Ivy League education pays off

They are some of most prestigious and toughest schools to get into – and they only take the best of the best.

They also are schools that have long, successful, athletic traditions.

For some getting into the prestigious institutions might mean being set for life when getting out into the real world.

The Ivy Eight, Cornell, Princeton, Harvard, Columbia, Penn, Yale, Dartmouth and Brown, are some of the top schools in the country – and some of the toughest schools to crack.

So, when a student-athlete gets a shot to attend one of these fine institutions they usually don’t turn them down – even if it means going into debt for a very long time.

You have to remember for presidents, top executives of Fortune 500 companies and others have all roamed the hallow halls.

But, what does it take to get notice or get into these schools?

For one, it takes brains. You have to be in the top of your class and score very, very well on your SAT’s to get a chance to get in. Even if you score high, there is no guaranteed that you will be an Ivy Leaguer.

In this series we will take a look at the Ivy League experience through the eyes of three local kids who have or are attending these prestigious schools.

We will go through the challenges of what it’s like to be a student-athlete at schools that don’t offer athletic scholarships, but do offer high academics.

Getting started

You have been an established athlete the last four years in high school and now it is time to choose to where you want to attend college.

You are looking for an institution that can give you both athletics and academics. You have applied to many and recruiters have been at your games telling you how great the college life is.

Just when you think you know what school you are ready to sign up to a late entry comes in. They tell you how great the school is, how great the academics are. They start rolling out all the famous people that attended the school and how great the college atmosphere is.

This happen to Mike Devine. Devine was a goaltender at Canisius High School before moving on to the Buffalo Lightning, now Buffalo Jr. Sabres.

Devine was being looked at by a lot of Division III schools, but no one from the Division I level.

So when Dartmouth came calling, he jumped at the chance.

“Dartmouth was the only DI program to take me seriously as a recruit,” he said recently from New York City. “I was talking to D3 schools, but I knew I wanted to give DI a shot. I was prepared to play another year of juniors to try and make it happen, but luckily Dartmouth gave me the chance to come there after only one year of juniors. I was probably one of the easiest recruits they ever had.”

Devine’s story is just one of many that happened the say way. He was a person who had the drive to succeed, but for some reason schools weren’t looking at him as a top prospect.

For Hamburg resident Clay Del Prince (Frontier), however, there were a lot of Division I schools interested in his services.

Del Prince was a highly sought after lacrosse recruit, who made a name for himself playing defense for the Falcons.

He said he choose Brown over other Division I schools because of the tradition and because of a pretty good selling job by the head coach.

“The largest and most obvious difference is the fact that most of the other schools that were recruiting me could toss around scholarship numbers as part of their pitch, saying things like, “between your grades and scholarship were prepared to give you, going here would be free,” stated De Prince recently from Brown. “For Brown, head coach Lars Tiffany sold me on the recent success of the program and the advantage that an Ivy education would give me.”

Recruiting athletes to come to the schools sometimes can be very difficult. Coaches have to factor in their grades and their financial situations when they offer.

Harvard lacrosse coach Chris Wojcik says one of his selling points to recruits in education they can receive.

“I use the drawing point of a Harvard education,” stated Wojcik recently by phone from Cambridge, Mass. It’s Harvard. A lot of people want to come here.”

But, just because you are expected into the Ivy League schools doesn’t mean you can afford them. In part II of our series we will look at the cost of the colleges and universities and how one can afford to attend.

Cost

In this day and age a college education doesn’t come cheap. Many kids are in debt because of the massive students loans they have to take out over a four-year period just so they can say they have a college degree.

Add in the fact the economy is what it is and good luck trying to find a job.

Like most big time colleges and university attending them are not cheap. What one might have to pay out in student loans for one year of education, they might not make that in one year of work.

While universities like Notre Dame, California Berkeley and others are very expensive so to are the Ivy League schools. Here is a list of what it would cost each year to attend these schools.

Princeton ($52,180); Dartmouth ($55,386); Yale ($55,000); Brown ($54, 390); Harvard ($47,215); Columbia ($43,304); Penn ($47,520) and Cornell ($39,450).

So how can people like Allan Amico (Princeton), Del Prince (Brown) and Devine (Dartmouth) afford these schools?

Some is financial aid others is student loans. Either way these young men know that debt (and a lot of it) will be waiting for them when they graduate.

Either way, it never stopped them from trying to obtain that dream of playing sports and attending an Ivy League school.

“As soon as Dartmouth asked me to commit, my parents basically said they would do anything to make sure I could go there,” explained Devine. The aid package Dartmouth set us up with gave me the chance to go, and I can’t thank my parents enough for never making me feel like that would be an issue.

Added Del Prince: “The only way to get money to help with my education is through need-based financial aid. The problem with this is that it changes on a yearly basis. Dependent upon my family’s financial situation in a given year, I could end up paying anywhere between half tuition and full tuition.”

You would think that kind of pressure would be a lot of handle, but Del Prince just tries to put it in perspective.

“It’s tough to think that there’s already X amount of money that I’m in debt at age 20,” he said. “Which puts a significant amount of pressure on me to make sure I don’t blow this opportunity.”

So why do it? Why put yourself thousands of dollars in debt?

The answer for some is simple – the academics and the advantages is may bring later down the road.

In part III of our series we will take a look at the rigors of academic life and how sometimes that makes the road a little tougher.

Academic Rigors

If worrying about how you are going to pay for college isn’t challenging enough, add in the fact that the academics are just as tough.

