Are the ivies overrated? Perhaps too much coddling?

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I wish my kid was coddled more, not really, but that is so false. There may be some plush privates that do that but it’s not the Ivies. Most get humbled real quick and the expectations are very high. There is no hand holding.


I believe what they mean by coddled is the Ivies do not provide the full gamut of a real word education. For instance, you don’t have to be proactive to get your classes. If you’re struggling, they practically give your own personal tutor. You don’t get that in publics, at least not to that extent. You have to be responsible and get your classes early or they’ll run out of seats. If you’re struggling, they do have resources to help you but you have to seek out. And when you do, you might have to wait a couple hours for your turn (this is most common in lower division introductory courses. Upper division is much more intimate). So public school education is more relatable to the real world. No one’s gonna give you a job out there, you have to seek it out. If you’re struggling at your job, you’re pretty much on your own to figure it out. An IT person once said he could always tell what school someone went to. He said the private school people would call me to fix stuff that only took a reboot.


Really? Which Ivies actually do those things? For everyone? This sounds like TV fantasyland Ivy.

Yes, I went to one. No, I was never offered my own personal tutor. Please tell me where I need to go to have a job given to me — that I don’t have to seek out. As far as “relatable “ goes, I went to inner city public schools before college. Not sure what your IT guy would make of that.



+2. I went to Penn and they didn’t do any of this.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I wish my kid was coddled more, not really, but that is so false. There may be some plush privates that do that but it’s not the Ivies. Most get humbled real quick and the expectations are very high. There is no hand holding.


I believe what they mean by coddled is the Ivies do not provide the full gamut of a real word education. For instance, you don’t have to be proactive to get your classes. If you’re struggling, they practically give your own personal tutor. You don’t get that in publics, at least not to that extent. You have to be responsible and get your classes early or they’ll run out of seats. If you’re struggling, they do have resources to help you but you have to seek out. And when you do, you might have to wait a couple hours for your turn (this is most common in lower division introductory courses. Upper division is much more intimate). So public school education is more relatable to the real world. No one’s gonna give you a job out there, you have to seek it out. If you’re struggling at your job, you’re pretty much on your own to figure it out. An IT person once said he could always tell what school someone went to. He said the private school people would call me to fix stuff that only took a reboot.


Really? Which Ivies actually do those things? For everyone? This sounds like TV fantasyland Ivy.

Yes, I went to one. No, I was never offered my own personal tutor. Please tell me where I need to go to have a job given to me — that I don’t have to seek out. As far as “relatable “ goes, I went to inner city public schools before college. Not sure what your IT guy would make of that.



+2. I went to Penn and they didn’t do any of this.



It’s such a joke. Think about this logically, a bunch of overachievers, they’d all be signing up for the private tutor. You think they have resources for that? My kids Ivy had an article on the athletes being unable to get tutoring time.
Anonymous
People assume Ivies coddle kids because what else is all that money for? Even Ivy parents will tell you that their kids are coddled—smaller classes, easier to register, internship opportunities dropped in their lap. Maybe the parents are lying to try to explain their decision to spend so much on college, but that’s what they say.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:People assume Ivies coddle kids because what else is all that money for? Even Ivy parents will tell you that their kids are coddled—smaller classes, easier to register, internship opportunities dropped in their lap. Maybe the parents are lying to try to explain their decision to spend so much on college, but that’s what they say.


I don’t view smaller classes and ease of registration as coddling. I toured a SLAC with my youngest that said they call and check-in if you miss class or something seems off. Stuff like that is coddling to me. The other things are just having better resources IMO.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:People assume Ivies coddle kids because what else is all that money for? Even Ivy parents will tell you that their kids are coddled—smaller classes, easier to register, internship opportunities dropped in their lap. Maybe the parents are lying to try to explain their decision to spend so much on college, but that’s what they say.


I don’t view smaller classes and ease of registration as coddling. I toured a SLAC with my youngest that said they call and check-in if you miss class or something seems off. Stuff like that is coddling to me. The other things are just having better resources IMO.


I think the line between “having better resources” and “being coddled” is pretty fuzzy.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:People assume Ivies coddle kids because what else is all that money for? Even Ivy parents will tell you that their kids are coddled—smaller classes, easier to register, internship opportunities dropped in their lap. Maybe the parents are lying to try to explain their decision to spend so much on college, but that’s what they say.


I don’t view smaller classes and ease of registration as coddling. I toured a SLAC with my youngest that said they call and check-in if you miss class or something seems off. Stuff like that is coddling to me. The other things are just having better resources IMO.


I think the line between “having better resources” and “being coddled” is pretty fuzzy.


I don’t know, the smaller publics in our state don’t seem to have same class registration issues as the flagship so sometimes it’s just size ay play.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:These surveys are so meaningless. No CEO is directly hiring an entry-level person out of college. And when they do hire/promote at the more senior levels, Ivy grads are well represented. There is zero chance a CEO ever looked at a candidate for senior management and said "nah, he went to an Ivy."

I did not attend an Ivy and I have no view on whether they're overrated, but I am deeply suspicious of rich dudes who "already got theirs" saying young people expect too much respect at work.


It is not meaningless. I work in tech, and this is pretty much the prevailing sentiment.


I work in real tech and you are delusional.

I also work in real tech (FAANG), and it's both. They still hire from the T10 but they also hire people with no degrees now or those who went to a lesser school. It didn't use to be that way. Years ago, I saw a list of "acceptable" schools that the company hired from depending on the role. And the CIO would also interview the person who was applying for a lower level job, not senior. It was crazy. That has changed.


I am on my third FAANG and I’m in leadership. I’ve hired many engineers, PMs, and TPMs over the years. There are many humble people and many not so humble. I’ve never preferred any particular school (except possibly Waterloo) and I never will.

Anonymous
Definitely Forbes magazine click bait. I guarantee you no kid has been turned down for a job "because she went to Princeton instead of UC Davis".
Anonymous
This post is mainly copium because their child didn't get into an Ivy equivalent and so the OP is clutching at straws to make themselves feel less bad.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:This post is mainly copium because their child didn't get into an Ivy equivalent and so the OP is clutching at straws to make themselves feel less bad.


Exactly this.
Anonymous
I'm an Ivy grad (double!) and work for a F500 with a large consulting component. Most of my peers are graduates of flagship state universities. I've been impressed by their work ethic and aptitude. We do have people who went to Ivies and other "elite" colleges and LACs but my work history has taught me it doesn't really matter where you went to college as long as you are a natural high performer.

Anonymous
I think this analysis is spot on. Nobody should be applying to the woke Ivy League. Perhaps they shouldn’t apply to state flagships either because college is overrated. At any rate, here hoping for less competition for my rising high school next year!
Anonymous
^^ high school junior
Anonymous
The problem is the Ivy/Top 20 obsession is like an infection that starts elementary school homework to high school extracurriculars. There's absolutely nothing wrong with aiming high, please shoot for Harvard if that's your thing. But the lack of self-awareness from some parents is truly spectacular. I personally enjoy a casual drop "when Jayden applies to Princeton" into conversation as if their kid's guaranteed admission while the child is still learning multiplication tables.

My all-time favorite is when a student athlete commits to an Ivy? Pure entertainment. Nothing exposes the facade quite like watching those same parents mentally short-circuit: "Wait... you can get in WITHOUT having your five-year-old learn Mandarin and building water purification systems in developing countries?" Maybe the time learning to dribble a basketball wasn’t such a waste of time after all.
Anonymous
Yes, very over rated. Hand out As like candy to keep up the illusion that they selected the best and brightest.
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