In this article let’s take a look at all the pros and cons of joining Ivy League schools to understand whether it is worth it or overrated.
This is the most comprehensive article you can find online on this topic so I would recommend you to bookmark and share the article.
So without further ado let’s dive right in.
Are ivy league schools, colleges & certificates worth it or overrated?
Ivy League schools and colleges are definitely worth it not overrated because not only this colleges are highly prestigious and top colleges in the world but also they are very affordable because you can get a lot of scholarships and grants, and you have a lot of networking opportunities and high salaries after graduating from the college as compared to the normal college of America.
I know there are certain disadvantages with this colleges as well like they are very expensive in terms of tuition fees and it is extremely difficult to get admission.
Now let’s take a look at all the pros and cons of Ivy League colleges to better understand whether it is worth it or overrated.
Pros and cons of ivy league schools
Pros of ivy league
Good faculty and staff
One of the main advantages is that these colleges have good faculty and staff for the students.
For example the faculty of the Ivy League schools whether it is Harvard or Stanford or even Columbia University etc have masters and PhD degree with themselves in their specific subject and also a lot of teaching experience before working as a professor in the University.
And What’s special is the interaction between the professor and the student is not just confined in the classroom but beyond the classroom, and blackboard, both student and professors can interact with each other and participate in research, laboratories, and in most cases professors can also act as mentors to the students etc.
And what’s amazing is that faculty of schools like Harvard, Columbia Princeton, Yale and other colleges are basically nobel Laureates, and many other awards in their field so getting taught by such professors of high experience and value can help you a lot in your career and
this is something that makes Ivy colleges very special, the professors are able to spend good amount of time with the students outside the classroom, there will be a good relationship between the student and professor.
And not just that the faculty to student ratio is also very good in this colleges, for example the average professor to student ratio is around 14:1 in American colleges and universities whereas Ivy League colleges In specific like Stanford or Yale or Harvard have around 6:1 on average faculty to student ratio which is really good.
Which means that there is almost one professor for every five or six students for studying in the Ivy League College.
Lots of courses
Another advantage is that there are lots of courses and subjects you can study in the colleges and university.
In most of the colleges, there are hundreds or even thousands of courses you can study Which is really great.
In almost all Ivy League university, You can study subjects from arts, physics, social sciences, philosophy, engineering, biology, architecture, foreign language, medical, music, management, etc courses.
And students can also get dual degree and interdisciplinary courses in most of the colleges which is really great.
World class infrastructure and facilities
Infrastructure and facilities are extremely important for any university and when it comes to Ivy League colleges, It is no surprise that this colleges have world class and best facilities.
Even though the colleges are private institutions, They receive a lot of funding from government to perform research and also a lot of gifts, donations by rich people, alumni of the University and other private sources, also the huge sum of money that students pay to study in the college as tution fees also goes in building new infrastructure and facilities in the university.
So, the universities are able to create world class infrastructure and facilities for the students by getting all the money through donations and fees.
First of all the University location plays an important role, so Harvard University is located in land of more than 5000 acres and Princeton University has 600 acres of land and all these universities are surrounded with beautiful gardens museums restaurants parks trees and lakes which is really great.
And let’s talk more about the infrastructure then,
Harvard University for example has one of the best libraries in the world, 20 million volumes, 400 million manuscripts, 10 million photographs, and one million maps are there in the library of the University, similarly there are lots of research facilities in Harvard University,
Harvard is also a University which publishes most research and white papers along with yale University, similarly Princeton University also has libraries like Harvard, These colleges also have a lot of museums, art galleries, sports complex, lots of hostels and residential areas, and many more facilities.
Great reputation & history
Another advantage of this colleges is that it has a great reputation and history.
For example the oldest university in America is Harvard University Which was founded back in 1636, and in top 10 oldest universities of America five of them are Ivy League colleges which are Harvard, Princeton Columbia Yale Pennsylvania University, etc so this universities have a lot of history and they are very old.
And Apart from that, if you take list of best universities in the world, colleges of Ivy League always grab the top spots, You will frequently see universities like Harvard Stanford Columbia
University of Pennsylvania Yale and Princeton University ranking in top 20 of best universities in the world whether it is of US News ranking or top universities, These universities always rank at the top.
Not just in the global universities list but for subject specific ranking, colleges of Ivy League rank on top of most universities in the world.
