Ivy League grads...

[Anonymous]

I went to HYP for college and law school. Other than the actual education, the primary benefit is that it seems provide a presumption of competence and focus. I have been a FT and PT WOHM, and a SAHM. I think it is easier for me to land good jobs (especially PT interesting projects) as a result of where I went to school, though my work record no doubts helps a good deal as well. Essentially, I think it makes me an easier "sell" to the rest of an organization when a friend or former colleague wants to bring me in to do a project. It's a quick and easy descriptor that seems to relay that I won't flake out and that I can manage stress well. Not sure all of that is true for all ivy league grads, or grads from any school, but the presumption helps me I think. So I feel that my school and work records allow me to be more selective in the jobs I take, and to take time off with kids or work PT, because there will likely be more good professional opportunities ahead if I pass one up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP. No one has pointed out that a lot of HYP are legacies? I'm not but my DH is, as are most of the other Ivy grads we know. So most of them have already had connections.

I already know where my children, under 5, will be doing internships and such.

It would be funnier if it weren't so true...how many kids smarter, more ambitious and more hard working than yours are going to be pushed to the side since your DH goes drinking with the right go every Thursday night?

I think that the schools give you connections - I went to a "highly competitive liberal arts college" and got lots of connections for jobs, internships, law school admissions, etc. I never in a million years could have gotten those connections from my immigrant parents. But I certainly did not have the same connections my wealthier, more connected classmates did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to a "big two" Ivy and I don't make very much money, but I also don't think that is the only thing that determines if the degree was worth it.

I am now an academic and I think the degree helped in the early stages of my career - getting first jobs, getting into grad school. Now it doesn't matter much since other professional accomplishments are more important than old credentials. I think this is how it often is - helps alot at the beginning and less so as time goes on.


By far the most important thing I got out of my Ivy was meeting my husband. I didn't go to college to get my MRS degree - and have a satisfying if not high-flying career of my own. Maybe I would have met and married a great guy that I met after college, but I did marry an incredibly smart, interesting, ambitious man, whose whose extremely well-paying job gives me a sense of security that I probably wouldn't have without such a big safety net. One of the side benefits of going to an Ivy is the big pool of high-quality potential spouses. From watching friends and collegues, the post-college dating scrum seems like it is an exhausting crap-shoot.

FFS, just say where you went.

[Anonymous]

From experience, it absolutely gets you in the door. It's your skill set that keeps you there though.

[Anonymous]

I am an ivy league grad. I think it helped when I was younger. At this point nobody gives a hoot. I have to laugh at all these parents obsessed with ivies. I really don't see my ivy friends as being any more successful and happy in life than my non-ivy friends. None of most professionally successful female friends are married despite wanting to settle down and have a family. I know several ivy folk who never lived up to nearly their potential due to either alcohaulism, inability to get alone, depression or other reasons.

I got a great education, loved my school and enjoyed college tremendously, but would I send my kid to endless SAT prep and tutors and force my kid to do impressive activities so he/she could attend an ivy-no way. If my child wanta it and is qualified wonderful, but I have no intentions of attempting to mold a child into an ivyleaguer the way some parents do. I think about one of my roomates who went to a top private school in NYC and her mother did everything for her to ensure she would be ivy bound. She started to flunk out with out mommy there and had to take a leave of absense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP. No one has pointed out that a lot of HYP are legacies? I'm not but my DH is, as are most of the other Ivy grads we know. So most of them have already had connections.

I already know where my children, under 5, will be doing internships and such.

Do you know the percentages? It's not that high.

And weird that you ended up friends with a lot of them. I wasn't and none of my many ivy friends were.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP. No one has pointed out that a lot of HYP are legacies? I'm not but my DH is, as are most of the other Ivy grads we know. So most of them have already had connections.

I already know where my children, under 5, will be doing internships and such.

Do you know the percentages? It's not that high.

And weird that you ended up friends with a lot of them. I wasn't and none of my many ivy friends were.

It's currently around 12% for Harvard. But admissions rates for legacies hover around 30%. It use to be higher and easier to get in for legacies. Not weird at all. I'm involved with a lot of nonprofits and charities and they seem to attract those types.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP. No one has pointed out that a lot of HYP are legacies? I'm not but my DH is, as are most of the other Ivy grads we know. So most of them have already had connections.

I already know where my children, under 5, will be doing internships and such.

Do you know the percentages? It's not that high.

And weird that you ended up friends with a lot of them. I wasn't and none of my many ivy friends were.

My wife is a 2 parent legacy, but she's a genius. Her parents are also. I don't think legacy necessarily equals inferior, even if it is sometimes true.

[Anonymous]

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/08/03/seeing-red-at-the-big-green/?scp=1&sq=Dartmouth%20corporate%20recruiting&st=cse

Ivies can facilitate even push big bucks...interesting NYT reflection from a few days ago here...but the question is, is that the right thing?

When I was an Ivy undegrad, my inordinate youthful idealism kept me from taking on some of these cash-cow opps at 22, but afraid current me would have succumbed....