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Correlation does not imply causation. Ivy students are probably also much more likely to be high achievers with a good work ethic. You have to control for lurking variables.
One study that attempted to do just that - by Dale and Krueger - found little advantage in earning potential to attending more selective schools, except for low-income students.
When I tell people where I went to my college, their response is usually "That's a good school". If I went to ITT, they probably wouldn't care as much.
No. Your said that Ivy grads earn more. This is true. But it does not imply that employers prefer students with an Ivy League degree. They may simply prefer high-achieving students, regardless of where those students study.
Krueger and Dale found that students who were accepted at selective schools but chose to go elsewhere did just as well as their peers who went to the more selective institutions (the exception of low-income students remains). If employers preferred graduates with Ivy League degrees, this would not be the case.
"Ivy League" sounds way more appealing than "Cornell University". But mainly because Cornell is not nearly as known as Harvard or Yale. Name drop Ivy League in your cover letter and resume.
I think the degree matters in the beginning, after you initially graduate. But, as time goes on, the degree IMO, becomes less important. If you went to a well known, highly-reputable school, OTOH, I think it does shed some positive light on you. Like if you went to Harvard, most people would say, "Wow, that's quite an accomplishment," and they would think, "This guy must be pretty smart". It certainly wouldn't hurt you, at least I wouldn't think.
You don't have to be smart to attend Harvard, just politically connected. You cannot say someone with an athletic scholarship to an Ivy League school is smarter than an engineering student from a state school.
^^ How many people get athletic scholarships to Harvard? I would think most people go for academics. I'm sure some of them are politically connected. But many earned their admission, and besides, if they survive to get a degree from there, they must be pretty smart.
I would hire an Ivy League grad for sure. Only problem, I'd be worried they leave after a short time for a better offer. They are a big risk this way.
In the 2001 book "The Game of Life," James L. Shulman and William Bowen (a former president of Princeton) conducted an enormous statistical analysis on an issue that has become one of the most contentious in admissions: the special preferences given to recruited athletes at selective universities. Athletes, Shulman and Bowen demonstrate, have a large and growing advantage in admission over everyone else. At the same time, they have markedly lower G.P.A.s and S.A.T. scores than their peers. Over the past twenty years, their class rankings have steadily dropped, and they tend to segregate themselves in an "athletic culture" different from the culture of the rest of the college. Shulman and Bowen think the preference given to athletes by the Ivy League is shameful.
Halfway through the book, however, Shulman and Bowen present "" finding. Male athletes, despite their lower S.A.T. scores and grades, and despite the fact that many of them are members of minorities and come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds than other students, turn out to earn a lot more than their peers. Apparently, athletes are far more likely to go into the high-paying financial-services sector, where they succeed because of their personality and psychological makeup. In what can only be described as a textbook example of burying the lead, Bowen and Shulman write:
One of these characteristics can be thought of as drive—a strong desire to succeed and unswerving determination to reach a goal, whether it be winning the next game or closing a sale. Similarly, athletes tend to be more energetic than the average person, which translates into an ability to work hard over long periods of time—to meet, for example, the workload demands placed on young people by an investment bank in the throes of analyzing a transaction. In addition, athletes are more likely than others to be highly competitive, gregarious and confident of their ability to work well in groups (on teams).
You don't have to be smart to attend Harvard, just politically connected. You cannot say someone with an athletic scholarship to an Ivy League school is smarter than an engineering student from a state school.
Except for the fact that Ivy League schools do not offer athletic scholarships.
I would hire an Ivy League grad for sure. Only problem, I'd be worried they leave after a short time for a better offer. They are a big risk this way.
Then offer them enough money and benefits so that they don't leave.
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