Ivy league??

[DesiDentist]

this may be a little weird question but can anyone answer what distinguishes one school as ivy league. What is ivy league, we all have heard of it as some sort of distinction, but I was wondering if anyone can truly answer this question. I tried searching the web but could not find a conclusive answer to this. If you really know what the Ivy League is then I would appreciate your response.

DesiDentist

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[UBTom]

There are eight schools in the Ivy League, AKA "The Ancient Eight":

Harvard
Yale
Columbia (my Alma Mater)
UPenn
Princeton
Brown
Dartmouth
Cornell

Just 8 of the oldest universities in the New World and all the academic prestige that goes with it..

 

[Rhea]

Isn't Stanford ivy league? Always thought it was....guess I am mistaken.

 

[UBTom]

Heya Rhea,

That "Ivy League" thing is actually a college athletics conference.. Like the Big East, Pac-10, etc. (And yes, Ivy League is NCAA Division-I, same division as all the other big sports schools like UMich, Notre Dame, Georgetown, UNC, Duke, etc.). These days the rest of the NCAA delights in using the Ivy League as its whipping boys though (at least while I was at Columbia). You know, "bunch of nerds" and all that..

Stanford is a Pac-10 school if I remember correctly..

As far as academic reputation goes, I've heard that Stanford was often referred to as "the Harvard of the West Coast." Maybe it was the oldest university on the west coast or something.

HTH!

 

[groundhog]

One thing that distinguishes the Ivy League is that all of its interscholastic athletes are walk ons. No one gets an athletic scholarship at those schools (not officially anyway). There may be ways to attract a good student/athlete without calling the inducement an "athletic scholarship."

You have to be careful about that Ivy League "prestige." Different disciplines within the Ivy League Universities are accorded different levels of prestige amongst potential employers and the higher education community.

 

[dentalapp]

What a waste of money.

If you're pre-med or pre-dental, you're better off getting all A's at a state school. Medical/dental schools factor in your udnergrad school only by a tiny amount.

A 4.0 gpa, and an acceptance to med/dental school ( maybe even Ivy League !) , easy courseload.........and what, you only paid about a 10k /year for tuition? It's a good bargain.

Whereas you can pay 35k / year at a presitigious school, suffer from B's and C's and cutthroat competition, and be on the borderline for dentistry. But if you do really well, then it's obviously another story.

 

[UBTom]

to Groundhog:

Heh, Columbia is proof positive that good student/athletes who are willing to sign up without "athletic schlarship" inducements are rarer than hen's teeth. My school was the proud holder of a record 8-year losing streak in NCAA Div-I football from 1980 to 1988. Not a single win during that period and proud of it.

I know painfully well that the prestige of an Ivy League degree can be just an illusion. No dental schools were impressed with my application when I applied for Fall 1998-- No acceptances.


to Dentalapp:

That's the great thing about this country-- Plenty of opportunity for a good education as long as one works at it, doesn't matter much if one attended Podunk U. vs. Harvard.

My four years at Columbia were a defining time of my life though. I might have experienced more than my share of frustrations there but there were a few good moments too. Would I have gone somewhere else if I had to do it all over again? Probably, something like a combined 7-year program like NYU's. But my experience at Columbia was definitely worth the $35K in student loan debt I racked up while I was there.. And it's a drop in the bucket compared to the $150K I will owe by the time I graduate from dental school!

 

[tinker bell]

Desi,
why do you even bother searching the web? If you just look for ivy league in the Random House Webster's College Dictionary: a group of colleges and universities in the northeastern U.S. consisting of Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, Cornell, the University of Pennsylvania, and Brown, and having a reputation for high scholastic achievement and social prestige...xxx

 

[DesiDentist]

Thanks tinker bell. I didn't think of that.

DesiDentist

So another question for you guys. My state school is my top choice, but it is very difficult and I am prepping myself to go out of state for my dental education.

If I had a choice between a private school and an ivy league school (Columbia/UPENN) what should I consider when choosing schools. I don't want to choose a school just based on if it sounds cool, but maybe job security wise. When I was at Temple I was observing two students and they were content with Temple, but they said if they could do it over again then they would choose UPENN over Temple because the name sells. I don't know but I just wanted to think more about it since I am on the topic.

I would appreciate any input.

DesiDentist

 

[UBTom]

to desi:

How important is the name of the dental school? Well, if you are going into general practice I don't think it matters that much. If you are going to specialize, it might help a liiiiiittle bit which dental school you went to but your grades and other requisite activities (like research) will be of more importance.

My sister graduated from NYUCD, which isn't an Ivy school like Columbia. But she's making just as much money as a friend of hers who graduated from columbia's dental school the same year..

The important thing I think is to choose a dental school that fits your needs (patient pool, clinical experience, curriculum, etc.) rather than the name. Good luck!

 

[DesiDentist]

Originally posted by UBTom
My sister graduated from NYUCD, which isn't an Ivy school like Columbia. But she's making just as much money as a friend of hers who graduated from columbia's dental school the same year..

The important thing I think is to choose a dental school that fits your needs (patient pool, clinical experience, curriculum, etc.) rather than the name. Good luck!

I totally agree. Thanks for the response.

DesiDentist

 

[Stanford Fencer]

I attended Stanford (private) for undergrad, and am going to UCSF right now...

From my own experiences, there are tremendous differences between private and public institutions.

If you have the good fortune to experience both types of environments sometime during your academic endeavor, by all means do it.

I think that one will find (and break) a lot of stereotypes representative of both environments.