Ivy Leagues give you an advantage, a head start in life. But there are many kinds of advantages that exist, and an Ivy League education is just one of those. Having the space to grow and explore is a luxurious advantage, and one that liberal arts colleges offer in spades. At the most crucial and impressionable time of life, young people thrive among like-minded peers. Being surrounded by people having similar goals and interests is a wonderful way to thrive. The average SAT score of incoming students at the Ivy League schools is only 40 points higher than that of students entering the top nine Liberal Arts Colleges, yet the average college acceptance rate at one of these Liberal Arts Colleges is nearly twice that of the Ivy Leagues. This goes on to show that students have varying levels of not only interests but also goals - neither of which is reflective of their intellect.
Would you prefer collaborative or competitive?
We’ve been living through difficult, uncertain times. Collaborative, rather than competitive, is the need of the hour. And our systems should work towards reflecting that. According to a survey by a consortium of American liberal arts colleges, 60% of Ivy students said the academic environment at their school was “competitive” to “highly competitive.” On the other hand, 80% of Liberal Arts students said theirs was “collaborative” to “highly collaborative.”
Where lies the talent pool?
Every top college in every field of study is a powerhouse of talent in itself, and they each go on to produce some of the brightest minds working in those fields. Liberal arts colleges are no different - from CEOs to Presidents to Nobel Prize Winners, to of course famous actors and writers, there’s a list of who’s who to rival any Ivy League: William McKinley, 25th president of USA; Brenda Barnes, CEO of Sara Lee; Steven Burd, CEO of Safeway to name a few.
Return on Investment – What does the data say?
All of these benefits of smaller liberal arts colleges come at, on average, significantly lower costs than that of an Ivy League. And they pay off equally well. For example, for a college like Williams, graduates earn an average Early Career Pay of $70,600 and an average Mid-Career Pay of $150,300, with the cost of attending with tuition being approximately $72,270 (according to payscale.com). For Pomona, an average Early Career Pay is around $70,200, with a Mid-Career Pay averaging at about $131,300, and tuition being around $56,284. Compare this to Princeton, which offers an Early Career Pay of $81,800, and a Mid-Career Pay of $161,500, with tuition being around $75,500. The comparable pay scale versus tuition remains roughly the same for the smaller liberal arts colleges and the Ivy Leagues, meaning a great return on investment - so that should be one worry off potential students’ minds.