As graduating seniors already know, graduation day is approaching fairly quickly. Indicators of this are the pamphlets entitled "Almost Alumni" we received in our mailboxes and the winter season which is about to give rise to springtime in Nashville in a few weeks. I believe it is important at this juncture to look back on my career here at Vanderbilt with an emphasis on exactly what my degree means to me. Essentially, my degree is a one hundred and fifty thousand dollar piece of paper with my name and the great seal of our esteemed university on it.
What it means, is that the people who run the university have seen fit after I payed them a great deal of money to award me with the title, "Vanderbilt graduate" as if this title carries with it a certain esteem. Apparently, if I gradauted from here I am somehow more capable to function in an intelligent and motivated manner in our American society. Keep in mind that most students do not remember anything they learned in a classroom environment and hardly keep in contact with any of their professors at all. The 'knowledge' gained at Vanderbilt is hardly ever utilized in career choice, and even if a student chooses to pursue a career that involves their undergraduate study, the chances are very good that they will be trained for said career by the organization they work for. No classroom learning will be utilized and no written exams administered to check the progress of the newly-hired alumni.
Vanderbilt graduates are no more equipped for the workplace than any other graduating student. However, it is true that most Vanderbilt gradutes will end up changning careers three to five times just like every other college graduate over the last twenty-five years. What, then, is the advantage of having a Vanderbilt diploma? Does it grant me a step up on the competition to make more money? Perhaps, but that won't matter because many students graduate with a significant amount of debt from the hefty fine Vanderbilt heaps on us for the preivelage of attending its highly mediocre classes. Does it make me more intelligent in some way? Not really, as I have already illustrated, the classes most students take here, even in their majors, have little or nothing to do with whatever career path they decide upon. Surely, however, the Vanderbilt degree must mean something more, as their has to be some advantage behind paying so much for something so trivial. I would argue that there is no real advantage to it.
I will admit that I was duped by the college admissionsn process into believing that it was the name of the school and its reputation that led to a successful undergraduate career as well as success in the workplace. I fell for it and decided that I was going to purchase a name rather than a product. If only I had found out sooner that what counts is quality of education and dedication to learning at every level of university life, rather than tweaking some statistics for the U.S. News and World Report that led to a more fulfilling undergraduate education. Hey, if I do well enough in the classes the school mandated that I had to take I might even make Phi Beta Kappa, or Tau Beta Phi, or summa cum laude, or caesar augustus, or any of those other meaningless Latin phrases the system tacks onto your piece of paper for playing their silly game well enough. Then, I'll be on easy street for the rest of my life! Right, Vandy?
Think about it. -Eddie Hearn
