By Rebecca Do
Cornell. Harvard. Dartmouth.
What do all of these colleges have in common? They are all prestigious, Ivy League universities. The first institution, Harvard, predated the American Revolution. The latest of which, Cornell, was established in 1865.
The cream of the crop; the most intelligent doctors, lawyers and professors have graduated from these select few colleges. Renowned worldwide for their academic excellence, the Ivies and a handful of other colleges have had students vie for a spot at their esteemed institution.
High school students in particular have stressed themselves time and time again over the possibility of attending one of these historic colleges.
But what makes them so special?
Some students attend to build connections with professors and peers to get a leg up in their careers as soon as they can. But some attend because of their name— a name and title they can hold above themselves and their comparatively lackluster peers, and I am not so sure that Columbia and Yale want a student that is solely there for the prestige attached to their name.
People need to realize that the U.S. National News rankings are not the reason why education is so important. A name isn’t everything, and the truth is, you will have many more years after graduation to figure out who or what you want to be— with or without a prestigious undergraduate degree.
If you are applying to an Ivy because of status, pressure or recognition, I suggest you ask yourself: “why?” Why do you want to attend such an academically rigorous college? Do you enjoy learning about the topics you have presented on paper? Do you just like the thought of being able to say “I am a Harvard graduate?”
This is not to deter you from applying to these colleges. In fact, I encourage applying to these universities if you truly believe that they are right for you.
If Stanford has been your dream school since you left the womb, you should apply, but don’t get down in the dumps if you don’t get in.
If you are fearful of not getting into an Ivy or an equally prestigious university, there are many opportunities that will present themselves to you even if you don’t get that networking jumpstart.
You should not depend on your university to get you where you want to go in life. Your career will have multiple different paths– some taking you to where you wanted to go when you were 17, and some taking you to new places you would have never thought of.
Their big names, though synonymous with intelligence and prestige, will not guarantee success. You have to figure that out for yourself without leaning into the name of a four-year university.
