Tell me why Harvard is the best!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Name recognition among employers. If an employer gets a resume from a kid who went to Harvard and a kid who went to University of Maryland, who do you think she'll hire? It won't be the kid from Maryland.

Not any employer. Ivy graduates have a reputation of being arrogant prima donnas. Of course, not all are, but this is certainly a factor outside of Big 4 management consulting, Big Law, maybe a few other narrow niches.

This. My dad was a division director at a large tech company and absolutely would not hire Ivy grads and did not want us applying to them. He'd had too many bad experiences with arrogant prima donnas.

Personally, I've worked with plenty people from Ivys and most have been great but the ones who are a PITA seem to directly tie their PITA-ness to their Ivy experience -- one of the first entry level people I supervised didn't think she should have to fax stuff (a huge part of an assistant's job in those days) because she went to Penn (yes, she actually said that to me, her boss). It definitely made me look closer for that entitlement attitude when interviewing Ivy grads, more so than those from other schools.

I have lots of family in tech on the west coast and Google, MSFT, Amazon recruit a ton at top business schools and ivy league schools for talent -

when marissa mayer moved to yahoo, she started wanted yahoo to become more elitist in terms of the where future employees went in terms of school.

[Anonymous]

An Ivy degree is a sign that you're motivated and hard working. You were motivated and hardworking in high school and this led to acceptance at 10% odds. Most Ivy kids are the self-driven type and will be motivated through their lives.

Employers know this. This isn't to take away from hard-working kids at other colleges. But it's plum silly to write these personality characteristics off for Ivy kids just because someone's dad once had a bad experience with a woman from Princeton 10 years ago, or whatever. I know that troll is going to say, yet again, that "the hardest thing about an Ivy is getting in, har, har, har" but those of us with Ivy and non-Ivy experience know that's simply not true.

Similarly, it's plum silly, and pretty naive, to make mass generalizations about Ivy grads being arrogant or entitled, just because someone once met an Ivy grad who wouldn't send faxes. Geez, if we all drew conclusions about schools like this, UMD would come off as incredibly arrogant and silly based on the UMD poster here. Fortunately, I still love UMD, and that's because most of us are adults and able to draw our own, more reasonable, conclusions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:An Ivy degree is a sign that you're motivated and hard working. You were motivated and hardworking in high school and this led to acceptance at 10% odds. Most Ivy kids are the self-driven type and will be motivated through their lives.

Employers know this. This isn't to take away from hard-working kids at other colleges. But it's plum silly to write these personality characteristics off for Ivy kids just because someone's dad once had a bad experience with a woman from Princeton 10 years ago, or whatever. I know that troll is going to say, yet again, that "the hardest thing about an Ivy is getting in, har, har, har" but those of us with Ivy and non-Ivy experience know that's simply not true.

Similarly, it's plum silly, and pretty naive, to make mass generalizations about Ivy grads being arrogant or entitled, just because someone once met an Ivy grad who wouldn't send faxes. Geez, if we all drew conclusions about schools like this, UMD would come off as incredibly arrogant and silly based on the UMD poster here. Fortunately, I still love UMD, and that's because most of us are adults and able to draw our own, more reasonable, conclusions.

It's also silly and naive to make generalizations that ALL employers will go for the Ivy grad vs. non-Ivy. Sure, an Ivy degree is a sign that someone is motivated and hard working but for some it comes with other baggage that the person will need to be aware of. I hire interns for my department and get plenty of applications from both Ivy and non-Ivy students. I tend to give an extra look to the non-Ivys just because I know the name recognition of the Ivy school means that kid will probably get an extra look from places that prioritize that. I think you find hard working and motivated students at all kinds of colleges. I'm most interested in what they have done related to my somewhat specialized field. The best intern I ever had was from University of Nebraska (and she's one of the few we kept on as a full time employee) but I have a good one this summer too from Yale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:An Ivy degree is a sign that you're motivated and hard working. You were motivated and hardworking in high school and this led to acceptance at 10% odds. Most Ivy kids are the self-driven type and will be motivated through their lives.

Employers know this. This isn't to take away from hard-working kids at other colleges. But it's plum silly to write these personality characteristics off for Ivy kids just because someone's dad once had a bad experience with a woman from Princeton 10 years ago, or whatever. I know that troll is going to say, yet again, that "the hardest thing about an Ivy is getting in, har, har, har" but those of us with Ivy and non-Ivy experience know that's simply not true.

