Boston College named among Forbes' New Ivies
The Ivy League is forfeiting its standing as America’s producer of great talent, while a cohort of ascendent public and private universities, including Boston College, is emerging as the academic institutions employers rely on for new hires, according to Forbes’ listing of the “New Ivies,” published April 29.
Based on its research, Forbes, the century-old national business magazine, reported that American companies are not only souring on hiring Ivy League graduates, but also prefer the hardworking, high-achieving graduates from the 20 prominent U.S. universities that comprise their list.
Split into two categories—“Private and Public New Ivies"—Boston College heads the list of 10 private universities that are “turning out the smart, driven graduates craved by employers of all types,” while “the Ivies are more apt to turn out entitled ones,” according to the magazine.
Joining BC in the private school “New Ivies” listing are Carnegie Mellon University; Emory University; Georgetown University; Johns Hopkins University; Northwestern University; Rice University; University of Notre Dame; University of Southern California; and Vanderbilt University.
“Forbes' ‘New Ivies’ listing is an external validation of the quality of our students and their ability to use their liberal arts education to become leaders and solve problems in an increasingly complex world,” said BC’s Grant M. Gosselin, dean of Undergraduate Admission and Financial Aid. “It’s a quality that is in demand among hiring leaders.”
"We are thrilled to be recognized by Forbes as one of the 'New Ivies,'" added Associate Vice President for Career Services and Integrated Learning Joseph Du Pont. "This designation underscores our commitment to fostering an environment where academic excellence and career preparation go hand in hand.
"Our Jesuit tradition of educating the whole person is fundamental, encouraging our students to pursue work that is not only meaningful but also impactful, preparing them to make a positive difference in the world," he added. "Our students are equipped not just with knowledge, but with the adaptability and drive that today's dynamic job market demands."
The magazine surveyed nearly 300 subscribers to its “Future of Work” newsletter, 75 percent of whom possess direct hiring authority. According to the publication, “33 percent of those making hiring decisions said they are less likely to hire Ivy League graduates today than five years ago. Only seven percent said they were more likely to hire them.”
Entrepreneur, “Shark Tank” investor, and Indiana University alum Mark Cuban noted in the Forbes article: “I don’t give an edge to Ivy League schools. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t hire one. It’s just that I never believed they make better employees.”
“Forbes' ‘New Ivies’ listing is an external validation of the quality of our students and their ability to use their liberal arts education to become leaders and solve problems in an increasingly complex world. It’s a quality that is in demand among hiring leaders.”
To determine their “private and public Ivies” list, the Forbes’ researchers first disqualified the “Ancient Eight” (Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, and Yale)—along with the what it characterized as the commonly accepted “Ivy-plus” universities such as the University of Chicago, Duke, MIT, and Stanford—resulting in 1,743 colleges with at least 4,000 students for their survey.
Using 2022 admissions data, they screened for colleges with high standardized test scores—schools that still heavily rely on objective measures of success—and where at least half of the applicants supplied their scores, whether required or not. Their focus on SAT or ACT results was based on findings from the non-profit research firm Opportunity Insights, which demonstrated that standardized test assessments are “both more predictive of success in college than grades, and fairer to all applicants,” the article noted.
The researchers also screened the schools with a selectivity measure (below a 20 percent admission rate at private schools and 50 percent at public universities), resulting in 32 colleges remaining for the hiring manager respondents to assess.
Forbes reported that 31 percent of the hiring managers thought that non-Ivy private universities like BC were doing a better job of preparing job candidates, while 37 percent praised state universities for their students’ preparedness.
“This designation underscores our commitment to fostering an environment where academic excellence and career preparation go hand in hand. Our Jesuit tradition of educating the whole person is fundamental, encouraging our students to pursue work that is not only meaningful but also impactful, preparing them to make a positive difference in the world. Our students are equipped not just with knowledge, but with the adaptability and drive that today's dynamic job market demands.”
According to the magazine, the Ivies have “taken the value they’ve spent centuries creating—a degree that employers craved—and in just a few years done a lot to forfeit it.”
The state universities identified by Forbes as “public Ivies” included Binghamton University; Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus; University of Texas-Austin; University of Florida; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; University of Maryland-College Park; University of Michigan-Ann Arbor; University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill; University of Virginia-Main Campus; and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
While Forbes readily admits that the Ivy League schools haven’t completely “lost their luster,” Jacqueline Reses, a Penn alumna, donor, and member of Wharton’s Board of Advisors, said, “I wouldn’t forego the opportunity to hire brilliant, tenacious, smart wonderful kids, but I’d be more thoughtful in how I’d screen them.”