Let me start by saying that no matter how hard I have tried over the years, I have acquired some of that ivy league pride. I try to keep it in check but whenever people try to take advantage of me or try to put me down, it kicks in. A voice protest, vehemently, saying
"How dare they? I am from Stanford. Forget it, I am a straight A student from Stanford. I belong to the 1% (or is it 0.1%?) of the population. They can't treat me like that!"
It happened when US embassy took five months to process my visa and I got stuck in Canada for five months. And quiet a few occasions before and after that as well. In my defense, I did work really hard to achieve that (straight As). Also, I usually don't show off my Stanford degree. Unless someone specifically ask which university I went to, I don't mention it. Instead, I mention my time in California or San Francisco Bay area.
The reason behind doing so is fairly simple. I usually get pretty strong reaction whenever I (or someone else) mention that I did my PhD from Stanford. Most of them are usually impressed and there is an obvious change in the attitude. A small fraction have change in attitude in a negative way. Somehow they get offended or rather annoyed by the fact that I have a degree from Stanford. I can literally see them rolling their eyes in their mind. And I kind of know the reason behind such a reaction. Almost everyone who graduates from Stanford have a big attitude. Their pride of being from Stanford overtakes everything else in their life. The first thing they will mention to anyone they meet will be the fact that they are from Stanford as if that is the only thing that defines them. I abhor such people.
My problem is with either kind of people: people who gets impressed by me because I am from Stanford and people who gets annoyed by me for the same reason (needless to say the second category bothers me more). Neither of these people take time to know me, see what I know, what I am capable of doing, how I am. The only fact important for them as well is that I am from Stanford. It annoys me to no end.
You see, I did my B.Sc. from Dabba college (DAV college) in Chuchu university (Ch Charan Singh University, Meerut). I will hate it if people judge me by that. Same way as I hate when people judge me by Stanford. I have always been a good student, no matter which university I went to. Judge me by that instead of judging me by the university I got my degree from. But again, I don't like to be put down. Somehow, being from Stanford has given me a kind of confidence/self-esteem.
"How dare they? I am from Stanford. Forget it, I am a straight A student from Stanford. I belong to the 1% (or is it 0.1%?) of the population. They can't treat me like that!"
It happened when US embassy took five months to process my visa and I got stuck in Canada for five months. And quiet a few occasions before and after that as well. In my defense, I did work really hard to achieve that (straight As). Also, I usually don't show off my Stanford degree. Unless someone specifically ask which university I went to, I don't mention it. Instead, I mention my time in California or San Francisco Bay area.
The reason behind doing so is fairly simple. I usually get pretty strong reaction whenever I (or someone else) mention that I did my PhD from Stanford. Most of them are usually impressed and there is an obvious change in the attitude. A small fraction have change in attitude in a negative way. Somehow they get offended or rather annoyed by the fact that I have a degree from Stanford. I can literally see them rolling their eyes in their mind. And I kind of know the reason behind such a reaction. Almost everyone who graduates from Stanford have a big attitude. Their pride of being from Stanford overtakes everything else in their life. The first thing they will mention to anyone they meet will be the fact that they are from Stanford as if that is the only thing that defines them. I abhor such people.
My problem is with either kind of people: people who gets impressed by me because I am from Stanford and people who gets annoyed by me for the same reason (needless to say the second category bothers me more). Neither of these people take time to know me, see what I know, what I am capable of doing, how I am. The only fact important for them as well is that I am from Stanford. It annoys me to no end.
You see, I did my B.Sc. from Dabba college (DAV college) in Chuchu university (Ch Charan Singh University, Meerut). I will hate it if people judge me by that. Same way as I hate when people judge me by Stanford. I have always been a good student, no matter which university I went to. Judge me by that instead of judging me by the university I got my degree from. But again, I don't like to be put down. Somehow, being from Stanford has given me a kind of confidence/self-esteem.
There is, however, a subtle difference between British and American approach to this, which I have discovered over the years. When in US someone realized I am from Stanford, their response were more on the line of "You are good. Of course, you went to Stanford". While in Britain the response I mostly get: "You went to Stanford, you must be good." Guess that's the subtle difference of culture.
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