From February to early April are some of the most nervous times for seniors, as it is college acceptance season. Heart pounding, fingers crossed, anxiously waiting for that particular email to come in. Many hope to see prestigious names like Brown, Columbia, Harvard and Princeton in their inboxes, believing these schools offer a guaranteed path to success. Indeed, these Ivy League institutions represent the pinnacle of academic prestige, drawing countless applicants each year. Yet research shows that success and happiness are influenced less by where you go to college and more by what you do with your experiences. And some even argue that college itself may no longer be necessary.
The Ivy League is made of eight prestigious private universities in the Northeastern US: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton and Yale. Founded in 1954 as an athletic conference, it’s now known for academic excellence and competitive admissions. Many, like Harvard, date back to the colonial era and have produced U.S. presidents, Nobel laureates and global leaders, reinforcing their reputation as pathways to success.
Yet, prestige isn’t everything. Surprisingly, many CEOs of the top 10 Fortune 500 companies did not attend Ivy League schools. And yet a 2013 Gallup and Lumina Foundation poll found that 54 percent of business leaders, the very people responsible for hiring, consider a candidate’s alma mater to be of little or no importance in hiring decisions. Similarly, a 2012 study by The Chronicle of Higher Education ranked factors employers prioritize when hiring recent graduates. At the top were college internships, work experience, majors, volunteer work and extracurricular involvement, while college reputation ranked dead last.
In fact, skepticism toward higher education is growing. A Wall Street Journal-NORC survey revealed that 56 percent of Americans, particularly those aged 18 to 34, believe a college degree is no longer worth the cost. The concern is understandable: according to the Education Data Initiative, the average annual cost of attending college in the U.S. is $36,436 per student, with private non-profit institutions (which are all the Ivy League schools) averaging $54,501 per year for a four-year degree.
So when you find yourself sitting in front of your computer, nervously waiting for that acceptance email, remember: a college’s name doesn’t define your future. Don’t be crushed if you don’t get into your dream school or if you don’t go to college at all. There are countless paths to success, and your journey is just beginning.