Similarly, it's plum silly, and pretty naive, to make mass generalizations about Ivy grads being arrogant or entitled, just because someone once met an Ivy grad who wouldn't send faxes. Geez, if we all drew conclusions about schools like this, UMD would come off as incredibly arrogant and silly based on the UMD poster here. Fortunately, I still love UMD, and that's because most of us are adults and able to draw our own, more reasonable, conclusions.

You sort of just made the point that Ivy grads have personality disorders... do you know that?

[Anonymous]

OP is confusing Harvard U overall with Harvard College undergrad. Harvard overall is best known because it is the oldest in the US, has the largest endowment by far, has many top ranked graduate programs, and has an edge because Boston is seen as a great college city (and has more work opportunities than say Princeton, NJ). Among high school students who have the academic records to make them competitive applicants to Harvard, however, it is not at all so clear that it holds such an advantage. Many students select Yale, Princeton and many other universities and LACs because of a belief that the undergraduate programs are stronger at some other schools. It is true that Harvard wins more "cross-admits" than it looses to other top schools, but it is also true that quite a few students who select other top schools decided not to apply to Harvard in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An Ivy degree is a sign that you're motivated and hard working. You were motivated and hardworking in high school and this led to acceptance at 10% odds. Most Ivy kids are the self-driven type and will be motivated through their lives.

Employers know this. This isn't to take away from hard-working kids at other colleges. But it's plum silly to write these personality characteristics off for Ivy kids just because someone's dad once had a bad experience with a woman from Princeton 10 years ago, or whatever. I know that troll is going to say, yet again, that "the hardest thing about an Ivy is getting in, har, har, har" but those of us with Ivy and non-Ivy experience know that's simply not true.

Similarly, it's plum silly, and pretty naive, to make mass generalizations about Ivy grads being arrogant or entitled, just because someone once met an Ivy grad who wouldn't send faxes. Geez, if we all drew conclusions about schools like this, UMD would come off as incredibly arrogant and silly based on the UMD poster here. Fortunately, I still love UMD, and that's because most of us are adults and able to draw our own, more reasonable, conclusions.

It's also silly and naive to make generalizations that ALL employers will go for the Ivy grad vs. non-Ivy. Sure, an Ivy degree is a sign that someone is motivated and hard working but for some it comes with other baggage that the person will need to be aware of. I hire interns for my department and get plenty of applications from both Ivy and non-Ivy students. I tend to give an extra look to the non-Ivys just because I know the name recognition of the Ivy school means that kid will probably get an extra look from places that prioritize that. I think you find hard working and motivated students at all kinds of colleges. I'm most interested in what they have done related to my somewhat specialized field. The best intern I ever had was from University of Nebraska (and she's one of the few we kept on as a full time employee) but I have a good one this summer too from Yale.

I never said that. I was responding to the mass generalizations made by two PPs who knew people who knew 2 Ivy grads. That's what was silly and naive.

I absolutely agree that there are many hard-working and motivated kids at colleges of all kinds, public and private, name and no-name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An Ivy degree is a sign that you're motivated and hard working. You were motivated and hardworking in high school and this led to acceptance at 10% odds. Most Ivy kids are the self-driven type and will be motivated through their lives.

Employers know this. This isn't to take away from hard-working kids at other colleges. But it's plum silly to write these personality characteristics off for Ivy kids just because someone's dad once had a bad experience with a woman from Princeton 10 years ago, or whatever. I know that troll is going to say, yet again, that "the hardest thing about an Ivy is getting in, har, har, har" but those of us with Ivy and non-Ivy experience know that's simply not true.

Similarly, it's plum silly, and pretty naive, to make mass generalizations about Ivy grads being arrogant or entitled, just because someone once met an Ivy grad who wouldn't send faxes. Geez, if we all drew conclusions about schools like this, UMD would come off as incredibly arrogant and silly based on the UMD poster here. Fortunately, I still love UMD, and that's because most of us are adults and able to draw our own, more reasonable, conclusions.

You sort of just made the point that Ivy grads have personality disorders... do you know that?

You just made the clear point that your reading comprehension is beyond pathetic... did you know that?

(Are by any chance the German nutcase? You argue like him/her.)

[Anonymous]

DD chose Yale over Harvard. It seemed like, in general, undergraduates at Yale have a better time than those at Harvard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:An Ivy degree is a sign that you're motivated and hard working. You were motivated and hardworking in high school and this led to acceptance at 10% odds. Most Ivy kids are the self-driven type and will be motivated through their lives.

