ARE IVY DEGREES WORTH THE SACRIFICES

ending their kids to ivy league universities is the dream of every Asian American parent. Or so it seems. And there is no shortage of young AA willing to oblige. As of 2000, Asian Americans made up 12-19% of the undergrad enrollments of the top-20 ivies.
     No one questions the prestige associated with ivy degrees. In fact, sneer critics, that's the only thing bought with the extra money. And even that, they add, is wearing thin in a nation in which he cultural center of gravity has shifted to California.
     It's true that investments in high ivy tuitions often don't show up in career earnings when compared with graduates of public universities of comparable student body profiles. But the criticisms run deeper than return on investment. Some Asian Americans who have attended ivy league colleges have come away regretting their decisions for other reasons.
     Foremost is the sense that the ivies are structured for the benefit of legatees, the progeny of blueblooded alumni. Comprising upwards of 40% of some ivies, the legatees are often exempted from stringent admissions standards. The result is that AA students with excellent credentials are the workhorses preserving the institutions' high academic reputations, thereby giving a free ride to undeserving legatees.
     Another common complaint is that the deck is stacked socially against Asian males in a system designed to preserve the princely status quo of the scions of WASP families. A disproportionate number of attractive AA females are admitted by the ivies, some have observed, while far fewer attractive AA males are admitted. This subtle bias, suspect critics, is implemented in the screening interviews used by most ivies.
     Then there's the Eurocentric worldview imposed by the courses. Not to mention the lousy weather, bland food and having to put up with locals hostile toward Asians. Contrast all this against the majority-ease lifestyles enjoyed by the AA in, say, the UC campuses.
     The bragging rights an ivy education affords parents, conclude critics, are far outweighed by the psychic and emotional sacrifices exacted from their kids.
     Does an ivy education provide rewards commensurate with the sacrifices? Or is it a trap for AA with overzealous parents with old-world views?

(Updated )

I forwent Duke to go to a lesser known Wheaton College (in MASSACHUSETTS, so not even the famous Wheaton). I learned close to nothing, but as they say "Big Fish in little pond." I came out of there Summa Cum Laude, treasurer and VP of various things, best friends with the Dean and President, and I got really good recommendations to get into a top10 PhD program in Economics. If I went to Duke, I might have struggled more for grades, been more competitive, and participated in less activities, knew my professors less, been more stressed...I think I would have wasted the $120,000 needed to go there for 4 years. And I doubt I could have out competed other Duke students to get into grad school. Locking yourself or your child into a top ranked school can hinder his/her future opportunities unless they are truly the top 5%. Save your money, if you're a little fish get out of the big pond.
Save your money for grad school!
   Tuesday, March 19, 2002 at 17:20:57 (PST)
I went to Wesleyan University for two years, and my impression was that the Asian community was rather insular, and also limited to the Natural Sciences, for the most part. Of course, there were AA's, as you call them, in the Humanities, but for the most part, "The Yellow Peril" was confined to the Science Tower.

I think that an Ivy League education, at least for foreign students, is a plus. For domestic AA's, I think that it's an important step to being included in the privileged class, if that's your goal. A diploma from somewhere like Wesleyan, Cornell, etc. can give you the "in" to the corporate world that you don't have if you don't have that kind of degree.

Overall, I would like to see more AA representation in areas other than the natural sciences, more AA professors, etc. Overzealous parents come in all races, so factoring them out I would say if that's your goal, by all means attend an Ivy League school.

But on the other hand, I dropped out because of the food, the weather, the assumption of privilege, the elitism, the grade-boosting (yes, indeed), and what I saw to be the overall worthlessness of an Ivy League education.

Many, many sacrifices.
isadorable
isadorable@hotmail.com    Friday, February 15, 2002 at 16:16:37 (PST)

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