[whimsicalism]

> the average Ivy League graduate only makes marginally more money than your public school graduate.

Sorry, what? The average Ivy League graduate makes substantially more than your average non-Ivy graduate.

I don't even understand what your second sentence is trying to say.

[sgerenser]

I believe he probably got the statistic mixed up. The average Ivy League graduate does indeed make more than the average non-ivy college graduate. But they make about the same (or are about as successful, can’t remember the exact statistic) as someone who got accepted to an Ivy but went elsewhere.

[andrewmcwatters]

No, I mean the actual starting salaries based on employment data from universities themselves tell us there’s only a marginal difference in those who graduate between the institutions.

If you look at the degrees themselves as a form of capital investment, Ivy League schools don’t translate into “paying off,” as it were.

[whimsicalism]

> No, I mean the actual starting salaries based on employment data from universities themselves tell us there’s only a marginal difference in those who graduate between the institutions.

Not only is that not true, but Harvard new grads make substantially more than the average BA holder, including people who are 2 decades into their career.

[hailwren]

Yes, and pairwise multivariate comparisons make the gap even larger. (i.e. considering two engineering students or two visual arts students etc)

[jcheng]

Here’s one source that says the difference is significant, to put it mildly. Do you have a better source you can cite?

https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?166027-Harvard-Unive...

https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?240444-University-of...

Edit: Actually the third state school I looked up is not far off! https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?236948-University-of...

[desert_boi]

Picking "Public Ivyies" is stacking the deck a bit, no? My "third tier" school has a median of about half of what Harvard does.

https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?142115-Boise-State-U...

[andrewmcwatters]

What are you talking about? Those are distributions; and they swing just as wildly as the broader US workforce. These people aren't making 250k out of the door, nor mid-career. It's just not impressive.

[gnicholas]

Cite supporting your statement: https://outline.com/wWr2v3

[akhilcacharya]

What’s the play if I didn’t get accepted into an Ivy tier school but want to make as much as them?

What’s a benchmark?