NationStates Jolt Archive

I was thinking about what colleges I might like to apply to.. I started thinking.. what if I just applied to Harvard or Yale just to say I applied there.. What if I was accepted? I would go because of the schools status. Education is already know as uber good.. but going there for names sake?

Would you go to an Ivy League school just because it's Name is well known?

Go for Princeton. It's within convenient driving distance of Philadelphia and a short train ride to NYC. In the summer it's conveniently near the Jersey shore, and you can get good kind at that school.

I was thinking about what colleges I might like to apply to.. I started thinking.. what if I just applied to Harvard or Yale just to say I applied there.. What if I was accepted? I would go because of the schools status. Education is already know as uber good.. but going there for names sake?

Would you go to an Ivy League school just because it's Name is well known?
If you have the money, or a scolarship, im sure some Ivy League school has subject you're interested in

[snip]
Would you go to an Ivy League school just because it's Name is well known?

No. Not just because its name is well known. That would be like buying a Mercedes recently. (Good name - crap car of late).

If, however, the Ivy League school has a good course in what you want to do, and it is a close call between them or a less revered institution, then it can't hurt to gain the status points.

Make sure they do what you want.
Using an English parallel:
I was gonna go for Oxford and Cambrige. But I found a course I like better at Birmingham.

I also then found I was too lazy to get the required grades for oxbrige but eh. XD

Nope. I got into an ivy league school, but their law school was better than their medical school. Granted, my college is pretty up there.

No. Not just because its name is well known. That would be like buying a Mercedes recently. (Good name - crap car of late).

If, however, the Ivy League school has a good course in what you want to do, and it is a close call between them or a less revered institution, then it can't hurt to gain the status points.

True, I am actually going to Three Rivers and then to Uconn for my degree. Though Three Rivers has the best program in the nation for the work I am going to be doing...GO ME!

Bleh. I may be smart enough to go Ivy but I don't think I'm gonna go to one, even if I get accepted. And it'll be a snowball's chance in Hell that I go to Cornell, now that I know that this one @$$hole of a senior at my HS has been accepted there.

When I graduated from Dartmouth a few years ago, I learned what the big fuss over student loans was all about. I paid my dues and now I'm glad with my choice to go.

If you have the money, and they have your course, go. It's worth it.

Bleh. I may be smart enough to go Ivy but I don't think I'm gonna go to one, even if I get accepted. And it'll be a snowball's chance in Hell that I go to Cornell, now that I know that this one @$$hole of a senior at my HS has been accepted there.
if you want to go to cornell (and get accepted) dont let the notion that someone you dislike is going to go there deter you from going.

highschool passes off like a bad dream as soon as you graduate. you will never see the asshole and if you do, you wont give a damn about him anymore.

it would be a shame to give up your first choice for a factor that isnt really a factor at all.

if you want to go to cornell (and get accepted) dont let the notion that someone you dislike is going to go there deter you from going.

highschool passes off like a bad dream as soon as you graduate. you will never see the asshole and if you do, you wont give a damn about him anymore.

it would be a shame to give up your first choice for a factor that isnt really a factor at all.

Seconded.

You have to choose on the basis of what is best for you, not on the basis of who else is doing what.

When I was in highschool, I got a few admissions packets from Ivy league schools. I thought it was pretty neat that I got stuff from harvard being in the podunk town I went to HS in. I wanted to apply to see if I could get it, but I decided not to. I knew I wouldn;t go to an Ivy school because I can;t afford it. In theory though, I can see picking a school based on prestige. Being a grad from a big time school would carry some weight in interviews I imagine, not to mention in self esteem. I'm happy with where I'm at though. I think it depends how you balance a degree, name recognition, cost-benefit, and probably your field as well.

Though do you really want to pay 40,000 a year for something the school isn't know for? In each field a school is known as the best in that field. Like law or medicine...to go to a school just because you said it (and the program is not the best you can do and is more expenisive) what is the point of prestige?

If I worked at a McDonalds but went to Harvard for busines....is it really going to change the fact I have what appears to be a dead-end job?

I was thinking about what colleges I might like to apply to.. I started thinking.. what if I just applied to Harvard or Yale just to say I applied there.. What if I was accepted? I would go because of the schools status. Education is already know as uber good.. but going there for names sake?

Would you go to an Ivy League school just because it's Name is well known?

Depends. . .do you also want a challenge? The sad truth is that it's often harder to get a 4.0 at a public university like the local state college than it is at Harvard, because the general assumption is that if you're at Harvard, then you're smart enough to have gotten the A even if you didn't work for it. The teachers at University of (Fillintheblank) aren't going to be so accomodating.

Furthermore, I would say that the whole notion of top-rated schools is overblown anyway. If you're a badass attorney, five years down the road that's going to matter far more than the fact that you came out of UC-San Diego than Yale, although to be sure you generally get more initial options at Yale than San Diego. This is even more true of undergrad programs, which are largely interchangeable.

