13 May Cut Out the College Shaming
Posted at 20:32h
in Uncategorized
Most of us have been there. At least in the United States.
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“What? You go to college X? Never heard of it.” “Why the heck would you go to University of X?” “Good luck getting a job with a degree from College X.”
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See, I come from Italy and did my bachelor’s at SUNY Geneseo in upstate New York to be closer to my American side of the family. I chose this school because it offers a great education for a quarter of the cost of a private university.
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See, Geneseo made it on the Princeton Review as one of the nation’s best universities for undergraduate education. But it’s not exactly famous outside of New York State, so many don’t know it.
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People outside of New York (but also within NY) have often judged my choice because there are bigger, more popular, and more expensive choices within the state such as Cornell, Columbia University, or NYU.
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During my undergraduate studies at Geneseo, I had brilliant professors, outstanding tutoring from caring supervisors, and a plethora of opportunities for internships, study abroad programs, clubs, and so on. I couldn’t have asked for a better college experience.
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Heck, I even enrolled in a master’s program in Austria and landed a couple of great internships at top companies since my graduation. These all added immense value to my resume without the price tag of a fancy brand-name undergrad school. I’m an average person, neither rich nor a genius. We all can be successful, independent of the college we end up attending.
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We all have different criteria for picking our ideal university or college. Some pick theirs for the excellent program in the major they want to study, while others pick theirs because of the school’s proximity to home.
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Anyway, we all pick our institution for higher education for diverse personal reasons. So why do we make assumptions about people based on their college preference?
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We save our money, we take out loans, work our butts off to get a scholarship or hope for the best after graduation just to get into college alone.
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Then, once we get accepted into a program and jumpstart a successful future, we’re judged because our college’s name isn’t renowned.
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It’s irritating and unfair.
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Today, you need a university degree just to be on the same level as anyone else seeking a job. Education is expensive and often leaves young graduates with a pool of debt with which to search for a job.
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To get more bang for their buck, many students pick state schools, which have a great reputation for providing top-notch education at an affordable price. Everyone wants to go to the Ivy League and prestigious schools to create lucrative networks of successful alumni. But, state schools can yield similar results and contribute to a lesser indebted start to your career.
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Often some people begin their university careers with an advantage. It can be financial, a legacy, a special talent, a good connection, or a better household situation – and it isn’t the same for everyone. We’re not all equal in our private lives and shouldn’t be treated as such.
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So if you’ve had the fortune to attend an institution such as Brown, UC Berkely, Harvard, Dartmouth, and so on you have a lot to be proud of, really. It’s a huge accomplishment and treat it as such. But respect those who did not have the same luck or advantage as you.
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School shaming is still a popular practice in the professional and private spheres, making the burden of education costs even higher.
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Don’t consider yourself intellectually superior or more talented than someone else just because your school is considered “better”. I for one graduated with no student debt because my tuition was within my financial capabilities. If I had picked a fancy private school, I could not say the same and would have graduated with a few thousand dollars to pay back.
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The New York Times columnist Frank Bruni published the book “Where You Go is Not Who You’ll Be” as a breather for stressed-out students and parents beelining for the top-ranked schools in the country. The book recounts the stories of many Americans who chose a variety of schools and achieved success without attending fancy private schools. The author states how among American-born CEOs of the top 100 companies in the Fortune 500, only 30 attended an Ivy League or equally selective institution. Successful executives don’t all have the same resume featuring a few select schools, quite the opposite. They have a wide variety of educational backgrounds and experiences. It was their drive, ambition, and hard work that enabled them to make it to where they are.
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Attitude gets successful people to the top.
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As a culture, we should focus on living and letting live and being able to make choices without fear of judgment. Especially when pursuing higher education to become more valuable members of society. College costs time, money, and effort – let’s not make it about the digits of our tuition fee or the name of our institution. Let’s rather focus on how we make our education count in the long run.
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Food for thought: maybe a big chunk of the national student debt crisis is also because of the pressure to go to a prestigious private university.
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It’s not about the school, it’s how we make the most of what we’ve got.