Is Ivy League really worth it?

Answered

The value or worth of any education really depends on the applicants intent and whether a particular schools meets or exceed that goal and prepares them up for the professional path they desire. So, if you goal is to be a specific thing like Nurse, Dentist, Computer Programmers, Chef, Fashion Design, Filmmaker, Dancer, Actor, then your intent is to get the best possible education to learn your craft and have the professional skill set to be those things. While it's certainly possible to major in those areas at an Ivy League institution, most people will curate a college list based on which schools are the best in each vocation. For example, if you want to be a musician, your top choices might be Julliard, Peabody (JHU) or Berklee. For film making, you might pick NYU, USC, and UCLA.

For the average or very competitive student, the Ivy League might not even be a consideration because the bar is too high for admission and they certainly can major in the same things at other State or Private colleges. The beautiful thing about America is that there are over 4300 4 year degree colleges and at many of them you can study core majors like Accounting, Finance, CS, Math, English, Chemistry, Biology, and Engineering. If you want to have the requisite undergraduate degree credentials, you can get them practically in every State and every large city in America. And you can go on with your life an live out your professional career. So the bottom line is there are literally hundreds of colleges in America where you can get an Ivy quality education that will prepare you well for your future.

Similarly for many people the car or truck you drive, the zip code you reside in, the food you eat and clothes you wear, are purchased out of necessity and utility and do not define who you are. Many people are happy to have the basics and have no innate desire to want something that is not necessary.

America has always had 3 distinct classes of people, the working poor, the middle and upper middle class, and the elite wealth. Harvard is now 386 old and still the bastion of American academic elitism. The youngest Ivy is Cornell at 157 years. Wealthy, predominantly White families have been sending their kids to the Ivy League since they started and that's never going to change. Let me back up, the same families have been sending their sons and daughter to private Elite boarding schools like Phillips Andover for 244 year and these are undoubtedly the best feeder schools into the Ivy League. And that's not going to change.

The middle and upper middle class have always had aspirations to send their kids to better schools and for better or worse, they only chances they've had was to live in a good zip code with the best schools or scrape enough money together to send their kids to private schools like Catholic parochial ones.

Poor kids have always had the short end of the stick. 386 years ago, a formal education was a pipe dream and only in the last 100 years or so have their been equal opportunities for kids of all marginalized and low income backgrounds to attend public schools, get a compulsory education be fed a half decent meal during the day.

The big difference in 2022 regarding Ivy League schools is that they are no longer just colleges for rich White people. These days when you walk on any of the 8 campuses you see a wide range of students from different economic classes, racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds, a rainbow 🌈 of orientations and accommodations for disabled and impaired learners. So what changed?

As easy is it to criticize and make generalizations that Ivys still for elitists and serve conservative millionaires, I think they are doing more to enact DEIA policies across the board and give a hand up to low income and first gen applicants, even more so that well known large Public and Private Universities.

These days up to 50% or more (68% @ Princeton) identify as person of color, 15% or more (22% at Princeton) are First Generation college students and more than 60% (83% at Princeton) graduate Debt free. ZERO NADA.

These recent policies flatten the admissions playing field. It's still not flat because ALDCS still have a edge over everyone else, but at least it's getting flatter each and every year.

The bottom line is that Ivy League schools for many applicants are the very best choice because they can not only get an excellent education but get a generous two scoops of financial aid which allows them to focus on school and not holding down 2 part time jobs. And for middle and upper middle class students, financial aid is still available even if their family income approaches or exceeds $250,000. So going to Yale might be less expensive that going to UVA, UMich or UCLA even for families that live in million dollar houses and drive Teslas. The wealthy are not burdened by the $85000 annual costs which do not include Winter ski vactions and Spring break trips to the Caribbean. What stresses them out is that there are 55000+ millionaires in the world and there are only 15000 spaces each year in the Ivy league. As more and more seats are given out to low income, first gen, Black, LatinX, non-CIS, marginalized applicants + the ongoing competition from ALDCs, many of them have to forgo their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, through 8th choice Ivys and settle for lesser Elite colleges or Liberal Arts colleges. 50,000 millionaire (including billionaire) families are not going to get their kids into the Ivy league however they are still super well prepared, have top test scores and ECs. So that is the reason why all the Top40 schools have had record applications and lower admit rates. The same kids that would have been Ivy bound just a generation ago, are reluctantly settling for USC, Wake Forest, Univ. of Richmond, Colgate, Bates, Vassar, and WashU.

There a tremendous crowding effect going on right now. Top Ivys/Elites hover around a 5%-7% admit rate and Top Liberal arts colleges are in the 8-10% range. Even lackluster Tulane is sub 10% at 9.6%. It's getting ridiculous when 9 out 10 people are going to get rejected from a state college like UCLA.

In conclusion, if you do not have a good reason to apply to an Ivy, whether it's because they have the best undergraduate business program or best financial aid, there are hundreds of excellent colleges that will serve your needs just as well.