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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]An Ivy League degree will open doors right after college/grad school for that first job.  After 5 years or so in a career, the value of the degree approaches meaningless.[/quote]

There are plenty of Ivy grads who have mediocre careers and most successful people did not go to Ivies, but the value of where you went to school makes a difference in many, many career paths. One-third of Ivy grads go on to become academics. And the selectivity of the undergraduate school makes a huge difference in the quality of the grad program and the hiring opportunities. The fact that your mentor is a leading scholar in the field is much greater at an Ivy than at a regional college. In DC, networks and connections make the world of difference.  A surprisingly large proportion of the people I deal with on K St, the Hill, and especially the Administration went to my college or grad school around the same time I did.  And it adds a personal dimension that is deeper and more accessible than relationships that don't stretch back to such a memorable time in our lives. This is especially true in law, where the big firms draw so disproportionately from just a few schools. It isn't an accident that all the Supremes went to Ivies, except for Stevens who went to Northwestern and Chicago.

Plus, the first 5 years out of school are enormously important to a careers. For lawyers, that time will determine if you make partner. For entrepreneurs, the typical tech start up CEO is less than 7 years out. After you run out of friends and family, you work your classmates for funding and I'm pretty sure that the Ivies offer a much better investor network than other schools. In the philanthropy/nonprofit world, you will find almost no non-Ivy grads at the big foundations or think tanks.

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