so why would someone go to an IVY and get a degree in teaching come out owing 100k to work for the same amount of money as the person in the next classroom with no debt? That situation does not make sense to me unless the IVY gave youa full ride and you love the school. To each his own...</p>
<p>Education majors should never go to ivies if they are more expensive, if they are sure thats what they want to do. If they want to eventually become college professors, this is a different story.</p>
<p>In fact, only Columbia, Cornell, UPenn, and Brown offer education as a major. (Source = collegeboard)</p>
<p>There are plenty of reasons why not to go to an Ivy. I'm a smart person and when I was applying to colleges way back in 2001, I probably could have gotten into at least one, but none of the Ivies have what I was looking for in a college experience. Reasons include:</p>
<h1>1 - lack of big time college athletics where students pack the stadiums and the football stadium becomes the third largest city in the state on game days.</h1>
<h1>2 - lack of good greek systems (with the exception of Dartmouth).</h1>
<h1>3 - cost - why take out loans for undergrad when I knew I was going to have to take out debt to my eyeballs for medical school and my parents would pay for all my expenses elsewhere?</h1>
<h1>4 - location. I'm from the midwest/great plains region...Yeah, I didn't want to be at the State U 45 minutes from home, but I also didn't want to have to be a plane ride away either. I found a great school that was 3 hours away from home which was the perfect distance.</h1>
<h1>5 - I'm not a prestige whore.</h1>
<h1>6 - yeah I'm in med school but I'm surprisingly not that competitive. Going to a school where I got the chance to stand out involvement-wise simply b/c of interest was perfect for me. If I would have had to compete with a ton of other equally motivated people...it probably wouldn't have turned out so well.</h1>
<p>I can go on, but the point is that the Ivies are certainly great schools, but they're not for everyone. And that's okay...more than okay really. It's the way it should be in fact.</p>
<p>On a basic level, I understand where you're coming from. But in some cases, mine among them, a non-ivy provides a better choice due to the combination of cost, location and quality of education. I think sometimes you're right, but people need to be able to look beyond the knee-jerk ivy-prestige reaction when choosing what college to attend. I'm going to Berkeley next fall, and I couldn't be happier. I by no means look down upon people who were in the same situation and decided to attend ivies (in my case, Cornell) instead. It just wasn't the right choice for me.</p>
<p>I didn't get into an Ivy, but I would've still preferred an LAC to one (and I'm not bitter.)</p>
<p>For grad school, I'd love to go to an Ivy (or UChicago or Caltech or MIT or Stanford.)</p>
<p>Just not my thing.</p>
<p>I might have had a decent shot at getting into one, but who knows? I wasn't (and still am not) interested in that environment in the least, so I can say with 100% confidence that I wouldn't have attended an Ivy even if I had applied and gotten accepted. Nothing against the schools themselves or their students...just not my thing.</p>
<p>It's important to remember that everyone's different, you know. Just because you can't imagine why an intelligent individual wouldn't want to attend the highest ranked school they can manage to get into doesn't make them crazy or something. </p>
<p>Not sure if that's how you meant for it to come across, but yeah.</p>
<p>I agree 100%, the Ivies are not for everyone. There are many individuals who are looking for higher education, and the fact that there are many and that they are individual forces the reality of imperfect options. There cannot be one institution that can satisfy the criteria of everyone, but there are schools that can focus more or less on certain aspects of education. Also, there are many different spheres of the academic environment that influence the education of a student, and these go beyond the confinements of the classroom.</p>
<p>Sometimes people have to ask themselves what is best for them. A person must do a little introspective research and come to a conclusion. They must establish a personal hierarchy of what perameters are most significant. </p>
<p>Is it the geographic location of the school relative to their home?</p>
<p>Financial aid?</p>
<p>Is it the size of the student population... is it the quality of the student population?</p>
<p>...qualities of faculty, food??</p>
<p>Parking space!?</p>
<p>Whatever a person wants, the decision of schools will always be one of compromise between costs versus benefits. It is finding an equilibreum between those aspects that are less than our personal ideal, and the things that will enhance our eductional experience.</p>
<p>The most important thing though, is to not make assumptions!! I agree with the allegations purported on this forum that there are schools not of the league that are at least equal in quality or better. If you are studying mathematics or engineering, there is nothing better than MIT or CIT. There are other great schools, but they also cost a lot of money. The Ivies have the best monetary endowments and consequently provide some of the best scholarships. I am going into a Yale graduate program next academic year and have a full scholarship. So if you are a person that dreams of going to an Ivy school, but are deterred by the costs, keep in mind that they often provide some of the best financial aid packages.</p>
<p>It is also counterintuitive to claim that there is no reason at all to go to an Ivy. In another thread, I was disconcerted to see some people criticizing those who chose to go to an Ivy for their decision based on the idea that there is absolutely no quality differential from ANY other school. It was also humorously ironic because those criticizers themselves had not been accepted, or even more funny, one was merely a junior in highschool! I admit that an Ivy is not for everyone, but it also cannot be denied that they offer a body of students that strive for scholastic excellence, and that those schools (though not limited exclusively to) have the reputation and means for providing for such a driven population. And reputation is a qualifiable factor; especially in a world that places so much emphasis on name brand merchandise. But like everything else, cost/benefit, however it is percieved on an individual basis.</p>
<p>try duke, mit, or stanford :)</p>
<p>I am a student with grades slightly below Ivy standards. If I wanted to attend an Ivy, I have no doubt I could have gotten good enough grades, but several aspects of Ivies turn me off.</p>
<p>I like to surround myself with intelligent people, but not "nerds" or people who put academics on a pedestal above having a good social life.</p>
<p>The cost does not make sense for my family.</p>
<p>For those who want to attend graduate school, attending a less prestigious school where you can excel looks way better than a mediocre GPA at an Ivy.</p>
<p>For me, it's basically the fact that I don't think I would fit in with the people at the schools and I don't find it necessary to attend an amazing school for what I have planned in my future.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I like to surround myself with intelligent people, but not "nerds" or people who put academics on a pedestal above having a good social life.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I disagree. In my experience, many of those at these schools tend to know how to balance a healthy social life with academics. The difference between a top tier school with, for example, a community college is that academics is taken very seriously at the same time in the former. In a majority of cases, there is a work hard play hard mentality.</p>
<p>jtm845,</p>
<p>I don't think that you can stereotype a diverse population of people as "...nerds or people who put academics on a pedestal above having a good social life." As well, I don't think that the monicker "nerd" functions accurately in describing the highly intelligent people at Ivies as the term seems to modify more the inadequate social behavior, and there are quite a lot of unintelligent "nerds" at many schools; probably at your's as well. </p>
<p>Also, I am quite interested by how you might constitue 'social life'. Are you implying that a person cannot endeavor in their fields of interest and also maintain social prosperity or are you claiming that the students of Ivie schools choose not to go out and actively search for a social life? In either case, your assumption is incorrect. Friendships can be made through the commonalities of interests, not just by meeting random people at bars and clubs. If a person has a passion for their interests, then they will find others who share the same passion, and help push each other to strive for their goals and to mutually learn from one another. Having meaningful friendships seems like a nice social life to me. And if there are people who are less 'sociable', and they choose to remain aloof to other people, then they are also maintaining a good social life that accomodates their personal taste.</p>
<p>In any case, let's just not generalize too much. We can all agree that smart people are not overly elusive and that they will be found no matter where you attend school, so will not-so-smart people, and cool people, nerds, geeks, ugies, hotties, whatever...</p>
<p>I got into an ivy and did not attend and money wasnt a huge issue.</p>