Did going to an Ivy League college make a huge difference to your status/life?
09-14-2011, 02:36 AM
Sorry... The most important thing you get out of going to the best college you can get into is - surrounding yourself with people better than yourself.
What is very subtle is that when you hang around a group of friends for a long time is that everyone's personalities tend to shift a bit to the average of the group. You pick up their habits (good/bad), their goals, and their culture. If done properly this can accelerate any learning curve. Imagine hanging around with a group of players, geniuses, what have you. The learning curve bends tremendously.
This is a huge selling point of elite colleges.
However, if you think in terms of percentages of exceptional people, a large state school might have 5% whereas an elite school that number might move up to 30%+.
To find that 5% you'll have to do a lot of searching at a large state school but there is comfort that a critical amount of those kids do exist just due to the sheer size of some state schools. Whereas in an elite college, you don't have to spend that much time searching.
But the trick is to take advantage of the opportunity afforded to you. I know so many instances of kids paying $200k, not doing anything exceptional, and coming out the same as the local state school kids.
What is very subtle is that when you hang around a group of friends for a long time is that everyone's personalities tend to shift a bit to the average of the group. You pick up their habits (good/bad), their goals, and their culture. If done properly this can accelerate any learning curve. Imagine hanging around with a group of players, geniuses, what have you. The learning curve bends tremendously.
This is a huge selling point of elite colleges.
However, if you think in terms of percentages of exceptional people, a large state school might have 5% whereas an elite school that number might move up to 30%+.
To find that 5% you'll have to do a lot of searching at a large state school but there is comfort that a critical amount of those kids do exist just due to the sheer size of some state schools. Whereas in an elite college, you don't have to spend that much time searching.
But the trick is to take advantage of the opportunity afforded to you. I know so many instances of kids paying $200k, not doing anything exceptional, and coming out the same as the local state school kids.