Boston College, “New Ivy”

On the 29th of April, Forbes Magazine released an article titled, New Ivies: As Employers Sour on the Super-Elite, these 20 Colleges Shine. Our very own Boston College was listed on this article as one of the universities employers are consistently eager to hire from.

The article began by acknowledging the problem with most of the old “Ancient Eight” Ivy-league universities, namely that the criterion for admission and the standards for rigorously educating students at the Ivies have decreased over time. The Harvard of today is not the Harvard of twenty or even ten years ago. 

The Ivy-league graduates of years past were well-rounded, personable and intelligent students that every employer wanted. Now, while ivy-league graduates are hardly not dumb, they apparently are not as well-rounded and personable as they once were in general.

Forbes adds that as the admission policies of the Ivy-league changed, the universities have put together classes of “amalgamated specialists instead of well-rounded, bright students.” More and more, it seems as if the humanity of the student is overlooked in favor of just a standardized test score. Standardized test scores are important, but what good is all the education in the world if a graduate has trouble working cohesively on a team?

Forbes notes another problem facing the Ivies in recent years: “[G]rade inflation at top schools Harvard and Yale.” With an inaccurate and soft grading system, there is now a perception among those accepted to Ivy-league universities that as long as they get in, they are set for life. 

The decline of incentives to work hard in Ivy-league schools seems to do nothing but dull the type of graduates these universities produce. Whereas before, one worked hard to get into an Ivy-league school, worked hard to succeed in the school, and worked hard after graduation, nowadays, the incentives are so deadened that the perception is that one only has to work hard to get into school and coast afterwards.

Another problem facing Ivy-league universities is mounting political turmoil as protests at college campuses seem to beguile the Ivy universities more than elsewhere. One would think that the time-tested Ivies, some of which are more ancient than the United States, would be able to rebut these encroachments against the social order and daily function of the University; however the Ivies seem uniquely unable to do so when compared to other universities.

With all these problems beguiling the Ivy-league, Forbes turned to hiring-managers to see which non-ivy universities were the most attractive to employers. Their study concluded with a list of ten private and ten public universities that were considered new-ivy schools. It should come as exciting but unsurprising news that Boston College was at the top of Forbes’ list for the new-Ivy Private Universities.