- A new study finds that an Ivy League degree doesn't meaningfully increase a graduate's future income compared to attending a good state school.
- But it can boost one's chances of working for an elite employer, which could lead to riches.
- Americans are debating the merits of affirmative action and legacy admissions at Ivy League schools.
Getting rejected by an Ivy League university — and attending a good state school instead — likely won't have a big impact on your future earnings.
But, you'll be less likely to impress your friends and family by working an elite job.
That's according to a new study by Opportunity Insights, a group of Harvard-based economists. The researchers looked at students who were wait-listed by Ivy League schools and compared the estimated future earnings of those who eventually got in with those who didn't — and attended one of nine flagship public universities instead.
They found that attending an Ivy rather than a state flagship only had "a small and statistically insignificant impact" on graduates' future earnings, boosting their projected income at age 33 by an average of 3%.
Their findings were consistent with a 1999 study co-authored by Princeton economist Alan Kruger, which concluded, "Students who attended more selective colleges do not earn more than other students who were accepted and rejected by comparable schools but attended less selective colleges."
—Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) July 24, 2023
Both studies suggest that it's the quality of the student — more than their school — that is more predictive of their future earnings. As debate rages across the US about the Supreme Court's ruling on affirmative action and the merits of legacy admissions — both of which opponents argue will keep underrepresented students out of the Ivies — these findings suggest that perhaps, getting into one of these schools isn't quite all that it's cracked up to be.
That's not to say attending an Ivy offers no advantages, however.
While attending an Ivy League school only increased students' future income by 3% on average, the researchers found that it boosted any one student's chances of reaching the top 1% in income at age 33 by 59%. So while attending an Ivy didn't meaningfully boost students' odds of making more money on average, it did boost their odds of getting super-duper rich.
US households would need to earn an annual gross income of roughly $598,000 to be in the top 1% of earners, according to a January SmartAsset analysis.
Attending an Ivy also roughly tripled students' chances of working for a "prestigious" or "elite" employer by the age of 25 and doubled their odds of attending a highly-ranked graduate school by age 28. The researchers used student preferences and publicly available ratings to categorize employers.
It could be these connections to elite employers that helped propel some Ivy graduates to jobs in the top 1% income level.
If a 1% salary and working for an elite employer sounds particularly enticing, the researchers found that there's one factor that dramatically increases a student's chances of admission to an Ivy — having parents who are extremely wealthy.
Among applicants with the same ACT or SAT score, students from families in the top 1% were 34% more likely to be admitted than the average applicant. Those with families in the top 0.1% had double the chances of getting admitted.
The nine flagship public universities used in the study were The Ohio State University, UC Berkeley, UCLA, the University of Florida, the University of Georgia, the University of Michigan, the University of North Carolina, the University of Texas, and the University of Virginia.
The study focused primarily on students who entered college between 2010 and 2015. Age 33 income levels were projected using a student's current income and data on their employers and graduate schools.