Final Draft Essay

Jasmine Clark
Mrs. Copeland
27 April 2009
English 12-7

Ivy League vs. Historically Black Colleges "Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe"(Abraham Lincoln). Different people will interpret this quote in different ways. Some people may interpret this as a negative message, but I see it as a positive motivator. This is how I understand it: If someone gives a person an opportunity to better himself he should prepare himself as much as possible. I believe an education is only what a person makes it. It can be of great use or it could just be useless. Only the student can be the one to decide which it will be. Ivy League and Historically Black Colleges have a lot more similarities than people may think (Clark). Each student attending these colleges is striving for a goal. The steps the individuals may take are different due to the college they attend. "Large percentages of students graduating from black schools go on to get advanced degrees, often at elite graduate schools." (Black 56) After a student graduates from the college of his choice, he would have earned a degree in his field of his choice. This is one thing that is similar but different at the same time. A degree that is earned does not guarantee that a person will be able to use it in different ways. A person that went to an Ivy League College can end up working at McDonalds instead of in a law firm or a hospital. Although, Ivy League Colleges are suppose to be the best in the nation. Even if a person goes to a Historically Black College they are still able to receive a high paying job. "Smart students, no matter where they attend college, will use their drive, intelligence and sense of timing to create a situation where they can
Clark 2 succeed..." (Mathews 18). "No schools uniformly dominate another, particularly when it comes to preparing students for the labor market" (Hays 3). There are only eight colleges that are classified as Ivy League. The names of these colleges are Harvard, Yale, Penn, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth and Cornell. These schools were some of the earliest American institutions founded: Harvard in 1636, Yale in 1701, Penn in 1740, Princeton in 1746, Columbia in 1754, Brown in 1764, Dartmouth in 1769 and Cornell in 1865. The criteria to become accepted in to these colleges are much harder than that of Historically Black Colleges. Harvard College is one of the hardest colleges in the nation to be admitted to. The application acceptance rate is 8%. Harvard is a private and liberal arts college. Yale University's acceptance rate is not much higher than Harvard's. The institution only accepts 9% of all the applications that are submitted. The total cost per year $47,500. The University of Pensive is located in a very large city. The population is 500,000. This is also a private university. The major that is most studied there is business and marketing. Princeton University is located in New Jersey. Princeton University only accepts 10% of the applicants. The suburbs are the setting of this university. There are 5,600 undergraduates at Columbia University. The cost of tuition per year is $37,300. The percentage of acceptance letters that is returned to the students is eleven. The admission rate for Brown University is 14%. This is private, liberal arts, four year, coed university. Dartmouth College, a private college, located in Hanover, New Hampshire, has a fifth teen percent acceptance rate. Social sciences are Dartmouth's most popular major. Last is Cornell University. Cornell University has the highest acceptance rate of all of the Ivy League Colleges. Its acceptance rate is 21%. The number of undergraduate enrollments is 13,500. The tuition per year is $34,800. The top three Historically
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Black Colleges are Spellman University, Morehouse College and Florida A&M University. Spellman College

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