Does it seem like all anti-elite college folks never actually attended an elite?

[Anonymous]

Had some family yesterday calling Ivies overrated, it doesn't matter where you go to undergrad, going overboard about how fantastic their children's state school or unranked private college is. I've never encountered anyone with a credential from an elite who talks like that.

[Anonymous]

???? Maybe you just haven't met that person yet???

[Anonymous]

I went to MIT.

I think it is overrated and does an atrocious job of teaching students how to think.

[Anonymous]

DCs went to private school. Want public universities. That's who they are. Not my choice.

[Anonymous]

I didn't go to an Ivy. I went to state school, and BU for law school. I'm a partner in a law firm. The partner in the office next to me went to Harvard and Duke. Yet we both wound up at the same place at the same age. Tell me again about how it matters?

[Anonymous]

I have never known a person who attended an elite college who was anti-elite either. I didn't go to an elite college but I would like my kids to go if they can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't go to an Ivy. I went to state school, and BU for law school. I'm a partner in a law firm. The partner in the office next to me went to Harvard and Duke. Yet we both wound up at the same place at the same age. Tell me again about how it matters?

Is outcome the only thing you base your opinion on? My nanny went to Notre Dame and I went to a state school. Her chosen profession doesn't take away her accomplishment of getting into a top 20 college and graduating. Nanny is not only smart but secure enough to "follow her bliss". DH is is crazy successful and never finished college - Nanny impresses the hell out of him, too.

[Anonymous]

Well, isn't that kind of the point? I graduated from a regular old state school (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and I have an immensely fulfilling career, family life, and social life. I'm not sure what I would have gained by attending an Ivy League school. That's why it constantly perplexes me when people act like Ivies are the only path to success.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, isn't that kind of the point? I graduated from a regular old state school (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and I have an immensely fulfilling career, family life, and social life. I'm not sure what I would have gained by attending an Ivy League school. That's why it constantly perplexes me when people act like Ivies are the only path to success.

First - Madison is a fun school! But second, the kids deserve credit for getting into an elite school like Harvard. Don't take that away from them. And outcome doesn't matter. Ivies are not the only path to success and neither is college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't go to an Ivy. I went to state school, and BU for law school. I'm a partner in a law firm. The partner in the office next to me went to Harvard and Duke. Yet we both wound up at the same place at the same age. Tell me again about how it matters?

Is outcome the only thing you base your opinion on? My nanny went to Notre Dame and I went to a state school. Her chosen profession doesn't take away her accomplishment of getting into a top 20 college and graduating. Nanny is not only smart but secure enough to "follow her bliss". DH is is crazy successful and never finished college - Nanny impresses the hell out of him, too.

Well, kind of. If you are well into your professional career and still consider GETTING INTO a certain school as a 17/18 year old some huge accomplishment, then that doesn't speak too highly of you, IMO.

This is a story that aligns perfectly with the whole "it's not your degree, it's what you DO with your degree."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have never known a person who attended an elite college who was anti-elite either. I didn't go to an elite college but I would like my kids to go if they can.

Is it the Dunning Kruger effect where people don't have any idea or concept of what they're talking about, yet talk freely about it anyways?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

I went to a good public college and then transferred into an elite and was blown away. It wasn't possible to imagine what it was like without real exposure. Yet people that didn't attend, no kids attending, not even a sibling or spouse who attended will go on and on about how overrated prestigious colleges are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't go to an Ivy. I went to state school, and BU for law school. I'm a partner in a law firm. The partner in the office next to me went to Harvard and Duke. Yet we both wound up at the same place at the same age. Tell me again about how it matters?

Sort of depends on your firm's Vault rank. You could be an overachieving outlier and your lettered colleague could be a slacker from his Duke law class. And aside from that, it's 2017, not the 1980s. A lot has changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't go to an Ivy. I went to state school, and BU for law school. I'm a partner in a law firm. The partner in the office next to me went to Harvard and Duke. Yet we both wound up at the same place at the same age. Tell me again about how it matters?

Is outcome the only thing you base your opinion on? My nanny went to Notre Dame and I went to a state school. Her chosen profession doesn't take away her accomplishment of getting into a top 20 college and graduating. Nanny is not only smart but secure enough to "follow her bliss". DH is is crazy successful and never finished college - Nanny impresses the hell out of him, too.

Well, kind of. If you are well into your professional career and still consider GETTING INTO a certain school as a 17/18 year old some huge accomplishment, then that doesn't speak too highly of you, IMO.

This is a story that aligns perfectly with the whole "it's not your degree, it's what you DO with your degree."

You don't have to do anything with your degree. It is an education. It will benefit you if you do nothing.

You don't get that much stupider as you age. Someone who got into University of Notre Dame is still very bright.


Lots of bitter people on this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't go to an Ivy. I went to state school, and BU for law school. I'm a partner in a law firm. The partner in the office next to me went to Harvard and Duke. Yet we both wound up at the same place at the same age. Tell me again about how it matters?

Is outcome the only thing you base your opinion on? My nanny went to Notre Dame and I went to a state school. Her chosen profession doesn't take away her accomplishment of getting into a top 20 college and graduating. Nanny is not only smart but secure enough to "follow her bliss". DH is is crazy successful and never finished college - Nanny impresses the hell out of him, too.

Well, kind of. If you are well into your professional career and still consider GETTING INTO a certain school as a 17/18 year old some huge accomplishment, then that doesn't speak too highly of you, IMO.

This is a story that aligns perfectly with the whole "it's not your degree, it's what you DO with your degree."

You don't have to do anything with your degree. It is an education. It will benefit you if you do nothing.

You don't get that much stupider as you age. Someone who got into University of Notre Dame is still very bright.


Lots of bitter people on this thread.

Check your privilege.

[Anonymous]

Your undergraduate degree *doesn't* matter.