Are Ivy Leagues outdated and irrelevant these days?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Ivy League is an athletic conference that is very much relevant.

- in college athletics.

Not much else.

College Athletics are of little importance. The educational opportunities at these schools are outstanding.

True. But some people talk about this group of schools as aspirational golden tickets — when there’s nothing more special about Cornell or Dartmouth then, say MIT, Berkeley and Stanford. So, yes, the educational and social opportunities at these schools are outstanding. The schools are different from each other in significant ways. Other schools are certainly outstanding as well. It’s silly to obsess over the Ivy League brand — if what’s really meant is something more like: excellent schools whose students tend to have excellent outcomes. NP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's mostly older people who are obsessing about the Ivy brand. There are plenty of other schools that are equal or superior to the Ivy League - Stanford, MIT, Rice, Duke, Chicago, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, CalTech, Johns Hopkins, Williams, Pomona. None of those students are lacking in opportunities because they chose something different than an Ivy League school.

Some of these schools are equal to the Ivy League, while others are inferior. None are superior. And many of the students admitted to these schools did not in fact have a choice to attend an Ivy League school.

Just outlandishly wrong. You do know brown, Cornell and Dartmouth are still in the Ivy League right? All of those schools have students who also got into some mix of those three and some people will even choose those schools over HYP. There’s really no reason to box yourself so hard into the ivy or nothing box in 2025.

The earlier post is still correct. You are the one digging yourself into a hole, so don't give others advise on boxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With maga taking down ivies, this might become true in a few years. Sad.

The Ivies are falling out of favor because people finally discovered the 30% legacy admissions, the sports recruiting, and figured out the academic accomplishments are highly inflated at the Ivies.

They are exclusive rich-kids clubs which are not really much better than many of the best alternatives.

And at least two of them (Columbia and Harvard) are openly anti-semitic. Columbia may be losing its accredication on that basis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With maga taking down ivies, this might become true in a few years. Sad.

The Ivies are falling out of favor because people finally discovered the 30% legacy admissions, the sports recruiting, and figured out the academic accomplishments are highly inflated at the Ivies.

They are exclusive rich-kids clubs which are not really much better than many of the best alternatives.

And at least two of them (Columbia and Harvard) are openly anti-semitic. Columbia may be losing its accredication on that basis.

It's a tired MAGA talking point to claim that institutions that are full of Jewish students, faculty, administrators, and alumni (and in Columbia's case controlled by a largely Jewish Board of Trustees) are anti-Semitic. And no one believes Trump can dictate whether a school remains accredited. The accreditation bodies are outside the control of his tiny little hands.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No matter how many threads are posted on this topic, unfortunately your sheer will can’t make them irrelevant. The obsession on her just shows how powerful they were and continue to be.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No matter how many threads are posted on this topic, unfortunately your sheer will can’t make them irrelevant. The obsession on her just shows how powerful they were and continue to be.

+1

This!!!

[Anonymous]

Anyone who says "Ivies are anti-semitic" is a brainwashed loser who can only repeat what Fox News tells them to think.

Are these places perfect? No. Have there been some bad moments, many directed towards Jews? Yes. Are the vast majority of Jews at these schools very happy? Yes.

Do any of the people who suddenly are so alarmed by this actually care about Jews? No. They are just caring about what Trump and Fox tell them to care about. Mind your own darn business.

Signed,

An Ivy League Jew

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With maga taking down ivies, this might become true in a few years. Sad.

The Ivies are falling out of favor because people finally discovered the 30% legacy admissions, the sports recruiting, and figured out the academic accomplishments are highly inflated at the Ivies.

+1

Yeah, it's also not like the old days when fewer students attended college and high-achieving students were concentrated in a few prestigious institutions. Nowadays, most high school seniors pursue higher education, and talented students are distributed across many universities throughout the country.

This answer doesn’t come close to describing the “old days” at all.

In the old days, 90% of all students went to college like 30 miles of where they lived…even boarding school kids were fairly local to Boston and Mass.

