Attending an Ivy League university has long been viewed as a golden ticket to success. But is it worth the price? It's a question that has perplexed students and their families for decades. Of course, numerous benefits are associated with a degree from an Ivy League school, including networking opportunities and access to exceptional faculty. But when it comes to hard facts, what kind of return on investment can you expect upon graduating? Let's look at the salary data for popular fields such as medicine, business, tech, and engineering.
Comparative Analysis
The first thing to consider is the cost of tuition at an Ivy League school compared to public universities. Tuition costs for Ivy League schools generally range from $50,000 to $60,000 per year for out-of-state students, while public universities range from $10,000 to $20,000 per year in-state. That means that over four years of college (assuming you graduate on time), you could be paying anywhere from $200,000-$240,000 for your Ivy League degree versus just $40,000-$80,000 for a public university degree. That's quite a difference!
Salary Expectation
So what kind of salaries can you expect after graduation? According to Glassdoor's 2019 report on salaries by college major and type of school attended (public vs private), graduates with degrees in medicine earn about 7% more if they attended an Ivy League school than a public university. The gap is even larger for other popular fields, such as Business (12%), Tech (14%), and Engineering (21%). These figures suggest that there may be some truth to the notion that employers value degrees from top institutions more highly than those from less prestigious schools.
However, these figures don't tell the whole story—it's important to keep in mind that graduates of both types of institutions tend to earn higher salaries than those who didn't go to college at all. In fact, according to Glassdoor's report, post-graduate median salaries were 20% higher for graduates with degrees in Medicine ($90K vs $75K), 18% higher for Business ($71K vs $60K), 28% higher for Tech ($81K vs $63K), and 24% higher or Engineering ($76K vs $61K). This suggests that any college degree will give you a leg up when it comes time to enter the job market after graduation.
Sum Up
Overall, attending an Ivy League school offers some financial benefits when it comes time to enter the job market post-graduation—namely, higher starting salaries than those earned by graduates from public universities in popular fields such as medicine, business tech and engineering. However, it's important not to forget about other factors, such as the cost of attendance; attending an Ivy League school can be significantly more expensive than going to a public university which may impact one's ROI in the long run. Ultimately, each student needs to weigh all factors before deciding and remember that any college degree will give them access to better job opportunities than if they had chosen not to attend college.
Contributed By Sana Mubashar
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