ok, here's my view on things. TranceGiant fits the mold of foreigners who are usually mislead into thinking that big ivies are a 'guaranteed success', and while they may offer top notch programs in fields such as law and economics, in reality (or at least, in America) it's 'who you know, not what you know'. sad but true...

but, you just want a stamp don't you? well, there are many other schools out there (northwestern, uoc, uic) that offer good programs, just as good as those in the ivy leagues. even some public schools in the US will provide a good foundation to head start on your carreer.

congrats on your acceptance to columbia and good luck in your future endevours...

Congrats on your acceptance

quote:

Originally posted by diggerz ok, here's my view on things. TranceGiant fits the mold of foreigners who are usually mislead into thinking that big ivies are a 'guaranteed success', and while they may offer top notch programs in fields such as law and economics, in reality (or at least, in America) it's 'who you know, not what you know'. sad but true... but, you just want a stamp don't you? well, there are many other schools out there (northwestern, uoc, uic) that offer good programs, just as good as those in the ivy leagues. even some public schools in the US will provide a good foundation to head start on your carreer. congrats on your acceptance to columbia and good luck in your future endevours...

1. Thank you and Frenchie!

2. You should've read the thread, I already stated that in my case it is NOT necessarily the beefing up of my business card that made me apply for these schools. I simply said how in general that's one of the main motivations, especially in my area.

3. You seem to view me as somebody clueless and naive with regards to the legal job market. I'm well aware of the necessity of connections. I'm also not so superficial to believe that prestigious names automatically equal highest quality. I took a lot of things into consideration when choosing where to apply: prestige, fields of specializations, faculty members, courses, quality and size of classes, location...I opened this thread to hear a bit about the sutdent life and "fun" apsects as well as about the general surroundings of each school.
I think that the school I got into combines most of these aspects, and that's why I'm fucking high for a couple of days now. I may be old-fashioned, but I wroked my ass off to enjoy this kind of a "US experience". I'll use the coming months to research on internship options, NYC nightlife and smoke my head off.

___________________
"Those are my principles, if you don't like them... well, I have others.”

quote:

Originally posted by diggerz ok, here's my view on things. TranceGiant fits the mold of foreigners who are usually mislead into thinking that big ivies are a 'guaranteed success', and while they may offer top notch programs in fields such as law and economics, in reality (or at least, in America) it's 'who you know, not what you know'. sad but true...

the one enormous fact you are missing is that at ivy league schools you meet those 'who you know' important people. Ivy league is all about connections. Just look at the president elect and the past 3 presidents of the US:

Obama (Columbia undrad, Harvard Law),
Bush Junior (Yale Undergrad, Havard MBA),
Clinton (Georgetown [not an ivy] undergrad, Yale Law),
papa Bush (Yale undergrad).

The US supreme court is also full of Ivy leaguers:
Robert (Harvard, Harvard Law)
Scalia (georgetown, Harvard Law)
Kennedy (stanford, LSE, Harvard Law)
Souter (Harvard, Oxford, Harvard Law)
Thomas (Yale Law)
Ginsburg (Cornell, Harvard Law)
Breyer (Stanford, Oxford, Harvard Law)
Alito (Princeton, Yale Law)

8 of the 9 justices went to Ivy league law schools. The only one who didn't went to Northwestern.

In 2002, 56 of the CEOs from companies in the forbes 500 (>10%) were grads from just three ivy league schools: Columbia, Harvard, and Penn. The student population at those three schools certainly doesn't make up 10% of the total student population at all universities. So, there is definitely something to going to Ivy League schools.

http://www.forbes.com/2002/04/25/0425ceoschools.html