Are Ivies still enrolling the best students? Yes, but maybe not undergrads

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Princeton is seriously over-rated. Full of legacy admits, many of whom would not get into other top schools. This will catch up with them, the brand I mean.

This. I’ve never heard of anyone actually attending Princeton. I know kids at every other Ivy but no one ever gets in. It’s all for rich and connected kids.

I’ve met some seriously meh people who went to Princeton.
Over time they mentioned how their dad and grandparent, etc also went to Princeton.
They care a lot about lineage although I think I read somewhere that they are trying to lessen that.
They also heavily recruit for sports

Brooke Shields went to Princeton and published her transcript as a proof she went. That created a scandal of sort be ause all her courses were Micky mouse classes.

Mitchelle Obama went there, too. Now that's something. She's a real deal who happened to have married a Washington DC politician.

Real deal sociology major. Talk about mickey mouse classes.

Her senior thesis was navel-gazing gibberish but she did get into Harvard Law.

Fairly confident she has never been trash-talking other moms on DCUM.

LOL

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:To append a previous/similar post:


The Ivies do attract the absolute best. I've done both - midwest state flagship (undergrad) to Ivy (grad). There is no comparison. Trust me, the Ivy is a different league altogether and it allows you to truly peel away from the ordinary. However, do NOT obsess too much about the undergrad level. I personally was not overly impressed with the caliber of undergrads at the Ivy school I attended, and I know because I was a TA. The students in the grad or professional programs are worlds apart and represent the most talented group on campus. Get your degree anywhere and excel. I've met people who started at a community college, transferred to a four-year college and admitted to medical school at my Ivy.

Which Ivy ?

Worthless post without naming the particular Ivy ?

My money is on Columbia.

Would like to know which Ivy you are referring to as well. Because I followed a similar path to you - State U in the Midwest to Yale PhD and, now, I am back teaching at a State U - and my experience has been the total opposite. ~95% of the Yale undergrads I’ve interacted with have been whip-smart, engaged, challenging, hard-working. These kids would come to class always prepared, many even did more than what was required, asked me challenging questions and were actively engaged in their learning. At the State U, it’s the opposite for me - only 5% of the class is at the level of the Yale undergrads, the remaining either does the bare minimum and/or is not engaged at all and cares more about what party they’ll go to on the weekend than the course material.

Also, your post smacks a bit of bitterness and resentment. I can tell because I’ve encountered it among some of my fellow Yale PhDs. Somehow deep inside they resented that they never made it to an Ivy undergrad and would try to put the undergrads down to make themselves feel better about that fact. It didn’t help that at Yale you really do feel that the undergrads are at the heart of Yale University. I think you are trying to do the same by posting this thread, and I am glad that so many on here are calling you out on your BS.

NP. I went to H for undergrad and MIT for grad school in the sciences. My experience matches the OP’s.

So you were a dumbass in college but miraculously became a genius in grad school only to have to teach a bunch of idiot undergrads at MIT?

I recognize that I don’t have the experience to understand what it was like at a flagship state school. I just know that my peers in undergrad were less academically impressive (in my mind) than my grad school peers. Who had come to the grad program from a variety of different undergraduate spaces to include a lot of state school kids.

Grad school peers will always be "more impressive". you have the cream of the crop---people going on to get a PHD. Majority of people don't get college degrees let alone a PHD. So even the PHD students at your local state U will be much "more impressive" than the undergrads.