Employers know this. This isn't to take away from hard-working kids at other colleges. But it's plum silly to write these personality characteristics off for Ivy kids just because someone's dad once had a bad experience with a woman from Princeton 10 years ago, or whatever. I know that troll is going to say, yet again, that "the hardest thing about an Ivy is getting in, har, har, har" but those of us with Ivy and non-Ivy experience know that's simply not true.

Similarly, it's plum silly, and pretty naive, to make mass generalizations about Ivy grads being arrogant or entitled, just because someone once met an Ivy grad who wouldn't send faxes. Geez, if we all drew conclusions about schools like this, UMD would come off as incredibly arrogant and silly based on the UMD poster here. Fortunately, I still love UMD, and that's because most of us are adults and able to draw our own, more reasonable, conclusions.

I don't understand. Please help me understand:

What's so silly about plums?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Name recognition among employers. If an employer gets a resume from a kid who went to Harvard and a kid who went to University of Maryland, who do you think she'll hire? It won't be the kid from Maryland.

Not any employer. Ivy graduates have a reputation of being arrogant prima donnas. Of course, not all are, but this is certainly a factor outside of Big 4 management consulting, Big Law, maybe a few other narrow niches.

This. My dad was a division director at a large tech company and absolutely would not hire Ivy grads and did not want us applying to them. He'd had too many bad experiences with arrogant prima donnas.

Personally, I've worked with plenty people from Ivys and most have been great but the ones who are a PITA seem to directly tie their PITA-ness to their Ivy experience -- one of the first entry level people I supervised didn't think she should have to fax stuff (a huge part of an assistant's job in those days) because she went to Penn (yes, she actually said that to me, her boss). It definitely made me look closer for that entitlement attitude when interviewing Ivy grads, more so than those from other schools.

I have lots of family in tech on the west coast and Google, MSFT, Amazon recruit a ton at top business schools and ivy league schools for talent -

when marissa mayer moved to yahoo, she started wanted yahoo to become more elitist in terms of the where future employees went in terms of school.

Actually, Google has changed their hiring practices because they realized that you can find some really talented people who didn't go to top tier.

-signed a google employee who went to a state univ.

[Anonymous]

Worst boss I've had and worst employee I've hired were Harvard grads. Entitled, hard to get along with and focused on their own eliteness. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

I went to an Ivy school and have spent a long time in business. However, my impression is that the most successful business people went to "Hard Knox State" universities rather than the Ivy League. In hiring executives, we've observed that applicants who earned the Eagle Scout rank as teenagers seem to have many of the traits for success. The same is true with US service academy graduates (men and women) who have served in the armed forces. Plenty of smart people graduate from Ivy schools but they are not necessarily more successful in the business world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An Ivy degree is a sign that you're motivated and hard working. You were motivated and hardworking in high school and this led to acceptance at 10% odds. Most Ivy kids are the self-driven type and will be motivated through their lives.

Employers know this. This isn't to take away from hard-working kids at other colleges. But it's plum silly to write these personality characteristics off for Ivy kids just because someone's dad once had a bad experience with a woman from Princeton 10 years ago, or whatever. I know that troll is going to say, yet again, that "the hardest thing about an Ivy is getting in, har, har, har" but those of us with Ivy and non-Ivy experience know that's simply not true.

Similarly, it's plum silly, and pretty naive, to make mass generalizations about Ivy grads being arrogant or entitled, just because someone once met an Ivy grad who wouldn't send faxes. Geez, if we all drew conclusions about schools like this, UMD would come off as incredibly arrogant and silly based on the UMD poster here. Fortunately, I still love UMD, and that's because most of us are adults and able to draw our own, more reasonable, conclusions.

You sort of just made the point that Ivy grads have personality disorders... do you know that?

You just made the clear point that your reading comprehension is beyond pathetic... did you know that?

(Are by any chance the German nutcase? You argue like him/her.)

You continue to make the point.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Name recognition among employers. If an employer gets a resume from a kid who went to Harvard and a kid who went to University of Maryland, who do you think she'll hire? It won't be the kid from Maryland.

Not any employer. Ivy graduates have a reputation of being arrogant prima donnas. Of course, not all are, but this is certainly a factor outside of Big 4 management consulting, Big Law, maybe a few other narrow niches.

I second this. The only harvard graduate I worked with lasted 6 months on a techology project for a large corporate bank. always wanted to talk strategy and never accomplished any actual tasks. We learned our lesson. Save the 120K for someone that has ability to do something not talk.

[Anonymous]

Oh yay, all the DCUM hiring managers have come out of the woodwork to talk about their vast experience.

And I have some land in Florida to sell you guys....