<p>I have accomplished what millions of kids around the world dream of every day for every year, which sadly for the vast majority of the young and old enthusiasts end and get mercilessly crushed in a quick and painful blow called the rejection letter.</p>
<p>Who am I? I am an Ivy alum.</p>
<p>Not that it matters a damn thing. </p>
<p>Consider this: to an average person in the United States the words Ivy League will probably mean next to nothing.</p>
<p>Ask an average person in China or Korea and they will almost undoubtedly recognize the big eight Harvard, Yale, Princeton, UPenn, Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown, and Cornell and perhaps the two other academic powerhouses in MIT and Stanford.</p>
<p>These schools are supposedly the elite institutions that are all but guaranteed to bring graduates good fortunes and a successful life, and thus merely attending one can be safely recorded as the accomplishment of a lifetime that all but guarantees a bright future. Supposedly, anyway.</p>
<p>How I spent my childhood actually believing any of this nonsensical bull**** is beyond me. Reading the acceptance letter from my school 3pm on a freezing seemed to be a dream come true. All the hard work and sacrifices that I no, my entire family had put in had finally come to fruition and I got rewarded. I get to be a ****ing Ivy Leaguer, and I finally get to be elite. I am finally going to get laid, finally going to have some fun, finally going to get that sweet job.</p>
<p>(Dream on, sweetheart, while you still can )</p>
<p>Sure, being an Ivy Leaguer feels good. Damn good. </p>
<p>For the first week, maybe the first month. </p>
<p>Then any prospective of having some kind of that enjoyable college life goes ****ting down the drain quickly. Failed midterms, pathetic grades on papers, problem sets... the list extends quickly.
Straight As my ass, anyone would be lucky to get a B at that rate. </p>
<p>But there are those rare yahoos who just get everything without actually doing **** (thought you were the big fish in high school? You probably aint the big fish in this ocean full of sharks) and everyone elses resume seems to eat yours for breakfast. </p>
<p>Whats worse? Those frat boy jocks get away with all that illegal **** drugs, drinking, smoking, what have you still get all the girls (sound familiar?) If that wasnt bad enough, those guys that somehow manage their time to have fun still get those 4.0s while those of us that have no time to fun sulk with our Cs and Bs. </p>
<p>Wow. Unfair much? Suck it, life isnt fair.</p>
<p>What, did any of the nerds actually believe that things would change in college?
Just waltz into a frat, drink, and then wait for all those hot drunk ladies to fall into their arms for the eventual hot night of passion. Oh wait¸ this actually happens, but most nerds are too chicken to take advantage of it before all the frat boys snatch everything up. </p>
<p>My former roommate brought a box of condoms thinking hed be done with them before the end of the year ended the year having used a big fat ZERO. The sad fact is college is just like high school. Those jocks will still get everything and nerds will still get nothing. </p>
<p>Ivy Leagues are supposed to be different, right? Nope. Those guys that have all the fun while getting everything are the ones that score those fancy summer internships and post graduation jobs while the nerds are left to rot even at the supposedly god like Ivy League level.
(By the way, there are those nerds that score those fancy internships and jobs too, you just dont see them as often since they dont go around boasting anywhere nearly as much)</p>
<p>The supposedly elite education? Half of the teachers cant teach worth a damn, and a ton of them have accents so thick that it is virtually impossible for a non-native English speaker to understand them. Never mind the <strong><em>ing brutal tests AND the impossible curve that makes getting As in classes just about *</em></strong>ing impossible. This was the *** that were paying ~$60,000 a year for? If my time at my school taught me anything, it is that Ivy League education is totally not worth the money. Not 240 grands. </p>
<p>If suffering through all that for 4 years wasnt enough, finding a job in this job market is still impossible, Ivy League grad or not. </p>
<p>But then why go to an Ivy League school? Why bother with all this **** if the school isnt going to get you anywhere? </p>
<p>And that is where the problem is. Too many students, too many parents, too many people nowadays think that going to an Ivy League school means automatic success in the career after school. </p>
<p>Nope, this is wrong.</p>
<p>As an admissions officer once told me after I got to my school
The school does not select the best academic nerds, nor do they select the most athletic jocks. The school picks students that survive.
The school does not make the students, the students make the school. (paraphrased)</p>
<p>What does this mean? The school isnt going to get you that dream job at Goldman Sachs. The school isnt going to get you that seven-figure salary, the school isnt going to get you that dream house, the school isnt going to get you the hottest girl on the planet. </p>
<p>No, the school teaches you to survive, to survive out in the brutality known as the real world, the real world where everyone is on their own for survival and must compete with everyone else to fight the way to the top of the hill. Those that do (and many do) give back to the school so the school can continue this cycle with the next generation.</p>
<p>Yes, Ivy League students have to face plenty of rejections, plenty of downfalls, plenty of tough grades, plenty of tough social moments, plenty of brutal periods where one just feels like shooting him/herself. </p>
<p>But those that survive and fight on (again, many do) are the ones that again succeed in the real world. That is what the Ivy League offers not a million dollar salary, not a dream job, not a hot partner how to survive, how to fight through challenges, and how to succeed. Not only that, there are thousands of other alumni who went through the same thing in the world that make the scary network of Ivy Leaguers.</p>
<p>That is the reality. Not exactly easy, no? It's too bad that even the ones that do get admitted to Ivy League schools still suffer through much of what I mentioned.</p>