Over thirty thousand people applied to Brown university this year, and only about twenty-six hundred made it in. That’s about an eight percent acceptance rate for all the poor saps who applied to that ivy league school. But they why do they need that school’s name on their diploma so badly? These people are just out of school and shooting for the stars with their big dreams, but maybe a local university or even a technical college is more the speed some of these people need. Ivy League schools are ranked better, but are not better than other schools because: they are not financially accommodating, they are very stressful, and under the rug embarrassing.
Financially, Ivy League schools may not be the best for someone who doesn’t come from money. Two thirds of the people accepted into ivy league schools this year of 2015 applied for financial aid, that does not mean they all acquired it, or even a reasonable amount that they may need, but they took the extra effort because they don’t believe they can take on the financial burden. all of the applications for scholarships and grants that they applied for cannot cover their costs of living.
Next year, tuition will rise an average of 3.76 percent at the Ivies-pushing the cost of attendance as high as $63,000 (Akane Otani). Students need about as much money for living than they do for basic tutions at a tech school. Spending money they don’t have on: food, clothes, personal items (hair products, toiletries, cell phones, etc.). That’s not including if anything were to get stolen, such as textbooks or computers or anything from their dorm rooms. There’s too much to pay for financially with these schools for most of these kids to be attending it. seventeen percent of students who attend ivy league schools are the first of their families to attend school (Ivy Coach).
That number triples for those who attend a technical college, so imagine the new burden that they have on their shoulders, not only are they the first to go to school, they are going to a big, brand name one. Stress on an ivy league college student can get so great that it leads to life changing decisions. “The stresses that comes with academia including pressure to get good grades, financial worries, failed relationships and conflicts with roommates are enough to force some students to leave college or worse.
In fact, depression is the number one reason students drop out of school or die by suicide.” (Pakistan Observer).It can cause a person to feel a lack of self worth when trying to keep up with other students because they don’t believe that they are doing as good as the others, or that they don’t get the information as well as everyone else may be comprehending it. what they don’t realize is that, most of the time, they all feel this way about each other, this type of emotional stress can lead to them ‘giving up and giving in’ to the pressures around them such as skipping class, slacking off, and dropping out.
Embarrassing, not a work commonly used for Ivy League schools, but it’s still one to represent it. They underestimate themselves and develop a feeling of ‘checking your privilege’ (Rega Jha) which people who attend these schools shouldn’t do because they are paying so much to attend these schools so they should have gloating rights. this feeling causes them to not want to stand out in the crowd and when everyone is busy trying to convince them how great it is and how well they’re doing, the person who didn’t want any attention in the first place, now seems to everyone like that’s all they wanted.
Then these people who feel inferior to be in an ivy’s presence, expects these students to be geniuses on everything. They are bombarded with ridiculous questions that they never have or will cover in their classes because people expect so much and then are seen as dumb because they don’t know the answer and are paying out the butt to have a better education, when in reality they could have gotten the same degree and education for a university in their state. It’s embarrassing to be just as smart as they guy at a university when they’re going to an ivy league school to get the exact same degree as the guy next to them.
Yes, these schools are viewed as big names for a reason, they are prestige and only have the best of the best. Why is it then that these degrees mean so much more than one someone obtained from a university? because of the name. With so many years to build up the buildings and time to really make it better, how could anything compete? these schools are may even only be seen so greatly because they reject so many. With these schools not even having some of the programs people would need to become what they want most, why wouldn’t they work to “Find the university program that loves you for you, the school that matches your values and specializes in the fields that you are passionate about” (Montesano, Mandell).
as a student who goes to a technical college i can never give personal insight to someone who does actually go to an ivy league school. I’m a realist, so i’m not one to ever really fantasize or shoot for the stars when my rocket is made of cardboard. Though i admire the ones who shoot for those stars, i think they are crazy and dumb. i hope this paper has shown why my light shines on that idea of ivy league students through the financial struggles, the stress it comes with, and the silent embarrassment.
