Should you go to an Ivy League school? Absolutely! An Ivy League diploma is still considered the best in American higher education. But saying that places like Harvard and Yale are superior just because of their teaching is too simple. Whether you study Psychology 101 at Michigan or Columbia, you’ll learn the basics. What sets Ivy League schools apart are the amazing professors you can learn from and the extra help they offer. These are just a couple of reasons why these eight schools stand out.

5 Benefits of Attending an Ivy League School

While there are many good things about going to one of the eight Ivy League colleges, here are five important advantages:

1. Getting a degree from an Ivy League college can help you get your first job. When employers see your resume among many others with no work experience, having attended an Ivy League school can make you stand out.

2. People who graduate from Ivy League colleges usually earn more money at the beginning and middle of their careers compared to those who didn’t attend these schools.

3. Every student who gets into an Ivy League school is chosen very carefully. They all have something special that got them in, even if it’s not obvious right away when someone says something smart in class.

4. Ivy League alumni go to school with future leaders in different industries. They have a good chance of meeting important people like members of Congress or big names in finance and Hollywood.

5. Almost everyone agrees that Ivy League graduates are smart. While there might be some who aren’t that great, people generally give Ivy League alumni the benefit of the doubt, whether they realise it or not.

An Ivy League Degree Is Worth The Cost: Don’t Take Our Word for It, Trust the Data.

Information from the Department of Education has consistently shown that graduates from Ivy League schools tend to earn higher salaries compared to those from other universities, especially as they progress in their careers. This trend is evident across various industries, as indicated by surveys of business leaders. Whether you look at meetings for a popular magazine, the trading areas of Wall Street, or the credits of a major movie, you’ll often see names from Ivy League schools. While Ivy League universities represent only a small number of highly selective and prestigious institutions in the United States, they contribute a significant portion of Fortune 500 CEOs and members of Congress.

What Makes an Ivy League Degree Different? Social Capital.

Ivy League colleges have been around for a long time. Over the centuries, they’ve built strong academic reputations and extensive networks of former students. These networks offer insider opportunities for careers and partnerships with big companies, all based on mutual respect and friendship. Companies like Goldman Sachs and McKinsey & Company could recruit from many universities, but they often prefer Ivy League graduates because they’ve proven to be reliable, innovative, and hardworking over time.

In simple terms, Ivy League colleges have made it a pattern: ‘Hire our graduates because they’re the best and brightest!’ Why? ‘Because they’re our graduates!’ This may not be fair or the most efficient way to hire, but it works well for those who benefit from it. Getting a degree from an Ivy League college, especially as an undergraduate, is the smartest investment for a student aiming for a successful future.

It’s Not Smoke and Mirrors. Ivy League Students are Worth the Hype.

Every year, Ivy League schools get a lot of applications from students who want to start their college studies. Looking at past years, it seems like more and more students are applying each time. Because of this, it’s becoming harder to get accepted. Imagine, for every one student who gets accepted, there are about twenty others who don’t. So, the students who do get in have to be really impressive.

Ivy League universities have teams of people who are experts at picking out the best applicants. Their job is to make sure that the people who get into these schools will go on to do amazing things like becoming big business leaders, important politicians, talented artists, or smart thinkers. But just being accepted doesn’t guarantee success. There’s more to it than that.

So What’s the Secret Ingredient in the Ivy Sauce?

Maybe the most crucial thing that shapes the Ivy League’s reputation is hard to measure: how smart students inspire each other. Each student at schools like Brown or Penn has a clear reason for choosing to study there. This isn’t the case for schools that accept half of their applicants and have tens of thousands of students.

It takes a lot of courage to apply to an Ivy League school when the chances of getting in are so low. Ivy League students bring this fearlessness to everything they do, and it influences their friends too, creating a shared culture of ambition and determination.

At Harvard, for instance, almost all clubs require new members to demonstrate their skills through a series of tests before joining. Are these processes often hard, time-consuming, and competitive? Yes. But do they make sure that new members are eager, committed, and valuable to the club’s goals?

Absolutely.

“Testing” at Harvard is just one of the many ways Ivy League colleges emphasise toughness in their campus culture. No matter who they are when they start college, Ivy League students will leave with a deep understanding of themselves and their interests, as well as a drive to achieve their goals that is unparalleled. 

So, is going to an Ivy League school worth it? You decide!