Countdown to "D(ecision)-Day": my thoughts on the college admission scandal

For students who applied for Ivy League universities, this year on March 28th will be the decision day which I joke as "D-Day." Eight days from today, some of us will know that they could live and study at an Ivy for the next four years. I would like to say congratulations to you ahead. However, if you did not get the luck, the college decision does not define who you are as a person. Last Wednesday, I came across an article which was posted in LA times after the college admission scandal. The title of the article was fairly interesting, and it was called "No one asks the top CEOs where they went to college." And I would like to share some of my thoughts on whether or not getting an undergraduate degree from a prestigious university affects the chances of being successful in an economic lense.

Allocation of Resources in College
College is what you make the most out of it. Period. Any accredited four-year college is likely to give you a similar undergraduate education. You may have different college experience based on the school you choose to go, but the education you receive is almost the same. In other words, if you are not a student with good study habits and the discipline to work hard, you are not going to succeed anywhere, whether you are at Harvard or at Foothill College. The school you go to will not change who you are as a person (hints to Olivia Jade).

We all learn that economics is the study of the allocation of resources, and this also applies to what all chief executives of Fortune 500 companies do in terms of how they use their undergraduate degrees. We see that on the resumes of the chief executive of Fortune 500's, most of them do not have an undergraduate degree from an Ivy League school; only one of the top 20 in Fortune 500 had a degree from Princeton. For some of the founders, they were dropouts of Harvard or Stanford, like Mark Zuckerberg. However, they are people, like Steve Jobs, who dropped out of a small, less-well-known, liberal arts college. Above all, this demonstrates that a college degree may not even matter. All that matters is that what you make the most out of your four years at college and how you allocate the scarce resources that are available to your college. What you learned from the classes you took is essential as shown in your career. For example, the calligraphy class at Reed College inspired Steve Jobs to have the idea of elegance in Apple's computers and influence the creations of many, many Apple products that we are using today. 

Supply and Demand of a Prestigious College vs. a Less Prestigious College
One argument may be that a more prestigious school would offer you a better connection because of all the people you meet and the alum network from the college. I have to agree with it, especially for the first job you get when you are fresh out of the college; the prestigious college is more likely to provide a better quality of supply for connection and network for their graduates under the same situation of students' demands, when it compares to a less prestigious college. However, after all this, the college name only becomes a line on your resume. What is more important is that your work ethic and if you are willing to continue to work hard in the next forty years. The supply of a prestigious college does not overshine the supply of a less prestigious college.

Obviously, everyone demands to have an Ivy League degree under their belt, but the reality is that not everyone could get in an Ivy. Ivy League education is a scarce resource. There is an intense competition of getting in those colleges, and you might need luck as well. So, please be happy wherever you decide you go and learn the most out of college education and experience that is offered to you. 

Sources:
https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-nocera-college-cheating-20190313-story.html
https://www.businessinsider.com/robert-palladino-calligraphy-class-inspired-steve-jobs-2016-3

Image:
https://snworksceo.imgix.net/dpn/df85adea-4672-4dad-9e75-6cc7de9b0aa4.sized-1000x1000.jpg?w=1000

Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 21, 2019 at 3:38 PM

    This was a really interesting post and I think it is absolutely true. However, I do think that it is important to consider the fact that not everyone will become the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg. As you noted, it seems that one's education does not determine one's future success, but I also feel like that it is largely based on luck. Personally, I found that the college admissions scandal to be unfair, but I think as a whole it is important to look at it as evidence that our society has become to invested in college that some are willing to do anything to get in even if it means cheating and using their wealth to do so.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMarch 22, 2019 at 2:53 PM

    As I grew older, so many people told me that where you go to college determines the rest of your life, namely my parents. This happened to me so much that I quite literally laughed at or disregarded people who told me the opposite: that it doesn't matter where you go to college. It was simply a fact in my mind that I honestly didn't give it a second thought. However, now that I read more and am exposed to things like this article or the college admissions scandal, I realize that it's crazy how so many famous and successful people didn't go to the name-brand elite colleges. These large colleges must be good at advertising and selling their product and it must have to do with a lot of microeconomics.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousMarch 22, 2019 at 6:34 PM

    Thanks for the interesting post! You mentioned how some people who haven't gone to college have still been successful. I wanted to look further into the cost of college over time, as well as the long term benefits and costs. I found that in 40 years, from 1973 to 2013, the cost of attending a private college has more than tripled, and the public tuition doubled. Your lifetime earnings double when you graduate from a four year undergraduate program, compared to a high school diploma. An interesting aspect of the scandal that I found particularly frustrating is that there are over 3000 accredited colleges in the United States, but the parents *had* to bribe to get their kids into the one *they* wanted. As you pointed out, college is what you make out of it, and these parents were taking away spots from kids who genuinely wanted and worked hard to be eligible for a specific college. On the other hand, the reputation of schools can definitely influence careers. Do you think the college you graduate from should impact your job opportunities as much as it currently does? Or should the job market be more focused on your accomplishments within your college?

    Source:
    https://www.khanacademy.org/college-careers-more/college-admissions/get-started/importance-of-college/a/financial-costs-and-benefits-of-college

    ReplyDelete

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