Thread: Ivy vs Non Ivy
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Old 03-28-2008, 03:07 AM   #2 (permalink)
CalmLogic
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I'm glad someone has brought up this topic.

Quote:
Originally Posted by arxo clay
1) What is the basic difference between an ivy college and a non-ivy college
In a word: prestige. But this is far more the case with undergraduate than with graduate school. For computer science, for example, a non-Ivey like CMU has more prestige than Princeton, Cornell, or Harvard for employers like Google or Microsoft.

Quote:
Originally Posted by arxo clay
2) Are the fees drastically different for the two.
I would think so. One exception is that Cornell has gone down in price recently:
http://www.urch.com/forums/phd-econo...tion-plan.html (The Dean Power Partial Scholarship: Cornell Tuition Reduction Plan)

(Another exception is that Harvard's Extension School is actually cheaper than many state schools for out-of-state students. However, the Harvard Extension School doesn't have the prestige of the other Harvard colleges.)

Quote:
Originally Posted by arxo clay
3) Is an ivy better or a college(non-ivy) that has a higher dept rank
Good question. For academic jobs, the department rank is definitely most important. For industry, even location can be an issue. For example, Intel hires more people from ASU than any other college, including top-ranked departments like UIUC and UT-Austin and the Iveys like Cornell or Duke:

Jobs at Intel - United States, Student Center, Campus Page

Of course, for small employers that don't engage in college recruiting and don't know anything about USNews department rankings, Ivey schools may seem the best.

In any case, I think the Iveys are overrated as far as the amount of learning that is supposed to go on and the salaries that are earned later in life. For example:

Quote:
Going to an academically elite college does not necessarily boost your earnings potential, according to a study by Alan Krueger, Thoman and Bendheim Professor in Economics and Public Affairs.

Princeton - PWB 022800 - Economist estimates payoff of elite colleges
Quote:
The author refers to a study by Stacy Dale, who found no difference in earnings between those students who had gone to Ivy league schools and those who had been accepted at those schools but had chosen to go elsewhere. She even found some indications that students who had applied and been rejected by the very selective colleges were doing just as well twenty years later as those who had gotten in.... It is not the selectivity of the school that one attends, but the character, talent, intelligence, and drive of the student that really matters. The Ivies do not distinguish themselves by "what" they teach, but by "who" they teach.

Amazon.com: Harvard Schmarvard: Getting Beyond the Ivy League to the College That is Best for You: Jay Mathews: Books

Last edited by CalmLogic : 03-28-2008 at 03:50 AM.
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