The Ivy League College Degree Advantage

Many students with high academic credentials seek admission to an Ivy League institution, aware of the prestige, job opportunities, and increased earnings that a degree from one of these eight elite institutions is likely to impart. The Ivy League is comprised of Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale.  

U.S. News & World Report reviewed recent data from PayScale and concluded that Ivy League graduates earn substantially more than do graduates from more than 1,500 other four-year universities. Early career median pay in 2022 was reportedly $86,025 for Ivy League graduates, compared to $58,643 for graduates of other universities. That gap grew wider when considering mid-career median pay, with Ivy League graduates earning $161,888 compared to $101,777 for graduates of other institutions – a difference of more than $50,000 per year.  

 

Not only do Ivy League students have greater potential earnings, but they typically enjoy a lower cost of education.  All the Ivy League schools (with the exception of Columbia which declined to share information) are in the Top 20 on the U.S. News Best Value Schools list.  For the most part, they have a “no loans” policy, which means they meet the full financial need of all students without requiring them to take out loans.

Ivy League students also enjoy the prestige and many benefits of attending a school with a huge endowment ($53 billion at Harvard), extremely low acceptance rate (ranging from 4% to 9%), academic excellence, and a highly accomplished faculty. Ivy League institutions all host a powerful alumni network.  At Wharton, the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, all graduates are given a prestigious Wharton email address and more than two-thirds of graduates actively engage with contacts from the alumni directory. Notable Wharton alum include Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Sundar Pichai, and Phil Murphy.    

Name recognition alone often opens doors for Ivy League graduates. In addition, these institutions offer their students an extensive array of professional development services, and then host powerful companies on campus that are enthusiastic to recruit these high-in-demand graduates.  

 

What’s the bar for high school students seeking admission to one of these highly competitive schools? A look at Naviance will indicate the SAT scores of accepted students from your high school at each Ivy League institution (typically in the 1500’s) as well as the average GPA (typically above 4.0 due to an abundance of AP courses).  What you can’t see on Naviance is the back story: the exceptional accomplishments of accepted students, the fact that they may be a “legacy” with an alumni parent or a first-generation college applicant, and other distinguishing factors.              

Susan Alaimo is the founder and director of Collegebound Review that, for the past 25 years, has offered PSAT/SAT® preparation and private college advising by Ivy League educated instructors. Visit CollegeboundReview.com or call 908-369-5362