As per us news ranking, Columbia University ranks 6th position in best universities in the world, and if you take a look at specific subjects ranking then, for arts and humanities it ranks for 18 spot, 20 spot for biology and biochemistry, 10th spot for clinical medicine and so on.
Just like this you will find other universities like Harvard and Princeton university’s ranking on top of most universities.
So, Just mentioning that you graduated from Ivy League College like Harvard or Princeton or Columbia University in your resume can help you crack any job in the world as long as it is relevant
because the employers understand reputation & value of the Ivy League colleges and it can also give you a lot of confidence, respect in the society that you graduated from such respected and prestigious university.
Get financial support
Another advantage is that you can also get a lot of financial support and scholarships if you get admission into this colleges.
Scholarships and financial support are extremely important because students should not compromise education in such universities because of their financial condition and these universities understand it very well so most of the Ivy League colleges like Harvard, Stanford, Yale and others offer need based scholarships and support.
What I mean by this is that, in Harvard University for example, if your family financial income is less than $75,000 per annum then You can study in Harvard University without paying a single dollar in tuition fees and as your family income ranges between some amount above 75000, You will get some amount of scholarship,
keep in mind this is grant and you don’t have to pay money back so it is like a gift, one out of five students study free in Harvard University, similarly in Princeton University you will have to pay no amount of money if your family income is less than $65,000 per annum and you will get 100% of your tuition fees covered by the scholarship amount itself.
Just like this other university is also have need based scholarships and you also get financial support and aid through Pell grant by the government and also merit-based scholarships in some universities like Yale,
You can also seek for student loan with low interest and This university is also allowed you to work in summer to get your student share and finance some of your education by earning money in summer.
But what I want to mention is that you get some of the best scholarships and financial support by joining these universities and the best thing is that they are need based and you don’t really have to worry about whether you can afford the education or not because you are most likely to get the scholarship if financial income of family is not really good.
Good networking opportunities
Another advantage is that you can have good networking opportunities by joining this college.
It is very important to know that admission into these colleges is very tough because the acceptance rate is very less as it is around 7% on average, and because the University is very selective in terms of what type of students can get admission to the college because they have some set of criteria and characteristics which they
look for while reviewing the admission application, and hundreds and thousands of students from various different countries visit America to study in ivy colleges so people with different ideologies, cultures, mindset, come together to study in a university is really great for you to build your network.
And historically if you see, alumni of Ivy League colleges is really great, whether it is Harvard Stanford Yale or Columbia University, etc there are many students who became politicians and
also president of America, Olympians, Nobel laureates, authors, scientist, doctors, artists, filmmakers, celebrities, business leaders, CEOs, inventors, innovators, etc and this is a much bigger benefit of studying in Ivy colleges as compared to other colleges.
High salaries
Another benefit is that you can get higher salaries and more job opportunities after graduating from ivy league.
- Average salary of Harvard graduate is 85 thousand dollars
- Average salary of Dartmouth graduate is 80000$
- Average salary of a student graduated from Yale University is $89,000
- Average salary of student graduated from Princeton University is 96,000$
- Average salary of student graduation from brown University is 80000$
- Average salary of student graduated from Cornell University is $91,000
- Average salary of student graduated from UPenn is 103000$
- Average salary of Colombia University graduate is $90,000
And if we compare this with average salary of students graduated from normal American University is around $50,000 per annum so you can clearly see the difference as ivy league schools have significantly higher salaries as compared to the national average salary.
Keep in mind this is only the average salary, depending upon your subject, experience and skill You can get much more salary than you expect.
And you can also get placement and employment in top tech companies of the world like Google Facebook Amazon Twitter and others and also in top business companies and all others by graduating from Ivy League, and most of the Ivy League colleges have more than 90% of placement ratio.
Gain new skills
Another advantage is that you can gain a lot of new skills by joining Ivy league.
Like, all universities of ivy have hundreds of student clubs, groups, and societies which you can join and meet new people.
For example Harvard University has over 400 different clubs and societies in various categories like music space history sports politics religion LGBT etc.
The main benefit of joining this student groups and societies is that you not only meet like-minded people and grow your network but also learn new skills like communication networking leadership negotiation critical thinking teamwork and others which can help you a lot in your career.
Apart from that, ivy leagues are famous for sports events and athletics, for example in Harvard University more than 80% of the students participate in some form of athletics and sports, similarly a large percentage of the students participate in sports and athletics in other colleges.
