What kind of grades/courses do Ivy league schools require?

[TheeeChosenOne]

I want to further address a couple of points since my last posting in answer to some comments........


I don't want my comments misconstrued. There are many idealistic students that go to these schools and do great things to help others out or do things to make themselves happy. I never deride schooling or any university (I do, however, deride bad jobs that pay gobs of money that may eventually be available to some of you guys). As in all things in life, there are good, better, best ways to do things in life while still eating your cake. I'm, just offering a path for all those that will never go to an Ivy League school and to those kids who are up in the air with regards to most things in life.

Lets be frank, if one has ever looked at what careers Ivy Leaguers enter after college (especially Penn), it is generally the extreme lifestyle Yuppie professions (i.e. MBA, Law) where these kids end up. That is where the bucks are. That is where a great many will end up. That is where a great many will be dissatisfied with their lives. This is where I'm trying to counsel on.


My comments earlier in the thread is to basically a sketch a diagram how to skate around the thin ice options. If one derives masochistic pleasure in following the 100+/hr week "White Shoe" I-Banking/Consulting/Law path (with a great likelihood of hating their lives), then to each his own I guess.

There are a great many other areas one can earn a great living after college. I want to emphasize that you all consider different alternatives before make a decision in a career where you'll put much money, effort, time into for the next 20-30 years of your work life.


The MAIN EMPHSIS in my message (subtext):

BE HAPPY!
DON'T DERIVE SELF-WORTH FROM WHICH SCHOOL YOU ATTEND
DON'T DERIVE SELF-WORTH BY WHICH PROFESSION YOU CHOOSE
DON'T DERIVE SELF-WORTH BY HOW MUCH YOU EARN
TALK LITTLE SALT IN YOUR PARENT'S CLUMSY COMMENTS & HALF-BAKED LIFE THEORIES
TALK LITTLE SALT IN YOUR FRIEND'S CLUMSY COMMENTS & HALF-BAKED LIFE THEORIES
TALK LITTLE SALT IN SOCIETY'S (i.e. MEDIA) DEFINITION OF SUCCESS
DON'T EVER DO THINGS ONLY FOR MONEY....A SURE PATH TO DISSATISFACTION
DON'T EVER COMPARE WHAT YOU HAVE TO WHAT YOUR COLLEAGUES HAVE...ANOTHER SURE WAY TO DISSATISFACTION.
MAKE SURE YOUR LIFE AFFORDS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY TO ENJOY YOUR LEISURELY PURSUITS...NOT ONLY WORK

 

[TheeeChosenOne]

Originally posted by: BlipBlop
[Simply put, I could, after two or three years go "in-house" to a corporation as counsel and earn $150k for a 9-to-6 workday.

If you indeed follow-up with the plan you set up for yourself, then you'll do pretty nicely (quality-of-life-wise that is). You're privileged enough to attend such a law school and if you can leave that white shoe law firm once your debt is payed, then I applaud you.

I counseled an old girlfriend of mine who went to Yale law to do a similar thing. She paid her school debt with a big NYC firm, then she left to do something with law that is dearer to her heart. Man, the stories I could tell about dissatisfied friends from her law class. Sad, really sad.

 

[josphII]

...

Anyway, tell me what else it would take to get into an Ivy league school, any Ivy league school for that matter, so nothing like a Hardvard or Stanford here...

check african american for your race, seriously

 

[gotsmack]

Originally posted by: AgaBooga

Originally posted by: placebo139

Originally posted by: AgaBooga

Originally posted by: placebo139
any particular Ivy that you're interested in? each has very different standards. I applied to three of the eight, rejected from one, waitlisted for another, and accepted with full scholarship for the last... as you can see, each college is very different.

Honestly, I'm interested in MIT, don't flame me or anything for this, please. But I'm seeing that it is going to be very hard. Actually, I have no clue what is really required or needed to get in. If you have a ny idea, please help me out.

well, first of all, MIT isn't an Ivy League school. The Ivy League schools are Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown, UPenn, and Cornell. And second of all, MIT is very tough to get into. I know of two people from my school that were accepted (didn't go). And let's just say they did some exceptional stuff to get in...

What do you want to study?

I'm looking for something related to computers and/or business. I hope to start my own business some day having something to do with computers. I have a good idea what I want it to be related to, but I haven't thought about any specifics just yet. I still have a few years.

You're looking at the wrong schools then. If you REALLY want to start your own business then you should look into Babson college. http://www3.babson.edu/ It is the #1 school in the US for entrepreneurship or maybe look into Stanford, it was the birthplace of Silicon Valley.

