What is the advantage of going to a selective school like Harvard over an average school?

Question

If you do well enough academically to be able to get into a selective college, and you know you're going to go to a graduate school anyways, why does it matter where you go for undergrad? If you do very well at an average college and you do well on the GRE or whatever, won't you be able to get into excellent graduate schools?

I did well on my SATs and ACTs; I think I can get into a good school. I just don't understand what the big deal is about going to a top school. What advantages does it give you in life once you graduate?

I'm only a high school junior, so I'm not looking at graduate schools yet, but people always say that I should go to Harvard/Princeton/Yale but when I ask them what makes them great schools they don't really give me an adequate answer.

Answer 1

I am a recent college graduate (BBA Accounting) and I can tell you that I had the change to go to an Ivy League school or just a plain public school.

I made an excellent choice when I went with the public school because it saved me a TON of money. Educational debt is not a bad debt to have, but where do you draw the line? When Harvard was asking $50,000 a year for an education (50 X 4 = $200,000), and the school I went to was a total of $50,000 including living expenses, books, etc. I think I got a MUCH better value.

I have taken the GMAT and done really well....as soon as I get some work experience under my belt, I plan on attending graduate school for business. It is possible I may shoot for an Ivy League school or, at a minimum, a private school for my Master's. The resources those schools offer for you will help you get a long ways after graduation.

Bottom line is you need to get the credential of a bachelor's degree and not spent a TON of money on it since you are going to continue your education anyways.

I know this is a lot of information but hope it helps! :)

EDIT: Here is some additional information in the link provided below. It helped me out a lot!

Answer 2

You get to know some very powerful people from over the whole world. That will help you invaluably well into the future, as you make connections that can land you powerful paying jobs. That's the #1 advantage.

Other advantages include grade inflation, as Ivy-league schools are notorious for giving out A's like candy; employers highly recognize buzz names like Harvard, Yale ,etc even if they've never been to college themselves.

As for graduate schools, no, not a real advantage attending an Ivy-league undergrad. Grad schools committees are not schmucks so they wont choose students simply because someone went to an Ivy-League undergrad.

Answer 3

Top liberal arts faculties have many extra candidates than to be had areas for the reason that humans understand that a measure from a most sensible liberal arts university is fine training for legitimate and graduate institution. Liberal arts faculties additionally instruct sciences and a couple of additionally instruct engineering. In the US a liberal arts university is a institution that emphasizes undergraduate schooling as a substitute than study via the school. There are commonly no or few graduate pupils to absorb college assets. The college are meant to dedicate extra time to running with pupils. Almost all categories are taught via consistent college, now not graduate pupils.

Answer 4

Well, it just looks better to go to a school like Harvard/Yale/Princeton, just because it's hard to get into a school like that. But you're right, if you do a good in college, make a really good GRE, are active in school organizations, and do interships/volunteer, you can get into a good grad school.

Answer 5

I have many friends who are MDs, PhDs and high level executives. All of them sent their kids to the best schools that the kids could get into. They do this for a reason.

Elite schools are elite because they have very good faculty, very good facilities, and very good students. Some of the advantages that you get from this are immediate and obvious, and some are delayed.

At Harvard, Stanford, Duke, UChicago, and other elite schools, you get to study in state of the art classrooms with teachers who are true experts in their disciplines. The other students in the class are probably smart and hard working. You can not get away with anything. They continually challenge you to do your best, to be well prepared, to think hard about what you are saying and writing. You are not stuck in a cement block box with kids who would rather be drinking than reading.

One kid I tutored in advanced calculus told me he hadnt had any tests at all since he entered college. No multiple choice tests, that is. Instead, he had written several papers for each class. The papers were read and critiqued in detail by the profs - he complained about how they criticized every sentence! But when he had taken a few courses, he could write really well. His critical thinking and reasoning skills tremendously improved. That's the thing - after you graduate from one of these elite schools, everyone realizes that you have had a thorough education in an environment that was academically rigorous. You couldn't just slide through.

I was talking recently with a Duke grad who received a full fellowship for grad school, he is convinced he got it because he was from Duke. He paid $100,000 to go to Duke, but the fellowship he got for grad school is five years no tuition and $18,000 a year in cash. So, what did Duke cost him? If he had gone to state u, he would be paying for grad school out of his pocket. Grad schools DO pay attention to where you are coming from.

Maybe all these rich parents who want their kids to go to elite schools are just stupid, but maybe they actually are pretty smart.... they deal daily with people from all kinds of academic backgrounds and so they have good images of what kind of mind is produced by a certain style of education.

ps if you are going to major in accounting,then I agree that any state college is good enough. The elite schools are not in the business of training accountants.

Answer 6

Not to be irreverent, but my cousin said the only advantage of his son attending Harvard was that his son met his wife there. My cousin and his son are still paying off the debt.

His son did get into medical school after going undergrad to Harvard, but I don't think it was because of Harvard.

You need to point-blank ask this question to the grad schools you hope to apply to.

Answer 7

Name of the school.