[Oistrakh]

Does anyone here go/went to an ivy league college? If so, how good do your grades have to be, what type of extracurriculars did you do, how good were your standiardized tests, etc. Does goes into an ivy league college versus going into an inferior college will impact your life and how much money you'll make and how respected you'll be?

 

[SennFan]

I have sat in on classes at Brown in RI. They have an academic system which is quite interesting. You can elect to either take courses w/ standard A-F grading or Pass/Fail. One alumni I spoke to chose to take his major courses in the standard manner and his electives in the pass/fail way. If you're someone who really wants to concentrate on obtaining the highest gpa in your major while not putting (as much) work into other core classes than a staggered system like this may be for you. Hope this helps...Brown also has a beautiful campus btw.

 

[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oistrakh Does goes into an ivy league college versus going into an inferior college will impact your life and how much money you'll make and how respected you'll be?

Just by the way, non-Ivy universities aren't automatically inferior.

Plenty of folks think graduating from an Ivy is a fast track to success. But honestly, if you're smart enough to get into, say, Harvard, you probably have a good start in the brain pan to go as far as your ambition drives you anyhow - and if you're an idiot but got in as a Legacy, heck, your mama and papa will probably hand hold you through life, so don't sweat it.

For the rest of us Joes, you can make quite a good living and be quite respected without an Ivy degree. In fact, at my old firm we had a few Harvard Law grads who were hired for the reputation of the school (looks good to have some Ivys in the firm) but were booted after failing the Bar.

After the dust settles, what really matters is who you know and what you know and what you do to increase the first two. Sure, coming from an Ivy helps out in many fields to open doors, but it's up to you to keep that door open. And don't assume everyone goes to an Ivy just to climb that corporate ladder either - my sister graduated from Brown undergrad and Columbia grad, but her undergrad was Art and grad was Film. And believe me, being an Ivy doesn't give you any leg up in the film community.

Therefore, if you love making robots, go to MIT. Don't go to Harvard just because your parents think you'll have a better future there. On the other hand, if you love working at the Taco Bell and want to go to Hamburger U to eventually make fry cook at the illustrious Burger King someday, I'd take that scholarship to Darthmouth instead

 

[JahJahBinks]

Later when you get out of college and enter the workforce, you have to realize that college will only get you this far, how fast you get promoted in the company and how much your salary increases each year will depend on how good a contributor you are to the company, not what college you graduated from. Of course coming out of a good college will likely to help you establish a higher starting point.

 

[jjcha]

mmm.

There definitely was something different about going to Harvard Law School. Don't get me wrong, I have no idea why I got accepted (I had actually already sent in my deposit for NYU Law when I got the HLS acceptance) but when you're going to school surrounded by seriously the best talent (and they were the best talent) learning from professors at the top of their field, you're in a place where everyone has the expectation of success. Of making an impact beyond the ordinary. And that changes your perspective on things, on what you ask of yourself, of what you consider to be achievement.

Don't get me wrong, I loved Georgetown for undergrad, and there's a reason why I chose NYU Stern for the MBA, but neither place, as smart as the kids are there and here, as good as the professors are, have that in the same way HLS did.

Oh, also, Harvard's richer than most countries. The resources there are unbelievable.

Best regards,

-Jason

 

[ojnihs]

Jahn hit it pretty much on the nose. It really doesn't matter what college you go to, and it's been imbedded into our heads that if you go to one of the eight IVY's that you're bound for success (especially if you got some pushy asian parents). I'm still in college and one of a few Head-Fi'ers who go to Northwestern University, which I'd put up there with the IVY's in terms of quality of education, rigor (maybe more than some of them, yikes!), and reputation.

I know a bunch of people who went to IVY League schools and actually don't have jobs right now. People think that once they go, because they are in such a top notch school, that they don't have to study and that things will come to them. I'm not saying that everyone is like that, but there are always those kids at any university that you go to. I know kids who graduated from community colleges who are extremely successful, they own businesses, are lawyers or doctors, or are successful investment bankers or consultants.

Sure, the college that you go to will definitely help you when it comes to recruiting for full-entry positions or internships, but that's not everything in life. I don't know if I can help you with what types of grades you need, standardized test scores, or activities. There's actually no magic formula to it, and a lot of it deals with luck, unless your parents can give a nice, hefty sum of money to your dream school.

It's getting harder and harder these days though to get into top notch schools. People are starting to understand that getting a really good education can be beneficial in their later years. I'm not even sure if I could get into Northwestern now with the competition these days. There's always record numbers of applicants, the standardized test score averages go up, and the kids seem smarter and more motivated than the rest of us. It's tough to say, but hang in there, everything will work out for the best. Just keep up the hard work.

EDIT - Hey jjcha, congratz on getting into NYU Law and HLS. NYU grad schools are amazing, I don't think you could go wrong with either one!

