At this point in the year, high school juniors are starting to decide on what college is their best fit. After experiencing the gruel of ACT and SAT standardized tests (with some students having to go through numerous rounds of these college entrance exams), constantly calculating and re-calculating what GPA they need at a minimum, and signing up for various college newsletters, many juniors finally have an idea of what they would like to study and what school they would like to attend.
For starters, having an Ivy League on your resume may add a flare to your name; however, after having a few jobs straight out of college, employers will stop caring about your post-secondary education, and they will begin to closely examine your work experience. In the end, that $40,000 your parents spent on your Princeton education will likely become the least of your employer’s hiring concerns.
Attending an Ivy also doesn’t automatically mean that you’ll be making more than the next guy working in your cubicle farm. In his article, “Who Needs Harvard?” Gregg Easterbook proves the following: “It turned out that such students (those who went to regular universities) had, on average, the same income twenty years later as graduates of the elite college.” Within a couple of year of graduation, students in the same field begin to earn equivalent paychecks, thus making the school they attended an irrelevant matter. This is because the graduates all received an identical education required to accomplish their jobs.
If you think the perks of attending an Ivy League mean an automatic increase in income, then think again. By receiving the same annual salary as other graduates, attending an elite school becomes almost useless, not to mention that you also way over-pay for tuition. If there is one thing that an elite school can guarantee you, it’s that you’ll be spending a ridiculous sum on housing, textbooks, and education itself. 2013 statistics from “Univstats” show the cost of attending four elite schools: Cornell, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. At $38,891, Harvard’s tuition stood at the bottom of the latter, while Cornell’s sticker-price was a hefty $45,130. Although a possibility exists that these prices have changed in the past five years, it nonetheless is clear that the tuition for these Ivy’s is absurdly high. What’s more absurd is to think that a student would spend so much money on an elite school when instead that student could attend a non-elite school for half the price, and receive an equivalent education. Attending an Ivy League does not guarantee a better education compared to other peers in the same field, and won’t even guarantee you a higher salary. You’ll just have more loans to pay off in the future.
A second point that I would like to bring up is that attending an Ivy League will most likely change your societal status, and not always positively. It may seem impressive to an employer when seeing an Ivy League on a resume, but there is a possibility that it won’t seem as impressive to friends and family once you’ve graduated. People are used to boasting about where they attend college, sometimes doing so long after graduating. Having a diploma from Harvard or Yale hanging on your wall can completely change peoples’ perception of you, and this view can sometimes be negative, especially when you use an Ivy League school as a beacon that defines you as a person. The purpose of college is to get an education in your field of study, not to use that school as a mask for your true personality. Alain de Botton, author of ‘Status Anxiety’ and also born into a wealthy and well-educated family, wrote in his book on page 75, “By the time we have finished our education, we are forced to take our place in a world dominated by a new kind of person, as different from mother as it is possible to be and whose behavior lies at the heart of our status anxieties: the snob.” De Botton’s words emphasize the fact that coming from a place esteemed for its high education (such as an elite school), can potentially cause people to view you as a snob, which can subsequently lead to status anxiety.
The subject of a person’s higher education may prompt that person to constantly compare him or herself with others, a perfect precursor to serious stress-related issues. Additionally, just because you consider yourself to by a VIP for graduating from Harvard doesn’t mean that you’ll be given an invite to any job you desire. Just because you have a degree from Yale doesn’t automatically mean that your parents will favor you, or that you’ll be able to attend any event that you want. In the real world, your education won't make you seem better compared to others. In fact, your education can prompt you to alter your status compared to others, a risk that may be worth taking for some people, which is a matter that emerges from attending an Ivy League.
Additionally, when being compared to other Ivy League students, your status may be looked down upon if you're not on the same level as them. Zachary Schwartz, author of ‘Going to an Ivy League Sucks’ for VICE Magazine (and also graduate from Columbia University), stated, “If you graduate from an Ivy and don't have a lucrative job waiting for you, it's shameful. So many students disregard passion, disregard their own interest and hobbies—things you can't list on a résumé—and get ground up and spat out with a suit, a smile, and a hollow inside.” Schwartz articulates the fact that other students will also change their outlook of you if you're not on the exact same path as them. Students who attend an Ivy League often expect a job offer to wait at their feet, immediately claim it, and then shift from a being a human to just another 9-to-5 office drone who requires health insurance.
This often becomes the norm for Ivy League students. By straying from this path, other students will believe that you are not good enough because you have a passion and a soul. If you’re not right behind every single Ivy League graduate hitting the same road, then brace yourself because you will be frowned upon and still considered a snob to others for having an Ivy League diploma as being your only source of accomplishment. You’ll just go from a human being to another statistic for that school you graduated from.
Overall, in my opinion, attending an Ivy League school is not worth the factors that come from it for any student. While it may be exciting to talk about for a while, it will not make your education any better compared to a regular university, and it will completely change the way people see you. If you want to live a happy and fulfilling life, do what your heart says, and don't become a snob.
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