Ivies or die?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not surprising that kids think that. Consider the parents who have to get their kids into the right pre-school. That turns into the right k-8 which transitions to the right high school. Those three steps are within reach of a lot of people, the next step is the right college and that's where the kid feels the pressure that has built from things they over heard and internalized from the time there were toddlers. It's also the step with the longest odds and the most factors totally out of their control. Be happy your kid doesn't have that mindset and hope it doesn't rub off on them

Exactly. Most kids in the world don’t think this way, OP. It’s because you chose the expensive private school or chose the house in the expensive neighborhood so they could go to the rich public school. They are well off but they are, ironically, naive and sheltered.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Some of us went to Ivies, others didn’t. "


MOST of us didn't. Have the kids read the bios of people they consider successful.

x1000000


Don't be a narrow minded striver - now THERE is a goal.

I'm confused - emulate successful people who didn't go to Ivies? Aren't they also strivers?

Depends. If they are social climbers, without much cred, well......

Still not getting this - it depends on whether you think they deserve it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I mean, the best way to work down an Ivy League prestige whore is to prestige whore back to them. Show them the Top 10 ranking of colleges on US News. Only half of the colleges in the Top 10 are in the Ivy League.

All 12 of the Ivy League schools are in the top 20. You are not working down Ivy League prestige this way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, the best way to work down an Ivy League prestige whore is to prestige whore back to them. Show them the Top 10 ranking of colleges on US News. Only half of the colleges in the Top 10 are in the Ivy League.

All 12 of the Ivy League schools are in the top 20. You are not working down Ivy League prestige this way.

I think a better way is to say that relying on USNWR rankings is idiotic.

Signed,

Ivy grad

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to an ivy. My spouse went to a lesser-known directional state school. My spouse makes a lot more than I do as my spouse is in sales.

What kind of sales?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Some of us went to Ivies, others didn’t. "


MOST of us didn't. Have the kids read the bios of people they consider successful.

x1000000


Don't be a narrow minded striver - now THERE is a goal.

I'm confused - emulate successful people who didn't go to Ivies? Aren't they also strivers?

Depends. If they are social climbers, without much cred, well......

Still not getting this - it depends on whether you think they deserve it?

Who deserves what? If you think you are undeserving, well......

[Anonymous]

We have a family friend who is a federal district court judge. He says he hates hiring ivy grads because they’re entitled and feel superior. He much prefers the non-ivy grads because they work harder and they’re more respectful. Just an anecdote.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ha well yeah first of all, only worry about your own kid. Second of all, I'm an executive recruiter, and place high level CEOs and other C-Suite folks. I RARELY see a top school, much less an Ivy on their resumes. It's what you DO with your degree not the label you get for attending.

I'm not defending the attitude OP is describing, and went to a SLAC, but I've always been under the impression it's not about the name on the resume but the networking opportunities that makes going to an Ivy so valuable.

[Anonymous]

Exactly. Most kids in the world don’t think this way, OP. It’s because you chose the expensive private school or chose the house in the expensive neighborhood so they could go to the rich public school. They are well off but they are, ironically, naive and sheltered.

This is not true, IME. Kids in my daughters' AAP center routinely hyperventilated if they didn't do well on texts because it would prevent them from getting into Harvard. This is not a rich school - some rich kids, but also many first generation Americans. The message filters down from parents and older siblings and turns kids into stress cases.

It's fundamentally rooted in income inequality and fear that there is not enough pie to go around. There isn't, but the answer isn't necessarily to go to an Ivy at whatever financial and mental cost. Also, kids need to get the message that there are many ways to "succeed," not just the narrow ones we see here.

[Anonymous]

*tests

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, the best way to work down an Ivy League prestige whore is to prestige whore back to them. Show them the Top 10 ranking of colleges on US News. Only half of the colleges in the Top 10 are in the Ivy League.

All 12 of the Ivy League schools are in the top 20. You are not working down Ivy League prestige this way.

No, only 8 of the Ivy League schools are in the top 20.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, the best way to work down an Ivy League prestige whore is to prestige whore back to them. Show them the Top 10 ranking of colleges on US News. Only half of the colleges in the Top 10 are in the Ivy League.

All 12 of the Ivy League schools are in the top 20. You are not working down Ivy League prestige this way.

No, only 8 of the Ivy League schools are in the top 20.

lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids’ friends are convinced there is no other way to succeed. They believe that it’s imperative to get into an Ivy or other top-ranked school in order to make money. They are so stressed and pressured about this. I am a successful professional and know many other successful professionals. Some of us went to Ivies, others didn’t.
How can I explain to these teens that going to a college that is a good fit where they can thrive is much more important than going to an Ivy?

I'd rather have my teens obsessed with the goal of getting into an Ivy than just being a average underachieving slacker kid. Have you seen the average teen? They're dumb as a brick, lazy, addicted to the phone and video games. They've literally never finished a book. Or the other large subset of teens obsessed with playing sports, which 99.9% of the time is just a pointless time sink.

Aren't you a peach! I've never played a sport in my life and even I can see that being "obsessed" with a sport as a teen instills extremely important life skills like grit, leadership, self-discipline, time management, getting used to failure and criticism in a way that being obsessed with academics and getting into the best college just does not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, the best way to work down an Ivy League prestige whore is to prestige whore back to them. Show them the Top 10 ranking of colleges on US News. Only half of the colleges in the Top 10 are in the Ivy League.

All 12 of the Ivy League schools are in the top 20. You are not working down Ivy League prestige this way.

No, only 8 of the Ivy League schools are in the top 20.

Exactly.

[Anonymous]

I can think of at least 10 schools off the top of my head that are better than half the Ivies. The Ivy League is overrated.