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An Ivy League degree is no ‘golden ticket’

Mar 15, 2019, 3:43 PM

The campus of Georgetown University is shown March 12, 2019 in Washington, DC.  (Photo by Win McNam...

The campus of Georgetown University is shown March 12, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Only a tiny percentage of American families have ever resorted to cheating or bribery to get their kids into top schools, but all those who obsess on a few elite schools make a destructive mistake. USA TODAY cited an important study from 2011 that showed no gap in earning potential between those graduating from so-called “top” colleges and those educated in much less selective settings. So: That Ivy League degree is no “golden ticket” for success or happiness.

My own experience validates this conclusion: I earned my degree from Yale, but that credential played no role whatever in getting me any of the dozen wonderful and rewarding jobs I’ve held in life.

If you’re writing books, or broadcasting, your ability to communicate matters a lot but the prestige of your college diploma matters not at all. We’re measured by what we do, and not by the schools we attended.

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An Ivy League degree is no ‘golden ticket’