Are Ivy League schools all they are cracked up to be?

I go to Columbia. It's definitely not worth it. The only reason I'm not transferring to a state school is because my Dad is caught up in the whole "my son goes to an Ivy League" thing.

If you're into something obscure, an Ivy League might be better than a state school, but if you're just a regular student majoring in Math/Sci/Engineering, or basically anything other than some obscure language a state school would be better.

I'm a rising senior, but when I think about it I haven't learned anything useful, except maybe partial differential equations.

I wish I had just enlisted in the military and become an electrician, or gone to a state school and studied EE or something useful.

I don't know if Ivies are any harder than state schools or not. I do know that my math teachers always assign the freakin hardest questions in the back of each HW section.

But, it comes down to this, would you spend 45000 a year to learn a bunch of useless BS that comes with a nice shiny diploma, or 5000 a year to learn something useful (or get paid to learn something useful in the military).

This is my friend who just graduated from Columbia (he transfered from CMU) quote about his time at the university:

"The only thing Columbia has taught me is that liberal arts is complete and utter BS."

Columbia liberal arts classes will teach you one thing: how to generate 20 pages of BS out of 3 pages of sparknotes and get an A

Don't make the stupid decision that I did.

To all those saying that Ivies are not expensive;

Ivies are not expensive if you are poor and your parents only make $60,000 a year. If they make over that you're screwed and have to cough up the full $45,000 a year.

Ivy League universities are not any more expensive than most competitive private colleges and universities.

They are all well-endowed, as are many other private colleges and universities. As a result, if you qualify for financial aid, going to an ivy league or other wealthy and very competitive college may cost less than going to your public universities.

The education is top-notch, but whether or not it is worth it to you and your family can only be answered by the people who have to pay the bills. One advantage that may not be apparent is that you will cultivate friendships with people may become leaders and influencers in your lifetime. Of course, this can also happen at your public university, but most likely with less frequency.

The ivy league colleges do not own a monopoly on a top-notch education. There are many other colleges that offer a comparable experience, such as Stanford, MIT and Chicago.

If people did not believe that the education offered by ivy league universities was worth the money, it would not be so competitive to get admission.

Most students don't pay that much; they can't afford to. Ivies and other prestigious private schools give out tons of scholarship money. And they have tons of money for other things - like hiring great and famous researchers as professors, having fantastic resources for students, keeping class sizes small, giving students access to research opportunities, sending students away for study abroad, research trips, to conferences, etc.