 

[grandenigma1]

In the end it really is about selling yourself. The greatest thing you can gain from a nice school is the connections and resources. Heck there was a time that all Ivy League ment was what division the football team was in

That said I really hope to go to NYU for my MBA... mainly becuase I live in NJ and will be working in the city with Pfizer

 

[JahJahBinks]

A lot start-ups in silicon valley were started by Stanford students. So if you know any of those people when both you and they were still in school and you can establish a good relationship, you are pretty much guaranteed a job after college and I bet the pay is very good too. Not sure what's the status quo of the market these days.

 

[Oistrakh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjcha mmm. There definitely was something different about going to Harvard Law School. Don't get me wrong, I have no idea why I got accepted (I had actually already sent in my deposit for NYU Law when I got the HLS acceptance) but when you're going to school surrounded by seriously the best talent (and they were the best talent) learning from professors at the top of their field, you're in a place where everyone has the expectation of success. Of making an impact beyond the ordinary. And that changes your perspective on things, on what you ask of yourself, of what you consider to be achievement. Don't get me wrong, I loved Georgetown for undergrad, and there's a reason why I chose NYU Stern for the MBA, but neither place, as smart as the kids are there and here, as good as the professors are, have that in the same way HLS did. Oh, also, Harvard's richer than most countries. The resources there are unbelievable. By the way, the reason why theres so much pressure is that my cousin is currently at Harvard University... His sister (my cousin) got accepted early into Harvard University as well (both are undergrad) and my other cousins are probably going to that so everyone expects me to get into good ivy league... (I hope) Best regards, -Jason

wow, you got into harvard law school? My art teacher went to georgetown...

My hope is either go to harvard/MIT/Brown/Yale... and go into medical school (I hope...) Theres so much pressure these days, and its really hard to get into medical school...

 

[nabwong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn Therefore, if you love making robots, go to MIT. Don't go to Harvard just because your parents think you'll have a better future there.

I think people who are seriously interested in electronics would consider MIT above Harvard. Both are great schools but they have different strengths. You should survey each faculty/school instead of the overall rep.

 

[nabwong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjcha Oh, also, Harvard's richer than most countries. The resources there are unbelievable.

Harvard owns half of cambridge and its endowment is 2nd to the vatican. That's crazy

 

[JahJahBinks]

Harvard is NOT an engineering school. They do have an engineering department but with limited resources and staff compare to others. Just to clarify that engineering is not science.

 

[Teerawit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oistrakh wow, you got into harvard law school? My art teacher went to georgetown... My hope is either go to harvard/MIT/Brown/Yale... and go into medical school (I hope...) Theres so much pressure these days, and its really hard to get into medical school...

For medical school the undergrad prestige doesn't really matter IMO. Medical schools care more about your GPA (more about this in a sec.), your MCAT, and your extracurriculars/passions/etc. If you can get a high GPA and a solid MCAT score, you'll be just as good as anyone else who came from Hahhhhvad undergrad. I forfeited acceptance to the Ivy League, went to my state school instead, and saved $160k for this reason. People from my school (Univ. of Georgia) get into Harvard, Johns Hopkins, UPenn, Yale, Columbia, Stanford, Cornell, etc. for med school all the time.

The general correlation is that you should get at least a 3.2 to go to lower-tier med schools, 3.5+ for mid-tier, and 3.7+ for upper-tier. Some schools are easier than others, but just to let you know, many Ivy League schools suffer from grade inflation (cough Harvard cough). State schools are actually harder. Of course there are schools like UCSF who like people from prestigious undergrads, but that's a dime a dozen.

 

[Illah]

I once heard that there was debate about peope who got MBAs. Was it the MBA that really drove their success, or was it something inside the people who are driven enough to go back to school and get an MBA?

Like the Harvard Law guy said, he was surrounded by bright talent. That environment is more important than the curriculum in some ways. It's not like their books are better than the books at a state school, or that the teachers at a state school are idiots. It's that environment of success that really pushes it to the next level. That's why they're so selective. Lots of people are 'smart' enough to handle Harvard, but not everyone is so driven.

With that said, you don't *have* to go to Harvard to be successful. Might be a different world in medicine, maybe academics are more important there, but in business you can be a state school undergrad with no advanced degrees and turn CEO if you're up to it.

Also you mention how there's, "so much pressure". Are you thinking of the Ivy leauge and then med school because you really want it, or because you're feeling the pressure to be 'successful', with 'success' being synonymous with 'wealth'? Don't forget to ask yourself what you really want in life before you just head down the traditional path to 'success'.

--Illah

 

[Teerawit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oistrakh Does anyone here go/went to an ivy league college? If so, how good do your grades have to be, what type of extracurriculars did you do, how good were your standiardized tests, etc. Does goes into an ivy league college versus going into an inferior college will impact your life and how much money you'll make and how respected you'll be?

Also for medical school admissions check out www.mdapplicants.com for applicant info.