Why top tier* is important:

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I don't buy the not having to prove how smart you are. I have met many idiots who went to top tier schools, and many brilliant people that didn't. I suspect most of us have similar experiences.

+1

When I was a new law grad, I watched my boss destroy a Harvard law grad in a county court in the middle of nowhere USA. She flew in for the hearing, thinking it was a slam dunk and people in flyover country are idiots. didn't have good facts. She didn't have good law. She didn't have home field advantage. Her client was an asshole. Afterwards, she was in the bathroom sobbing "But I went to HARVARD!"

BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I don't buy the not having to prove how smart you are. I have met many idiots who went to top tier schools, and many brilliant people that didn't. I suspect most of us have similar experiences.

+1

When I was a new law grad, I watched my boss destroy a Harvard law grad in a county court in the middle of nowhere USA. She flew in for the hearing, thinking it was a slam dunk and people in flyover country are idiots. didn't have good facts. She didn't have good law. She didn't have home field advantage. Her client was an asshole. Afterwards, she was in the bathroom sobbing "But I went to HARVARD!"

BS.

+1

[Anonymous]

So there are never any stupid people at Harvard? Find that hard to believe.
I know some really dumb people who managed to get degrees from Oxford.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We toured Duke and UVA back to back one weekend and it was like being on different planets. We toured Yale last summer and it was magical.

I hope you didn't collide with Screaming Yale Girl.

[Anonymous]

Yes, Yale certainly sounds like a magical place:
http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2008/04/17/for-senior-abortion-a-medium-for-art-political-discourse/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I don't buy the not having to prove how smart you are. I have met many idiots who went to top tier schools, and many brilliant people that didn't. I suspect most of us have similar experiences.

+1

When I was a new law grad, I watched my boss destroy a Harvard law grad in a county court in the middle of nowhere USA. She flew in for the hearing, thinking it was a slam dunk and people in flyover country are idiots. didn't have good facts. She didn't have good law. She didn't have home field advantage. Her client was an asshole. Afterwards, she was in the bathroom sobbing "But I went to HARVARD!"

BS.

A Harvard lawyer working shit law? As if.

[Anonymous]

It doesn't really matter much for undergrad but for certain professions it does. I wouldn't hire a doctor or lawyer from a no name school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

In a state Univ. (and probably some other privates) if you are getting a D in class, they won't let you drop out a couple of weeks before the semester (or quarter) ends. You just get stuck with a D, and they don't let you retake the class to get a better grade.

At another state U -- one of the "public Ivies" -- you can drop as late as you want. They've got your money by then; they don't care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So there are never any stupid people at Harvard? Find that hard to believe.
I know some really dumb people who managed to get degrees from Oxford.

Where did you read that?

[Anonymous]

OP if you believe yourself why are you out here prostheletyzing to the ignorant masses about why they should try to get their kids into elite schools? You should be telling everyone it's fine to go to state schools, lest they try to get into Harvard and decrease your little cupcake's chances of admission.

(If you don't have a kid applying to school what are you doing here? Trying to increase the value of your own Ivy League degree via snooty postings on anonymous discussion boards? Hmm.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I don't buy the not having to prove how smart you are. I have met many idiots who went to top tier schools, and many brilliant people that didn't. I suspect most of us have similar experiences.

+1

When I was a new law grad, I watched my boss destroy a Harvard law grad in a county court in the middle of nowhere USA. She flew in for the hearing, thinking it was a slam dunk and people in flyover country are idiots. didn't have good facts. She didn't have good law. She didn't have home field advantage. Her client was an asshole. Afterwards, she was in the bathroom sobbing "But I went to HARVARD!"

BS.

A Harvard lawyer working shit law? As if.

Harvard lawyer in flyover country...sure

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I graduated from Harvard.

1. I still have to prove how smart I am. Once you're in the door, no one cares where you went to school. In other words. you still have to prove yourself. You realize that, right?
2. I have no interest in EVER working in finance/big law/etc. and I sure hope my kids don't, either.
3. I don't know anyone who apologizes for they went to school. I work with people who went to schools across the board - Harvard to Florida State[u].
4.

That is quite a definition of "across the board"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For a URM kid, do you think a 'lesser' Ivy (Brown, Cornell or Dartmouth) is better than being special "scholar" at a another university?

In our expereince yes. Our URM DS turned down a big merit deal to attend one of these schools. He loves it. Its personal. A lot of interaction with faculty even as a freshman. It feels like a safe place for him to study and have fun.

[Anonymous]

Where you go is not who you'll be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where you go is not who you'll be.

Of course not. But that doesn't mean it can't give you a real leg up, at least professionally.