The only reasons to really go to such a school have already been explained by Animal House.

If you can afford it, you should settle for nothing less than the ivy league.

If you can afford it, you should settle for nothing less than the ivy league.

But if you can get something better, then take that instead.

Make sure they do what you want.
Using an English parallel:
I was gonna go for Oxford and Cambrige. But I found a course I like better at Birmingham.

I also then found I was too lazy to get the required grades for oxbrige but eh. XD
What uni are you in? Aston, U of B or UCE?

Depends. . .do you also want a challenge? The sad truth is that it's often harder to get a 4.0 at a public university like the local state college than it is at Harvard, because the general assumption is that if you're at Harvard, then you're smart enough to have gotten the A even if you didn't work for it.There may be some truth to this, although it has less to do with assumptions about individuals than with the grade distributions to which professors become accustomed.

When you teach at Harvard, you get used to having 35% of the class or more earn A's, 50% earn B's, and most of the rest get C's. (Yes, there are some issues of grade inflation, but you still tend to get this sort of distribution at elite undergraduate institutions.) Meanwhile, if you teach at a more average school, you learn to live with 20% A's, 30% B's, 30% C's, 10% D's and 10% F's, or something similar.

At least, this has been my experience, and it has also been the experience of at least one other professor I know who has taught at both a top-tier school and elsewhere. Result? Psychologically, it is "harder" to give lower grades at better schools, because when students don't perform as expected it "throws off" the curve to which you are accustomed. When you usually fail 20% anyway, it's actually easier to give every student the grade he/she earns, and no more. You can try to resist these trends, but the fact remains that they exist.

Furthermore, I would say that the whole notion of top-rated schools is overblown anyway. If you're a badass attorney, five years down the road that's going to matter far more than the fact that you came out of UC-San Diego than Yale, although to be sure you generally get more initial options at Yale than San Diego.This is not true.

While it is generally true that your university matters less than most people think, your law school certainly matters quite a bit. (I am the assistant to the pre-law adviser at my school.) If you do not go to an elite law school, you will not work for an elite law firm, except perhaps in the most extremely rare of exceptions. It does not matter how much you "prove" yourself.

This is not to say that you cannot be a successful lawyer graduating from other top-tier law schools, or even from second-tier or lower. But it does mean that depending on which school you attend, some doors will be closed to you forever.

This is the reason that I have students killing themselves over the LSAT. And you wouldn't believe how competitive it is. Students who would have easily been admitted to Yale's undergraduate programs don't stand a snowball's chance in Hell of getting into the law school.

This is even more true of undergrad programs, which are largely interchangeable.

Here I would largely agree with you. One of the mistakes most students make in looking at undergraduate schools is to seriously underrate large public universities. While it is true that these are rarely at the top of the U.S. News-type rankings, there are advantages that most students overlook:

First, many public universities are true research universities... which means that while many of your courses may be taught by grad students, you will be in the presence of some of the most talented faculty in your field. Now, you may have to go out of your way to get to know them... but if you are smart, you will really stand out in this crowd (as opposed to the Ivy League). Favorite students at these schools often get to co-author papers with professors, and they get fantastic letters of recommendation for graduate work: letters from well-known professors who will be recognized by the programs to which you apply.

Of course, this is not to say that there are no advantages to the Ivy League Schools... but you probably already understand what they are. It is the public schools that are underrated.

My final point of advice: When choosing a school, your primary concern should be to find a place where you will be happy for four-five years. The other stuff will, most likely, work itself out.

I heard that Ivy League schools have major incidences of suicide. When you're the best in your class, or your school, or your town, and then you go to an Ivy League school to make the best of your talent, you find yourself a little fish in a big pond full of geniuses (or, at least, people with tons of money and connections in the admissions office).

The other thing is, you have to make sure the culture at whatever school is right for you. If most of the people there are rich WASPS and you're a poor Jew (think "Love Story") then you might marry one and then end up dying of cancer very young while still looking gorgeous in well-applied makeup. Wait...I think I lost my train of thought on that one. At any rate, here's a good (read: funny) quiz on Ivy League school cultures:
http://quizilla.com/users/coolhound/quizzes/Which%20Ivy%20League%20University%20is%20right%20for%20YOU%3F/

I went to University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), which is basically the redheaded stepchild of University of Maryland College Park. I preferred the smaller campus, it was close to home and it was closer to Baltimore than D.C. (I friggin hate DC) and I liked that frats and sororities had to find their own damn houses to operate out of instead of taking up valuble campus resources. Plus, it was cheaper, and gave me a full scholarship. Within a year or two, UMBC was listed as a "hot" school, meaning (I think) that the price was really great when you see how amazing the academic shit there was. By the time I graduated, the price had shot up like a cannon and people were bragging about getting in. Plus, I had a great time. I win!