Do you non-Ivy Leaguers feel inadequate?

This forum is obviously overpopulated by college and post-college people. After a couple of years, nobody gives a **** where you went to college, even you.

If anyone from an Ivy League ever gave me **** I'd just reply with something along of the lines of "Well, I really didn't even have to go to college, so I wanted to have fun doing it."

This post reminds me of the joke about the Harvard grad (substitute Ivy league school of choice) and the CCNY grad (substitute non-Ivy league school of choice) in a bathroom, both taking a piss. When both finished, the Harvard guy washes his hands and the CCNY guy heads to the exit. The Harvard guy looks with disdain at the guy from CCNY and says "At Harvard we are taught to wash hands after using the restroom." To which the CCNY guys responds "Well, at CCNY, we are taught not to piss all over our hands."

There's a difference between whether Ivies are actually better than non-Ivies, and whether people feel inadequate for not going to one. There are many excellent schools that aren't in the Ivy League. But, I've met more than a few people who are insecure about the prestige of their undergrad. For better or worse, 'Ivy League' has all sorts of connotations beyond being a set of good schools, and some people are put off or jealous as a result.

I think it would be a stretch to say that most analysts at bulge bracket firms are from Ivy League schools. But, from my understanding, the Ivies are dramatically over-represented. When I was at Brown, Goldman Sachs was the single largest employer of graduating seniors--not direct evidence, I understand, by still suggestive. Someone should dig up the stats on school representation at the big banks; they're out there somewhere.

Some people do impute snobbery onto alumni of Ivy League schools. At law school, you can wear your state university sweatshirt without anyone batting an eyelash--you just come off as a regular guy. But if you wear your Yale or Dartmouth sweatshirt, some jerk is almost guaranteed to say something obnoxious about it.

Originally Posted by marc237

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This post reminds me of the joke about the Harvard grad (substitute Ivy league school of choice) and the CCNY grad (substitute non-Ivy league school of choice) in a bathroom, both taking a piss. When both finished, the Harvard guy washes his hands and the CCNY guy heads to the exit. The Harvard guy looks with disdain at the guy from CCNY and says "At Harvard we are taught to wash hands after using the restroom." To which the CCNY guys responds "Well, at CCNY, we are taught not to piss all over our hands."

This is a joke about Harvard and Yale, not CCNY. You heard it wrong.

I've never heard of anyone with an Ivy degree giving someone else grief about not having attended an Ivy League school, outside of something like a Fitzgerald novel.

From the OP, it looks like there are plenty of tools in state schools too.

Originally Posted by RJman

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I've never heard of anyone with an Ivy degree giving someone else grief about not having attended an Ivy League school, outside of something like a Fitzgerald novel.

I've seen that happen before, and invariably the jerk is from Harvard.

Originally Posted by mafoofan

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I've seen that happen before, and invariably the jerk is from Harvard.

We must not move in the same circles.

Originally Posted by grimslade

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This is a joke about Harvard and Yale, not CCNY. You heard it wrong.

That makes a lot more sense. Anyways, I say let Harvard have its football and academics. Yale will always be first in gentlemanly club life.

Jon.

Originally Posted by mafoofan

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I've seen that happen before, and invariably the jerk is from Harvard.

Ive seen this happen before as well.hahah

"Almost got tenure!"

Originally Posted by imageWIS

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That makes a lot more sense. Anyways, I say let Harvard have its football and academics. Yale will always be first in gentlemanly club life.

Jon.

I had no idea that people's idea of the Ivy League is as distorted and as wishful as people's idea of England on the Ask Andy forum.

Originally Posted by manton

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[Otto]
Apart from mafoofran, only losers go to Brown. Not as bad as Berkeley, though.

Originally Posted by iammatt

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This forum is obviously overpopulated by college and post-college people. After a couple of years, nobody gives a **** where you went to college, even you.
Exactly. My degrees now sit all alone and dusty in the bottom of a box in my mother's basement, next to the college thesis I thought would win me a Nobel Prize and the copy of that novel I wrote at 19 that I was convinced would win both a National Book Award and a Pulitzer and that is so hilariously bad I don't even have the heart to read it again myself.

Originally Posted by RJman

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I had no idea that people's idea of the Ivy League is as distorted and as wishful as people's idea of England on the Ask Andy forum.

I was quoting the Simpson's.

Jon.

Originally Posted by RJman

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We must not move in the same circles.

Well, to be fair, I'm not saying it happens all the time. I've witnessed it at both of the law firms I've worked at, law school, and at Harvard. At least Princeton people know to keep their snobbery more subtle. At Brown, we're nothing but class.

Originally Posted by ghulkhan

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Ive seen this happen before as well.hahah

Yep. I don't get it. Everyone knows Harvard kicks ass. The mystique is diluted by the bragging.

Originally Posted by Manton

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"Almost got tenure!"

Almost, Manton, but not quite. That should be more than indicative of Brown's selectivity.

Originally Posted by RJman

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Apart from mafoofran, only losers go to Brown. Not as bad as Berkeley, though.

If by losers you mean hippies, I have to somewhat disagree. No one at Brown is actually a hippy or remotely bohemian. The school is riddled by more Long Island kids in North Face fleeces and Burberry scarves than anything else. Only the really rich kids get all granola, and only until they graduate.