1) (in response to GujuDude): Helping a student prepare for a test is completely different from the “application packaging” that groups like “Ivywise” (which one poster mentioned) engage in. What AT does is probably very similar to IIT prep classes, except it’s one-on-one.

2) Alagappan’s company does an enormous amount of pro bono and scholarship tutoring. There’s not much reporting on this, but perhaps there should be.

Why I put that quote about 10% CEO’s is to show that even the highest levels in Babudom (Babu-dom, even CEO is an employee) doesnt have majority IVY leaguers. So what good is the $30,000 spent by parents in prep school to send kids in IVY. Instead if they invest $30,000 by the time the kid is in his/her 50s, he/she can have a small fortune. CEO’s also overwhelmingly are tall people and are mainly men (slowly women are getting there). So it skews the sample in a lot of different ways.

CEO’s arent the only successful people. There are lots of other non-CEO’s who are “successful”. So the bottomline is that IVY league education doesnt make much of a difference. (Save your money. parents )

Every marketing bone in my body reacts convulsively to the above statement. Branding IS the substance, and image IS the reality. Branding is not some frilly dressing you put around something. It is about capturing the essence of the “thing” and then making sure that you deliver, too. Anyhow, that’s neither here nor there.

I do agree with all your statements regarding Ivy education, except perhaps on the CEO stats. I think if the same 10% of the CEO’s went to non-Ivy schools, many of them will not become CEO’s.

Again, how do you do the quote thingie? It’s driving me nuts.

CEOs represent only a slice of the available jobs. Not everyone wants to be, or is cut out to be a CEO either (plus we’re probably talking a majority of Business schools here). Branding makes a difference when you’re trying to sell an image, not necessarily the substance. CEOs are the public image a of company, whether big or small. And yes, many people do buy into it (again, it doesn’t mean value exists, just the perception of everything is well taken care of).

I’m not pro/anti Ivy. I have my masters from one of them. It wasn’t my top choice (actually 3rd), though it was one of them. The obsession that it’s IVY or bust, atleast in the mind of impressionable young highschoolers with even more impressionable parents is where my beef exists. Again, there is nothing wrong per se with using your resources getting into said colleges. Setting goals for yourself is good. But if you’ve got a good head on you, you’ll do well at any good school. Seriously, it all depends on what you want to do (and rarely to 17 year olds know EXACTLY what they want in life).

Say that 10% of CEO Ivy Leaguers went to other tier one schools, would they still have become CEOs? Do more alpha types attend Ivy leagues, or do the Ivies actually mold/produce more of them? It’s a chicken and the egg argument.

Help. How do you do that quote thingie? I can’t figure it out. I didn’t go to an Ivy League school.

Anyhow, regarding the above stat, if 10% of the CEO’s received Ivy degrees, that is a very high skew towards Ivy degrees. Surely, Ivy degree holders are not 10% of the degreed population. They are probably less than 1%. The Wharton survey merely substantiates what everybody already knows. An Ivy degree gets you a higher starting position. So your chances of finishing at the top is higher as well, and of course, most times undeservedly so.

RC, I am that pro Ivy desi, and not because I really believe that an Ivy League education is inherently superior. I believe in something called branding, and 99% of the people, including those who hire and promote others, are affected by brands. What’s so wrong with buying a brand name education if one is bright enough or wealthy enough to acquire it? Don’t you buy a nice suit for a job interview?

Laura mentions the following:

Studies show the ranks of CEOs, at least, are not dominated by Ivy League grads. Spencer Stuart, the executive search firm, found 11 percent of CEOs at Fortune 500 firms had Ivy League degrees — down from 16 percent in 1998. A survey by the Wharton School found that in 2001, 10 percent of CEOs received undergraduate degrees at one of the eight Ivies; 48 percent earned them from public colleges and universities.

short for mathematicS!!

John Foster Dulles was also an architect of Operation Ajax, thus helping the global ‘rich kids’ undermine democracy in that part of the world and retain access to Iranian oil. Certain themes seem to run deep among Sullivan and Cromwell alumni. ~ Desis using their powers for both good and evil? That’ll keep ‘em guessing…(p.s. nice analysis, as per usual, o’Ill One)

lol….tmi buddy