Harvard Schmarvard: Getting Beyond the Ivy League to the College That is Best for You

The author refers to a study by Stacy Dale, who found no difference in earnings between those students who had gone to Ivy league schools and those who had been accepted at those schools but had chosen to go elsewhere. She even found some indications that students who had applied and been rejected by the very selective colleges were doing just as well twenty years later as those who had gotten in. She named this phenomenon "The Steven Spielberg Effect." Indeed, Steven Spielberg was rejected by several of the top university film schools in Southern California. He graduated from a no name school. As they say, the rest is history. Thus, Stacy Dale in her study concludes that it is not the selectivity of the school that one attends, but the character, talent, intelligence, and drive of the student that really matters. The Ivies do not distinguish themselves by "what" they teach, but by "who" they teach. Given that the author is a Harvard graduate, he has instant credibility regarding his insightful criticism of the Ivies.

Elite private high schools and magnet schools do not have any advantages vs. other public schools in sending their students to the elite colleges. To the contrary, the author makes a case that they have a handicap. This is because one of the key factors within the Ivy league admission process is class rank. A student with a strong GPA in an average school will stand out, and earn a top class rank. The same student with the same GPA would be lost in a crowd of overachievers at a top private school. His class rank would be much lower, and will prevent him from being accepted at Ivy League schools. Along the same lines, top schools are not comfortable admitting a high number of applicant from any one high school. Thus, it is in your advantage to apply to the schools that your classmates do not apply to. If they all apply to Yale, apply to Princeton instead. This is tough, as it entails fighting the human herd instinct. But, it puts the probability of being accepted very much in your favor.

The author warns about marketing tricks colleges use. One of them is the "Search letter" that schools send to students with high PSAT scores. All it means is that a school views you as an attractive applicant who will allow the school to boost its selectivity (reduce its acceptance rate) and increase its average SAT score of the admitted applicants. Don't confuse this marketing gismo with a virtual guaranteed admission. It is not. The majority of search letter recipients are routinely turned down by the schools who sent these letters. Another trick is the Wait list. According to the author, the Wait list is a polite way for the school to tell you that they don't have room for you even though they acknowledge the outstanding caliber of your overall application.

The author offers a whole lot more information and guidance for both parents and students on how to survive and thrive through the stressful college admission process. He also gives you a lot of information to maximize the chance of customer satisfaction (that students will like their college choice, and perform well).

Among the information provided, he includes a list of 100 schools. Personally, I researched these and ended up selecting 43 as interesting prospects for our daughter. His list is more current and diverse than similar college lists provided by Pope ("40 Colleges That Change Lives").


Harvard is not best for everyone   May 26, 2003
Raymond Coyne (Chicago, Illinois United States)
46 out of 51 found this review helpful

Mathews' biggest points are to find a college that fits, be your self, and you can be, as many others have done, a success without an elite school degree. "A college, like a new suit, has to fit. I don't care if it is number one on the U.S. News & World Report list and has an endowment of $20 billion. If it does not offer the courses and activities that feed your soul, it is no good. If the dorms are awash in alcohol and you only drink tea, if there is no football team and you ache to yell your lungs out on Saturday afternoon, if the economics department is Keynesian and Milton Friedman is your man, go somewhere else."
"Unfortunately, many seventeen-year-olds don't enjoy analyzing their likes and dislikes in such detail. I was like that when I was their age, and the teenagers I know today are the same. They will latch onto two or three things that strike them as pleasing or annoying but not conduct a full audit. And they will let other people set their agenda for them, including the college recruiters and tour guides who want them to choose a particular school."
Earlier this week I was thinking about my early encounters with Bill Veeck, the outspoken White Sox owner and author, who had some unconventional fan-oriented ideas about improving baseball. I started this book with its challenge to conventional wisdom sounding title and its early telling of how the author had started out at Occidental and did not appreciate how good an education he was getting until he transferred to Harvard where his courses "were full of contradictory theories that gave me a headache."
Mathews continued his outspokenness with "Your friends may tell you being admitted to a college with a luminous name will guarantee a life of happiness, but all the available evidence suggests they are wrong. Getting into a brand-name school like Yale, Stanford, or Amherst will not alter your occupational, financial, and romantic future any more than buying that French colonial on Elm Street. As we shall see, the notion that the brand-name schools can guarantee high salaries and satisfying careers for all their graduates is a scam. The success of many graduates of Ivy League schools is a matter of qualities established long before they ever got to college and has little, if anything, to do with what they learned or whom they met at those great universities."
Even if what he says is true about Harvard, his being a Harvard alumnus makes his statements more credible. If he was a state university graduate criticizing Harvard he might be regarded as jealous. While he continues
"While at Harvard I learned that many Ivy Leaguers, including me, assumed that we would one day wield great power. But once out in the real world, I've learned that my faith in the triumph of the elite was not well founded. Elite school graduates are not more immune that anyone else to the widening gap between youthful expectations and adult lives."
Mathews quotes a Harvard professor about the great importance of learning outside classes: "When we asked students to think of a specific, critical incident or moment that had changed them profoundly, four-fifths of them chose a situation or event outside of the classroom."
Mathews openly admits some biases: He prefers larger schools because they offer more surprises although he preferred the education he received at Occidental to that at Harvard. He dislikes the SATs although he does suggest that they might help a student with weaker grades.
Some of Mathews' theories I agree with such as the importance of fit. His theory that colleges are looking for students with a passion.
Some the aspects of college admissions that outrage him are not very well known such as the massive wait lists with very little movement off of them at many elite schools.
A former Harvard professor, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, died this week. He like Mathews had a provocative effect on many as he "never shrank from following evidence wherever it led and speaking his mind when he got there." Some of Mathews' comments about elite schools and the disadvantage of going to elite high schools will enrage many who are deeply invested in those institutions.


Practical And Sound Advice.   April 10, 2003
Robert A. Spillman (Bethlehem, Pa. USA)
14 out of 15 found this review helpful

This is a marvellous book. It will make a college search fun and successful.I highly recommend it to both parents and college seekers. The advice on what to do if you are wait-listed at the college that is your first choice is worth the price of the book alone.The back of the book contains ratings on 100 colleges and smaller universities where a student can get a high quality education. Start at the top and work your way down the list. Their is a school on this list that is just right for you.


required reading for H.S. freshmen's parents!   March 13, 2003
15 out of 17 found this review helpful

With two kids of my own in college and one a high school freshman, the only thing worse then worrying about prom nite and all the decision making about who's going to be in which limo -- is planning the college application process.

Parents of entering high school students should read Mathews' book BEFORE running out in their child's junior year and buying U.S. News and World Report's College Guide.

Mathews' book is a no nonsense, wise guide. And I don't want to give out one of his best secrets but you wouldn't BELIEVE which celebrity didn't finish high school!

Of course he also offers his own list of universities that deserve a peek. I know of some of them because I presently know of friends' children attending those schools and they really offer a fine education.


No Sour Grapes Here   August 9, 2006
S. Glynn Roberts (Houston, Texas)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

If this was written by a Harvard-reject, credibility would be the central issue. This author, however, received his undergraduate and graduate degree from Harvard and is one of the few insiders who is qualified to reveal the secret: Harvard, etal are great institutions because of the kids they get and not what they do for the kids.

This is an important book for kids and parents of children who are considering the highly selective schools, particularly those with the out-sized reputations.