Why Ivy League Degree Matters

Why Ivy League Degree Matters March 20 There is a great editorial up on Quartz on why an Ivy League degree matters, contradicting the claims of Frank Bruni in his latest book. Weve written extensively over the years why an Ivy League degree matters. In Frank Brunis latest book, Where You Go Is Not Who Youll Be, the New York Times columnist argues that going to a great university does not determine your success in life. We of course both agree and disagree. But before we even dissect this argument, wed first like to echo a point made by Jonathan Wai in his piece for Quartz entitled Frank Bruni is wrong about Ivy League schools. And, to that title, we sayamen! But heres the point wed like to echo: Mr. Bruni is a graduate of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and he earned his graduate degree from Columbia University. UNC is one of the nations most elite public universities and Columbia is one of the eight member institutions of the Ivy League. Mr. Bruni, an accomplished author and columnist, is quite successful, wed argue. Indeed, his life and career is a valid counterexample to his overarching claim. One of the ways by which Mr. Bruni disputes the notion that an Ivy League degree matters is by citing the alma maters of the American-born CEOs of the top 100 companies in the Fortune 500. Mr. Bruni concludes that about 30 of the 100 chief executives attended an Ivy League school. By the way, Mr. Bruni, there are other highly selective colleges not in the Ivy League as well like Caltech, MIT, Duke, Stanford, Amherst, Williams and, yes, even UNC, among several others we dont have the real estate within this piece to list. But its Jonathan Wai who offers up a great counterpunch to this analysis: Why stop at 100? Why not examine the entire Fortune 500? That is, in fact,  what I did in my research, published two years ago. And in  an extended analysis  from 1996 to 2014, I uncovered that roughly 38% of Fortune 500 CEOs attended elite schools (see the paper for the full list) for the last two decades. Go, Mr. Wai! Youve done your homework. Your data analysis is indeed much more com prehensive than the data analysis that likely took Mr. Bruni a mere few hours to put together (if the list wasnt already readily available). And thats but one example. The fact is, you dont need to attend an Ivy League college to be successful in life. An Ivy League degree does not mean youll be a go-getter, a hustler, someone who will challenge the status quo and redefine an industry. And yet so many of these kinds of people do attend or apply to Ivy League institutions. They tend to be go-getters from an early age. The fact is that  the data doesnt lie. A huge percentage of the top folks in business, a huge percentage of the top folks in so many fields from science to education and so many other domains, attended elite institutions. There is a reason so many people whose names we all recognize attended one of a handful of universities. Consulting firms like McKinsey hire almost exclusively out of the Ivy League and other highly selective colleges. It is how it is. To assert otherwise may be a popular argument, but it ignores the data suggesting otherwise. The data presented above is but a small piece of the puzzle. There is lots more to this puzzle that well be discussing in the days and weeks ahead.