What came first, the Ivy League or the pretension?

The investment banking resume reviews are surfacing some weird Ivy League wars in the comments. Yes, one the one hand, chances are, it is much easier to get one of these analyst or associate track jobs if you come from a target school (note: I did not say Ivy League), since that’s where a lot of these firms recruit.

Now, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to get one of these jobs from a non-target school. As any number of readers can attest, and as we pointed out in a post about private equity and undergraduate schools, not everyone that landed these gigs were Exeter-Harvard-Harvard.

But the Ivy hype machine seems unstoppable. College entrance rates are at an all-time low and Ivy League admissions now some kind of ultracompetitive sport. Because of, or perhaps in response to, we’ve seen the creation of IvyGate (you may remember they were all over “Failure Cannot Be Considered an Option”), which was started by guys from Columbia, as well as the Harvard mag 02138, started by a Harvard alum. This is of course in addition to all of the actual school papers.

But all this coverage is just the beginning. 02138 has now been bought by Manhattan Media, a niche publisher that plans on taking Ivy porn to a whole new level, publishing magazines to help those live a 360 Ivy League lifestyle in any flavor of Ivy you wish.

President and CEO Tom Allon also announced that the company is launching a new division, Ivy League Media, which will publish a series of like-minded magazines, web sites and social networking events targeting alumni from other Ivy League schools, beginning with Princeton and Yale in 2009, followed by Cornell, Dartmouth, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, and Brown in 2010 and 2011. [T]he company will also increase 02138’s frequency from quarterly to six times a year beginning in 2009. Ivy League Media will also launch social networking websites for each of the magazines, and host regular alumni events, such as reunions and networking nights.

As publishers of a site dedicated to the lifestyles of financiers, we’re not in a place to criticize. And to be honest, there’s probably a lot of room for improvement when it comes to alumni social gatherings and such, which seem managed by a mix of volunteers, administration and other assorted, somewhat committed people. My thoughts are, however, that these types of publications will continue to keep the hype machine going. Which keeps donations coming in. Which keeps schools at the top of the ranks. Which adds to more hype. Which increases the value of Ivy League degrees. Which keeps the hype machine going…