Are Ivy league certs worthy over a few thousand bucks?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by vinodgopal, Mar 2, 2009.

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  1. vinodgopal

    vinodgopal New Member

    Some people keep bragging about their Ivy league education as if they have a couple of horns in their faces. In recent times I have seen almost 6 out of the 8 Ivy League schools offering online cert courses.

    Some of these courses range between $1500 (Harvard :) extension school) to $30,000 (MIT Sloan :eek: ) depending on which course one takes. Does obtaining an Ivy league cert apart from an existing degree from a non-Ivy league school carry any significant weightage in one's resume over say a normal online cert from a regionally accredited university albeit the cost?
     
  2. Ruble

    Ruble New Member

    As a person who does hiring I would definitely take a second look if I received an application with Ivy League credentials. That being said, if someone had a certificate from Florida and another a cert from Harvard, I would not consider any one better than the other, it would again fall back on track record and personality. On the same note, I would hire experience and a proven track record over any degree.
     
  3. CalDog

    CalDog New Member

    MIT is a highly regarded "brand name" in higher education, and can therefore charge a lot for its online courses. However, MIT is not actually among the eight members of the Ivy League.
     
  4. Go_Fishy

    Go_Fishy New Member

    I would not go that route because I assume that many people would interpret an Ivy cert as "This person just wanted the name on the resume." This doesn't have to be true of course, but I think it's safer to just get a certificate from a decent school that is well-known but not Ivy.
     
  5. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    It also means, "This person can do the work." Not all certs are created equal.
     
  6. vinodgopal

    vinodgopal New Member

    wow!

    thanks for both the ways of seeing the same situation.

    60% of the world's top 10 richest men are high school drop outs/college drop outs. But 75% of unemployed people are non-graduates. There are two ways of seeing the same thing.
     
  7. Vinipink

    Vinipink Accounting Monster

    Interesting!
     
  8. Go_Fishy

    Go_Fishy New Member

    Most people get certificates in things like accounting, not rocket science. Assuming that we are dealing with bright and motivated students, I would expect the GPA at Ivy League schools to be better because teacher quality and student support should be better.

    Yes, but 10 people are too small a sample to yield a statistically significant result. :D Also, some of these people dropped out because they were already working on becoming insanely rich and didn't have time for school.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 2, 2009
  9. vinodgopal

    vinodgopal New Member

    hmmm... thats your way of seeing it. My way of seeing it is the 10 richest people in the plannet are surely richer than the combined personal portfolios of the 75% unemployed people on earth!

    Just a thought ;)
     
  10. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    The fact that some people have succeeded without a university education means nothing when it comes to some other person. Are you saying that education is useless? Are you encouraging people to drop out of school? Are you dropping out of school? Of course you're not. So please don't make silly arguements. There are people who are 100 years old who have smoked cigarettes for their entire adult lives. Does that mean it's healthy to smoke? Please don't be silly.

    BTW, every Indian university I've checked states explicitly that you need to be either living in India or an Indian citizen living abroad in order to enroll. If this has changed it would be good news. Can you provide a link that indicates that Americans (for example) can enroll as distance learning students in any Indian universities?
     
  11. Woho

    Woho New Member

    I would say especially outside of the US these Ivy names are quite relevant. Most employers don't have that much experience with all the rankings and accreditation models. So some Top School might be a good way to show that you are really working on getting ahead and challenging yourself. Of cause it all comes down in the end how you are going to sell it ;)
     
  12. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    Is this so? I'd be interested in seeing the list.
     
  13. vinodgopal

    vinodgopal New Member

    @ above!

    Bill Gates is a classy example sir, so 5/9 to go!!

    Just think of some big names and here we go!
     
  14. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    Back on subject here - I add a UF certificate to my resume and had an "interview" recently and the person said (jokingly) "You graduated from UF so you must be okay" The name really helps.
     
  15. jaer57

    jaer57 New Member

  16. TCord1964

    TCord1964 New Member

    In my opinion, no. I have seen articles written by HR types and hiring managers who have been downright angry with potential hires trying to pass off Harvard Extension school and other Ivy League credentials as evidence that they have "attended" Harvard or some other name brand university. In their words, such resumes go right in the circular file.

    I think certificates are good in terms of the knowledge they may provide, and as a way of rounding out someone's studies and their resume, but people need to make it clear that their Cornell credential came from eCornell, that their Harvard degree came from Harvard Extension School, and so on. In the eyes of those doing the hiring, to do otherwise is being less than honest and will only hurt your chances of employment.

    At my job, I am upfront about the fact that my studies are being done online, and that I am working hard at my classes. Still, there are those who feel distance learning or online degrees are not "real" degrees. That bias still exists. It's just one more reason why I am considering getting my graduate degree from a local B&M school.
     
  17. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    I believe we're looking for 60% of the top 10 richest men in the world. We've got 1 so far. Are there 5 others in the top 10? Vinodgopal says so. Let's see.
     
  18. vinodgopal

    vinodgopal New Member

    Kizmet, Larry Ellison Oracle CEO, a former top 10 big boy, was a drop out as well I think.
     
  19. Vinipink

    Vinipink Accounting Monster

    Unless the person is a UM fan. >
     
  20. airtorn

    airtorn Moderator

    Warren Buffet has economics degrees from the University of Nebraska and Columbia University

    Carlos Slim Helú studied engineering at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. I don't know if he graduated.

    Lakshmi Mittal graduated from St. Xavier's College in Calcutta.

    Mukesh Ambani has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering.

    Rinat Akhmetov graduated from Donetsk National University.

    Oleg Deripaska has degrees in physics and economics.

    That brings us to at least 50% having degrees. We know that Gates didn't finish a degree. I don't know what the educational background is of the other three in the top 10.
     

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