There are different types of sports you can participate in such as swimming rugby football baseball basketball cycling climbing hockey wrestling water polo volleyball and many more sports and athletics.
And you can also regularly participate in lots of different competitions held between the ivy league schools & among different teams of the same university, You can get many medals by performing good in the sports and you also learn amazing skills by being active in sports like leadership and teamwork which will help you a lot in your career as well.
So, You not just study, become good at subject and academics but also learn new skills by joining various clubs and sport events in Ivy League.
Start a business
And the last main advantage is that you can start your own business and become entrepreneur by joining Ivy League.
Because entrepreneurship culture is very important as you cannot solely rely on getting a job, if you become an entrepreneur you can not only make more money and become financially independent but also get a chance to give more employment opportunities to others and contribute to the economy of the country.
So, ivy league understands the importance of entrepreneurship culture and there is a lot of emphasis of entrepreneurship in Ivy League.
For example You must have known that Facebook and Microsoft was founded by graduates who studied in Harvard University, other businesses are Airbnb, birch Box, jet, Amazon, etc are bunch of companies started by Ivy League graduates.
It is because there are lots of education programs and courses that Ivy League colleges offer to the students so that they can start their own business by teaching them right knowledge and skills.
So, if you want to become an entrepreneur and start your own business then Ivy League colleges can be very helpful as compared to other colleges in the country.
These are all the advantages of Ivy League colleges Now let’s take a look at the disadvantages and drawbacks.
Cons of ivy league
High admission cost
One of the main drawbacks and disadvantages that many people discuss about Ivy League colleges is They are very expensive to get admission into.
And to be honest it is true!
Tuition fees and overall cost is higher, for example in Harvard University $75000 is the average tuition fee including books, rents, meals, etc.
Like this the admission and tuition fees are quite expensive but thankfully there are many scholarships you can get which are need based, like in Harvard even though 75000 Is the average cost, if you get scholarships and all the grants and aid then $15,000 will be the amount you will have to pay because other expenses are covered through scholarships, and if your family household income is less than $30,000 then the average cost is less than $3,000 which you need to pay for your education in Harvard.
So the point is, even though the tuition fees are quite high, scholarships and grants you get can help you finance your education, and also you can work in summer season or take in student loan.
Small acceptance rate & high competition
Another big disadvantage is that it is very tough and difficult to get admission into these colleges.
You will hear a word called acceptance rate which means that how many students get accepted and admission into the college out of 100 students and in Harvard University the acceptance rate 5%, in Princeton & Yale it is 6%, 7% in Columbia University.
On average the acceptance rate of all ivies is around 6% which means 6 students out of hundred who apply can get admission in Ivy League.
So you can clearly see that admission is not very easy and the university is very selective regarding giving admission to the students.
Although there are many reasons for why acceptance rate is so low, and it is because these ivy league colleges not just look at your academic ability and scores of your entrance exam like SAT, ACT, for example in Harvard, They look for things like whether the student is curious disciplined has leadership skills and extracurricular activities mindset, thinking and other characteristics and skills while reviewing the application of admission.
So it is just not possible for you to get admission into Ivy League solely based upon your academics & scores because they have other criterias more important than your academics which I mentioned earlier as they only want to give admission to the best students who can
utilise the resources and facilities of the University at the maximum potential and increase the name and popularity of the University in future by becoming something great like politician or any respected person in society as alumni of the University.
And also the fact that, there are very limited seats available in this universities but As I mentioned earlier students from more than 100 different countries apply for admission in this colleges so there are more number of students applying for admission as compared to the seats so it is relatively tough to get admission in Ivy League.
High work load
Another disadvantage is that the students can have higher workload and pressure of studies and academics as compared to other universities.
Students studying in Ivy League have to regularly take tests assignments projects attend classes do internship and practicals and participate in sports events and many more so it is quite stressful and have high workload.
Not the only option
Another thing is that this universities are not the only option if you want to get world class education and facilities.
There are other alternatives to Ivy League like Massachusetts institute of Technology, Stanford University, Duke University, University of California, University of Florida University of Maryland University of Oklahoma University of Michigan Ohio State University etc.
So, now there are good alternatives to Ivy League colleges because acceptance rate is very low, yet You can get quality education and high standards of infrastructure in other colleges as well.
With that said let’s end the article.
Conclusion
These are all the advantages and disadvantages of Ivy League schools.
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