As for getting into the really competitive schools I heard that If you play the Tuba in band in HS that significantly increases your chances of getting in and a scholarship. The reason told to me was that they need tuba players for their football games and noone wants to carry that heavy thing around.

 

[gotsmack]

Originally posted by: TheeeChosenOne

For undergrad, it doesn't matter WHERE you went to school. The grad school rep matters much more when job seeking. Yet it still doesn't matter either as EXPERIENCE & ADVANCED DEGREE is what gets you in the door anyways!

Get good marks at any college and you'll get into a VERY good grad school. I guarantee it!

Actually, unless you get huge scholarships, save your money that would be wasted at a private school and go to a good public school. The money savings will serve you well for grad school.

I know the private schoolers will prolly ding me for this, but I know what I'm talking about regarding witnessing a multitude of different individual career tracks of students.

Please also keep in mind that You might choke in college and you may discover that you HATE school. If you believe that this is the case then go to a BIG name school, beacuse you most likely won't ever go back.

 

[csf]

I think we all agree that the OP needs to lighten up and figure things out before stressing over colleges, especially at this age, and realize that there are a lot of other viable options out there. However, I just thought the comments I was addressing seemed to be more focused on trashing the Ivies and their attendees instead of just highlighting other options, which I thought seemed unfair.

The average person just going through the degree process will be better off at a top tier school because of the resources and higher level competition, and I don't think that can be denied. The majority of work is still up to the individual, but an Ivy league degree (and it's not exactly a cakewalk to earn the degree itself, as most people tend to ignore) will facilitate success. Not everyone wants be an investment banker, but at the same time you have to remember that not everybody has some grand driving vision or a clear idea of what he wants to do and how to turn it into a success. In those cases, it's better to be able to fall back onto a boring six figure job than to be scraping by until you can figure out a calling.

Point is, success depends on the individual, not the school, but a top-tier school will provide more options and resources to become successful and still give you a "prestigious" degree to fall back on if you don't. So there's nothing wrong with having your heart set on an Ivy, but you have to have a good idea of why you want to go and what you want from it.

Just FYI, all the soulless, money-driven tools people are talking about are definitely in the minority at my school. They stand out like a sore thumb and people make fun of them all the time. Of course, I imagine those people exist at the non-Ivies too, so don't lump us all in that crowd.

 

[DigDug]

You're privileged enough to attend such a law school and if you can leave that white shoe law firm once your debt is payed, then I applaud you.

Thank you, man. I really do hope I have the strength to do so. I've already felt the seduction of the "BIGlaw" life. It's extremely novel to a person of a meager background like me, to go to all the five-star restaurants in Manhattan over the course of the summer. However, despite the temptation, I still do realize that I could never truly be a part of it. Call me crazy, but I feel as if I felt the sting of lack of money enough to keep a semble of perspective through anything...

Interestingly, I did NOT go to a name-brand law school. In fact, my school is a second-tier. I just worked my a$$ off to be at the top 5% of the class. From my school only the top 10% get the fortune I have. But go to Columbia, or NYU, and the whole class, yes, down to the very last in the class, has a shot at the "riches". Its almost as if the powers that be in law see the student bodyies descending down the scale of prestige in a purely linear fashion. It's sickening and unbelievable.

 

[TheeeChosenOne]

Originally posted by: BlipBlopIts almost as if the powers that be in law see the student bodyies descending down the scale of prestige in a purely linear fashion. It's sickening and unbelievable.

It is sickening--that is the way the "white shoe" firms operate. Very prejudiced. I simply can't be convinced that the last guy in the Columbia Law class has more technical merit over a top 10% at a 2nd Tier. Very, very ridiculous to me. But the old farts that run the firm dictate policy and they have their prejudice.....if they went to law school today, they'd be lucky to get into a 4th tier school--seriously!

It's also unbelievable when you eventually find out how stupid some of these guys are.

It's amazing to me that book smarts do not go hand-in-hand with street smarts (i.e.wisdom).

The best lawyers I have met (and coincidentally most successful) have not gone to these top ten or twenty schools. They come from Loyola, Rutgers, etc.

 

[khlee]

thanks for your advice TheeeChosenOne. I cant tell you how much I appreciate it.

 

[djplayx714]

i think comm service shows the recruiter two things

1. you can keep up a high gpa and do service for your community which means youre capable of holding a heavy load.
2. you like to give back to the community so you would probably use your education to serve in the progress towards a better society and not be an evil money grubbing corporate whore thatll steal millions from poor unsuspecting blue collared workers.