You don’t attend an Ivy League school and expect to cost by. The schools are meant to challenge you mentally and if you play sports physically as well. It’s a challenge that can drain you from day one.

“The academic rigors are highly intensive and very demanding,” stated Amico. “It does not matter what sport or extracurricular activity you are in. The standards are expectations are always the same for everybody. Athletic commitments make it difficult to balance extracurriculars and school at times, but in the end, you need to find a way to take care of your main priority – academics.”

For Devine, it wasn’t so much the academics were tough, but it was the teachers who were teaching the classes that made it difficult.

“The material we learned in classes at Dartmouth was, for the most part, no different than the material learned in most colleges and universities,” explained Devine. “The difference was in the quality of the teachers and the competitiveness of the other students. I never found myself overwhelmed by academics, but classes were competitive and that is what prepared me most for what I do today. And I can’t stress enough how much playing college sports and balancing school and hockey prepared me for life after sports.”

Del Prince – who is a pre-med major – says that while classes are tough it still depends on your major.

“I can’t speak for the other Ivy League schools, but at Brown the amount of rigor a student is going to bear is dependent upon what they choose to study and they are planning to do after graduation,” said Del Prince. “Personally, following the pre-med track in not easy here. Between the courses I need to take for my concentration and the courses required for medical schools, the course load is pretty full. Going to class is a requirement and labs take up a lot of afternoon time.”

While the classes’ maybe tough and schools maybe expensive, we will take a look at how it all pays off in the end in part IV of our series.

Paying off

While the classes are tough and the schools are expensive, there is a silver lining in all of this – hopefully.

Soon you will graduate from a four-year school with a degree that says Brown, Harvard, Princeton or Dartmouth. You will be armed for the real world with an Ivy League education and the knowledge that you can do almost anything.

Studies show that an Ivy League degree maters for something. Starting salary for graduates that typically have two years experience are as follows:

Princeton - $58,900

Dartmouth - $54,100

Harvard - $57,300

Penn - $59,600

Yale - $52,600

Brown - $49,000

Cornell - $57,500

Columbia - $54,300

For those who have around 15 years of experience the pays goes up.

Princeton - $123,000

Dartmouth - $123,000

Harvard - $121,000

Penn - $111,000

Yale - $110,000

Brown - $109,000

Cornell - $106,000

Columbia - $99,700

But, just because you have that diploma doesn’t mean the jobs will just be handed to you. You still have to work and compete with some of the brightest minds to come out of school in some time.

“It may make the initial job search easier,” stated Amico. “But, in the end, no matter who you are or what school you went to you will have to prove yourself.”

For Devine, who graduated from Dartmouth a few years ago, having the degree in hand helped him when it came to job searches.

“It has helped me to get my foot in the door at both of the employers I’ve had,” explained Devine. “It’s not a guarantee in any way, but it has definitely played a major role in getting interviews. There are a lot of other elements that affect the process, but the degree has definitely been a good foot in the door.”

Since graduation, Devine has moved to New York City and is working for Credit Suisse.

“I worked for GE Capital in a leadership program they offer to recent college grads,” stated Devine. “After two years there, I moved to Credit Suisse and now sell emerging market fixed income products. I’m based out of New York City.”

Del Prince, who is a sophomore, believes an Ivy education will payoff in the end.

“To be frank, yes,” he said. “I’m hoping that the sacrifices I’m making right now in terms of money, time and effort will give me an advantage not only in the experience I’m gaining, but also the inherent advantage that comes with having an Ivy League diploma.”

Del Prince choose Brown because of its medical program and knows once he graduates his chances to get in med school are going to far easier.

“In terms of medical school applications, Brown undergraduates have far better acceptance rates than the national average, which was a contributing factor in my decision to come here. I understand that my grades and extracurricular work will be most important when it comes to apply, but I would not have a problem with the Ivy League prestige giving me a competitive advantage. I certainly think that it’s harder to get top-notch grades here than most other schools, which balances the prestige a little bit.”

In the final part of the series, we will take a look at some of the advice these three young men can give to upcoming boys and girls who want to get an Ivy League education.

Advice/Conclusion

Talking to all three young men they say they would easily do it again. They would easily become in debt to try and live out their dreams of obtaining an Ivy League education and, for some, playing sports at a Division I level.

But, it might not be for everyone. The pressure of succeeding in a pressure cooker that is Harvard or Princeton or Yale or Brown or Dartmouth could be overwhelming.

However, if it something for you, the boys have some advice.

“Go, and do anything in your power to make it happen,” stated Devine. “I can’t speak for other Ivies, but Dartmouth was an absolutely incredible experience. The guys I played with, the people I met, the friends I made, the experiences I had both on and off the ice; those are things I’ll remember the rest of my life. The quality of people I was lucky enough to surround myself with at Dartmouth was unbelievable. I cannot possibly say enough about that school. It’s a special place.”

Added Del Prince: “If a student-athlete gets the opportunity to study and compete at any Ivy school, I would recommend taking it. Hundreds of thousands of high school students from around the world are competing for spots at these schools and athletics can be a golden ticket. The most important thing to understand is to stay focused. There are plenty of distractions from plenty of people that have more free time than student-athletes.”

Amico who also is a sophomore at Princeton University agrees that he would do it again.

““Besides the outstanding academic reputation of Princeton, it also offers a great place to live and experience college as an undergraduate,” explained Amico. “Princeton offers a large yet intimate campus focuses on undergraduate education. It’s also close to New York City and Philadelphia if you ever want to escape from the suburban lifestyle. I have had an amazing time so for and have no regrets.”