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As far as engineering goes (my area of specialty), Cornell is the only school in the Ivy League with a good program. Some of them don't even offer engineering. Even then, large state schools such as Illinois, Purdue, UC-Berkeley, and Texas have far better engineering programs, and other smaller non-ivy tech schools like MIT, Carnige-Mellon, and Caltech also have excellent engineering programs.
I think there is a large amount of prestige in attending an Ivy League school, and with the sheer amount of resources that all of them have, you'd get a top-notch education. I also think its very possible to get a top-notch undergraduate education at a much lower-ranked state school if you are willing to work hard. As said by one of the previous posters, the real difference is at the graduate level. This not being just Ivy League vs. all other schools, but top-notch schools for a particular specialty vs. weaker schools. In terms of courses offered and the caliber of research going on, its always better to attend a better college for graduate school.
As a graduate student at Harvard, I can say that it's not just about the classroom education. The most useful education that I have received has been in the dining halls, by the Charles, and in study groups.
In many instances, ones worldview changes after studying at an Ivy.
As a graduate student at Harvard, I can say that it's not just about the classroom education. The most useful education that I have received has been in the dining halls, by the Charles, and in study groups.
In many instances, ones worldview changes after studying at an Ivy.
I wouldn't say that a changed world view is exclusive to attending an Ive League college. My undergrad degree changed my world view considerably, and my graduate studies so far have changed my world view even more. I think as long as you go to a school out of your "comfort zone", where you will be away from home and exposed to people who don't think and act like you do, it will happen.
An Ivy League diploma can open a lot of doors for you (and yes, I know that there are people on here who work in the HR department who do not favor a Harvard degree, but in the real world, there are many, many others that do whether you like it or not).
The funny thing is that when people think of Ivy League they think of Yale, Princeton and Harvard, which appears to be common knowledge, however, most people do not seem to realize that Cornell, Columbia, Brown, UPenn and Dartmouth are the other Ivies, let alone where they are located.
My daughter is in her second year at an Ivy League school. She is going there for less than she could attend a 'lesser' school. The financial aid has greatly improved in just the past year and, since she is very bright and we are not wealthy, she got a great package. She is exposed to so much more than she would be at any other school...ie, Obama and McCain were just there, the Dalai Lama spoke there last year, etc. That won't be happening at our state university.
As a graduate student at Harvard, I can say that it's not just about the classroom education.
Although I didn't attend an Ivy League for graduate school, rather one of the best school for what I studied I would agree with this. I did my undergrad at an UC and the environment was just different in many ways. I suppose, at least for me, one noticeable factor was that I grew up in a very typical middle-class family and never had much interaction with people from other social classes. When you attend these sorts of schools you get to interact with not only people from a variety of socio-economic backgrounds but also different cultural backgrounds.
My daughter is in her second year at an Ivy League school. She is going there for less than she could attend a 'lesser' school. The financial aid has greatly improved in just the past year and, since she is very bright and we are not wealthy, she got a great package. She is exposed to so much more than she would be at any other school...ie, Obama and McCain were just there, the Dalai Lama spoke there last year, etc. That won't be happening at our state university.
It's all about connections. I have 2 cousins that both went to Ivy League type schools and were able to get good internships and jobs after school.
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