St. John’s University recently made it onto the MarketWatch list of top ten U.S. colleges for upward mobility. The article discusses how these 10 colleges prove that you don’t need to go to an Ivy League school, such as Harvard or Yale, to achieve the American Dream.

I definitely agree that St. John’s should be included on this list. Within six months after graduation, 94.3 percent of SJU students are secure with a job or are back in school, which is higher than the national average of almost 82 percent, according to Inside Higher Ed. This statistic alone should be enough to see why St. John’s is included on this list. However, St. John’s also has a policy of “once a Johnny always a Johnny.” If you’ve never heard of this before, it means that even after you graduate, you can come back to career services and they’ll help you get situated with a job.

Still don’t believe that St. John’s should be on this list? Well, another great perk about being an SJU student is having access to an extensive alumni network throughout the city. This alumni network aids St. John’s students to get both internships and jobs.

From what I’ve heard from the success of students after graduation to the assistance St. John’s gives its students, I can certainly see why it has made this list.

Being in the city, where St. John’s is a very well known school, leads to great opportunities to get great internships and jobs that set you up well for the rest of your life. I personally chose St. John’s for the great opportunities that it would offer me being in NYC.

As a senior in high school looking for a college to attend, I heard from students how there were many internship opportunities in NYC that the school helped them find and I can certainly now vouch for that. I get weekly emails with new internship opportunities and I have friends who have had no problem getting an internship in Queens or Manhattan.

However, while I certainly agree that St. John’s should be on this list and does give students a chance for upward mobility, I do feel that there are limitations to a St. John’s degree that do not occur with an Ivy League school.

A St. John’s degree holds a lot of weight in New York City and the surrounding areas, but once you start shifting out of those areas, St. John’s may not be as well known as Ivy League schools. Don’t get me wrong, a St. John’s degree is still an amazing degree to receive, I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t, but it does have limitations compared to a degree from Harvard or Yale.

From this knowledge, I would say that St. John’s provides  some of the same opportunities that an Ivy League school would. They have amazing organizations to join, such as clubs pertaining

to your major or career goal. They also have programs to attend, like the activities and career fairs and internship opportunities that they assist you in pursuing.

St. John’s may not have the title of being an Ivy League school, but they offer amazing opportunities and give students a good chance for upward mobility.