Ivy League - what is it all about?

[klop]

Originally Posted by no one knows

The whole liberal - leftist distinction is particularly muddy because a 'liberal' in basically everywhere but the US is someone who advocates limited government and laissez-faire economic policy which, in the US, is considered 'conservative'.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal

Also, a school's general reputation for being leftist maybe inconsistent with a particular department, or person in that school. For example a prof of mine once mentioned that there was a visiting econ professor from Berkeley who was far to the right of everyone else in my prof's department.

In the United States, outside of certain academic circles, "liberal" generally means socialist when it comes to the government and the economy. However, outside of economic context, American liberalism still coincides with the original notion of liberalism. As Milton Friedman suggests, what really happened is that the people who were advocating socialist-leaning ideologies in the 60s had to rebrand themselves using a new name following the times of McCarty era witch hunts. Those who are known as liberals elsewhere are known as libertarians in the United States.

[Freethinker]

Just my two cents, but according to the Libertarian Party in my country (of which I'm not a member) there are two kinds of freedom: personal and economic. Apparently libertarians advocate both kinds of freedom. Liberals in the U.S. seem to advocate personal liberties but not economic liberties, while conservatives seem the other way around. I know it's a propagandistic simplification, but for me it made the whole thing much clearer.

Now, the majority of people in my country consider the libertarians a far-right party, as proponents of a vision of small government, low taxes, low requirements for private enterprise, etc. Also, they are very pro-homosexual rights, pro-gambling... every personal liberty you can imagine.

Hard to classify in the U.S. conservative/liberal sense, eh?

[asphalt]

I don't think they're just a sports conference.

Ivy Leagues are the place to get the best scholarships, the best funding and the best rowing instructions.

Harvard is the richest university in the world. I think that says enough.

[maths_bonn]

Originally Posted by no one knows

Like that!





Alright now I will be more helpful! Go to the post of whomever you want to quote and click the 'quote' button on the bottom and it will do it for you

Thanks no one knows

[Ivo]

I wonder more whether graduates who go to Ivies (or private colleges) receive more help and attention from the school? Are public schools really places where you need to know how to swim or you drown?

btw. I agree with you Asphalt: Harvard is rich and that has got many important implications.

[maths_bonn]

Originally Posted by Ivo

I wonder more whether graduates who go to Ivies (or private colleges) receive more help and attention from the school? Are public schools really places where you need to know how to swim or you drown?

btw. I agree with you Asphalt: Harvard is rich and that has got many important implications.

Hi!

Though I never participated in an student exchange programme (due to the fact that I'm in my second year), I've been to the exchange office and I've read an experience report from an econ student who went to Berkeley for one year and he never mentioned that the school wasn't paying attention to him. The opposite is true, in the report he stated that they helped him with allthe bureaucracy stuff u have to do (whatever he meant with this). So it seems that u don't have to worry about such things, but this is a commentary from a german student (and if u only get some help with formalities then this is luxury for a german student)

[Ivo]

actually I think that the administrative issues are less of concern here - actually of no concern at all. What I had in mind were the questions about about the quality of supervison of one's research, the help a student receives when writing disertation and last but not least the support from school to find a good placement after graduation. These are the issues that interest me most. And it appears that private schools are more active in this aspect (Ivies belong to this group). Or could anyone tell me how these things are done at Berkeley, Michigan, UNC etc?

[dyoh]

If you want name recognition from a school then look at a few rankings, don't simply rely on your own beliefs about so-and-so school is great. Schools are often only well recognized in regions and will do little for you elsewhere. More often than not the truly remarkable schools like Harvard, Berkeley, University of Texas, MIT, Yale, UCLA and Oxford (in no particular order) will have reputations outside of their regions.

You should consider the size of your program and the funding behind it since it'll impact its prestige (and in some ways your career) regardless of it being private or public. I have to admit it's tempting to attend an overall better school’s lesser known program than an unknown school’s better known program. I'm guilty of it myself, but I believe it’s the right decision.

I've attended both top ranked public and private universities and they're actually very similar. I used to believe the stereotype that the Ivies were full of snobby rich kids, but I haven't seen that. At the end of the day, Harvard is what it is, like the other top schools, Ivy or not.