My grandfather went to Harvard because he was smart and lived 5 miles away. If he lived in the middle of Iowa, he would have attended some college within around 30 miles.

Harvard was more like 75% only because there was a large group from NYC even “back in the day”.

DP: Was 2020 the "old days"? Because the median distance to college in 2020 was 17 miles, with 69% of college students traveling no more than 50 miles. https://ticas.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/HIllman-Geography-of-Opportunity-Brief-2_2023.pdf

Most students still attend colleges close to home.

That’s the point…imagine what it was in the 1950s or 1980s or whatever the “old days” are.

Many people like to reference a time in the past where only the most deserving attended the best schools and somehow kids from the middle of South Dakota found their way to Harvard.

Problem is that time has never existed.

+100. I’d love to know when the meritocracy was ever at the Ivies. At least now they’ve expanded their financial aid policies and try to recruit FGLI through organizations like QuestBridge and Posse. But “the good old days” were for the wealthy white males. Columbia became co-ed in 1983.

So, the idea that 'prestige' reflects intelligence was flawed from the very beginning?

And Barnard was right across the street with access to Columbia before 1983.

The Ivies have long schooled a disproportionate share of the best and the brightest. Not all, but more than a typical university, public or private.

Not really. They schooled the wealthiest. Same with many colleges in that time frame as college was relegated to the wealthy. Now that colleges are more open it seems the “elite” schools lose their prestige. In reality, all college is great for anyone. Except for for-profits. Also, it’s hard to say that Ivies are the only ones who produced top talent when LACs, the Seven Sisters, and HBCUs gave many historical, political, and societal members of society. Because, again, the Ivies were only for wealthy white males.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s the era of the tech/STEm schools. They’re the ones changing the world these days. IMO, the most important schools the last 100 years are:

Berkeley
Stanford
MIT
CMU
Georgia Tech

In that order.

No…They are only outdated and irrelevant to the parents of kids who cant get in….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's mostly older people who are obsessing about the Ivy brand. There are plenty of other schools that are equal or superior to the Ivy League - Stanford, MIT, Rice, Duke, Chicago, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, CalTech, Johns Hopkins, Williams, Pomona. None of those students are lacking in opportunities because they chose something different than an Ivy League school.

Rice, Pomona sneak.

[Anonymous]

Nothing wrong or outdated with Ivies in particular. Many other colleges offer great things (and are facing some of the same challenges). What’s wrong is parents who think that the Ivies are the only path or best ticket to anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Like civilizations, institutions rise and fall. Some Ivy League schools such as Harvard, Penn and Columbia are decking at varying rates, some like Princeton, Cornell and Dartmouth continue to excel and others such as Brown and Yale are just barely hanging on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ivies are and will remain powerful because they attract the best people, not because of their courses or professors. Harvard will become more important, not less, because of its persecution by Trump. A year ago, no one would use the word "sympathetic" to describe Harvard--and yet now they have that, too. People can rage all they want about these institutions, but every parent and child will always maximize future utility, power, and wealth, and these places are the surest way to achieve that.

No, they are increasingly seen as attracting the most pampered, spoiled, soulless social-climbers among us.

Who can forget the protester at Columbia who thought the people who took over an administration building still deserved to have their dining hall meals delivered to them?

The Ivies are only special if people respect them. Columbia is OVER. That is the first domino to fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With maga taking down ivies, this might become true in a few years. Sad.

The Ivies are falling out of favor because people finally discovered the 30% legacy admissions, the sports recruiting, and figured out the academic accomplishments are highly inflated at the Ivies.

Not specific to Ivies. Caltech is the only selective school I know with no sports recruiting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who says "Ivies are anti-semitic" is a brainwashed loser who can only repeat what Fox News tells them to think.

Are these places perfect? No. Have there been some bad moments, many directed towards Jews? Yes. Are the vast majority of Jews at these schools very happy? Yes.

Do any of the people who suddenly are so alarmed by this actually care about Jews? No. They are just caring about what Trump and Fox tell them to care about. Mind your own darn business.

Signed,

An Ivy League Jew

+1
Thank you!