Are Ivy league students really superior to students in state universities?

submitted by casparvoneverecBig tiddy respecter from self.debatealtright

Alt hype mentioned that there isn't really a great deal of difference in the quality of education you receive at an Ivy league vs state schools. Its the same curriculum, and what really mattered was how high you scored on SAT(i.e your IQ).

This stands to reason, teachers don't magically impart students with ingenuity. Students have to read and absorb most of the knowledge. At most, the quality of lab facilities differ. Richer colleges can obviously afford more sophisticated equipment.

There is a perception that ivy leagues are superior and offer better training. Elites are trained here and coporate America gives greater preference to Ivy graduates. Or perhaps the greater preference is an illusion because its mostly the kids of the elites with connections that come out of these unis.

The question is, are the studetns there really smarter? How rigorous are the selection criteria? Do they actually have the best brains in the country? Remember, Jared Kushner and George Bush both got into Harvard...

My guess has always been that the elite tech schools are the ones that house the real genuises, like MIT and Caltech.

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[–]WaltzRoommate 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I'd like to see a full audit of Ivy League schools to see if the SAT scores there are accurate. I could so easily see them using a metric other than a crude calculation of the mean scores of all their students. Perhaps discounting affirmative action or padding their scores by having many of the 2400s being foreign Chinese students who are well known to cheat.

That being said, graduating an Ivy League school will open many doors to you because even if it's not totally rational, businesses have a lot of respect for the school name and big businesses will have many Ivy League graduates who will extend an extra helping hand to other Ivy League graduates.

As for whether or not they're all better students, I didn't go to an Ivy League school and I knew plenty of students who easily could have gotten in. I'd bet that virtually everyone at Ivy League schools is at least a good student, if not a great student, but it's not like all Ivy League students are better than all non-Ivy students.

[–]Sonofzeus 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

As someone who studied at a prestigious college having gone to a community college first, the bar standard in prestigious schools is actually lower than CC and state schools. It’s just a safe cultural bubble for the sons and daughters of the bourgeoisie to not intermix with lower class people. The standard is so low because professors would get fired for actually grading anyone.

[–]asterias 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

We have many politicians who studied at those prestigious schools, yet they are known to be complete idiots.

[–]antireddit 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

My impression is the ivy league is more of a status thing combined with networking with other elites, many of whom are filthy rich, in order to use those connections along with that prestigious degree in the future to get ahead. It's no coincidence some wealthy elites dropped out of elite schools after making those connections and immediately used them to start the businesses that made them rich. They obviously didnt get anything out of the educational experience since they never even completed it.

[–]meatball4u 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I went to a conference at Harvard years ago that was attended by a lot of Harvard students. They were all very sharp and had leadership qualities. There always are those that graduate in the bottom of their class, though

[–]Nombre27 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Forget where I read it, but the value of the education you get isn't what you spent on it, but rather the amount that the university spends on it.

Much like how there is data on how much of the money a charity raises goes towards said cause of that charity, universities should also be required provide the same level of financial transparency so that potential students can make informed choices of where they attend.