Top Five Public Universities for Ivy League Alternatives

Just like Blair on Gossip Girl has dreamed of going to Yale since childhood, many students simply won’t be happy unless they are accepted to an Ivy League school. Some are driven since birth to maintain a perfect educational reputation, and some will do whatever it takes to attend the school of their dreams. In the end, is it worth the extreme hard work and dedication? After all, what’s in a name, as long as you get a top education and don’t owe more than what your parent’s house is worth when it is all said and done.

Yes, Ivy League schools are, in fact, prestigious. Who wouldn’t want the likes of Brown, Yale, Harvard, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, Cornell, or Dartmouth listed on their resume? And these elite private schools do “boast lower student-to-faculty ratios, fat endowments and name-brand cachet that, along with their active alumni networks, have long provided entrée into the upper echelons of the working world.”
Going to an Ivy league is definitely worth it if you are offered a great financial aid package, but it’s hard to justify being in a huge debt once the four years are up if you aren’t offered much aid. If long-term career and salary are what matter to you, and what else should, especially in today’s economy, then private school critics point out that the public school scenario may actually deliver a far better economic situation.
According to USnews.com, here are a list of the top five public universities:
1. University of California – Berkeley
2. University of Virginia
3. University of California – Los Angeles
4. University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
5. University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
via Smart Money
Read full article about Ivy League schools on Yahoo!