And why it does not guarantee a happy life
Nov 21, 2024
To many parents, getting their children into universities is a big deal. And big business for all the so-called “education consulting” companies.
Because today’s parents — especially Asian parents — are obsessed with top-ranking universities. Like the Ivy League schools in the US, or the equally prestigious ones in Europe.
Some of these parents are doing this to maintain their social status. But most are doing it wholeheartedly for their children. Thinking an Ivy League education can guarantee a better job. As well as a happier life for their children.
But is that true?
As an Asian veteran in the IT industry, my answer is no. And in this article, I am going to tell you why from my personal experience.
Going different paths
Recently I’ve seen several friends frustrated about their children’s future. More specifically, about not getting into universities of their choice.
But they are not blaming their children. They are just disappointed.
Because their original choices are all top-ranking universities. Now they are left with lower-ranking ones. And in their mind, the future of their children would be greatly impacted by these “second-class” universities.
I’ve always meant to tell them my personal story about universities but never had the chance.
And so here it is.
During my last year of undergrad in the late 90s, I decided to go to graduate school. My grades were OK but far from the top. So the university I had chosen for my graduate study was non-Ivy League.
A close friend of mine was also going to graduate school. And his grades were in the top 5% of my class. He could apply to any Ivy school, but he chose the same university as I did. Because he was also attracted by its excellent engineering program.
After we both got offers from the university, his parents called him out of the blue. They told him to reject the offer right away.
Their main reason was the university didn’t have a ranking that was high enough for people would know about. And so everything else didn’t matter. Finally, my friend did as told and got into another university — an Ivy League university.
In retrospect, did I get upset about it? No, not really.
Because I understood my grades were not as good. Instead of wishing for something else, I had to work with what I had. So I finished my graduate study in the non-Ivy university as planned.
Fast forward to the present.
My friend and I remain close. And we are both doing great in terms of careers and families. For me, going to different schools doesn’t make us feel different from one another.
You may ask, what about finding a job? A non-Ivy education might impact the chance of getting a good job.
Hiring of staff
Well, in my case, it doesn’t make any impact at all.
Right after graduation, I joined a telecom startup company when I was still overseas. A few years later, I moved back to my hometown in China. And I joined an established U.S.-based hospitality company.
To be honest, I didn’t experience many difficulties in both cases. So I don’t have much interesting insight to share. But years later. After I joined another tech startup company, things got much more interesting.
Because I was sitting on the other side of the table — I started hiring my staff.
Inside the company, a major part of the management was from one particular top-ranking university in China. So naturally, we ended up hiring a lot of fresh graduates from the same school to fill our junior positions.
These fresh grads had the top grades and a very competitive attitude. Exactly what we needed for a startup company, we thought.
However, in less than two years, we realized we were wrong.
We discovered they were very high performers on their own. But they didn’t work well as a team. So we changed our hiring approach. We started to look for candidates from other schools. No top-ranking schools.
And the results were way better. Everyone is a team player and nobody would fight for the spotlight. Thus, our hiring approach for junior staff has remained the same ever since.
As for hiring senior staff, we rarely looked at the school the candidate had graduated from.
Because similar to many companies. The essential hiring criteria are the candidate’s related experience and industry knowledge. Plus the references from his or her previous employers. Education background hardly comes up during the interview.
Therefore, in my view, an Ivy degree might help your kids on their first job. But in the long run, its effect would diminish over time.
Building up resilience
With all the good intentions, parents are determined to get their children into top-ranking schools. So when their kids fail to get admission, their disappointment is understandable.
But it is not the end of the world, far from it.
Many successful people didn’t hold an Ivy or equivalent degree. Among them are Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, etc.
On the other hand, getting rejected from a top school might not be so bad. It might even be more beneficial to the children than getting admitted.
Because everybody will face setbacks or disappointments in their lives. It is just a matter of when.
Thus, the younger the kids experience setbacks, the stronger they become in the rest of their lives. That makes them resilient—one of the much-needed life skills these days.
And no school, prestigious or not, can ever teach them that.
