One of the most interesting side issues brought up in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby is that of academic institutions. As the "old-money" rich saw it, a man's prestige could be measured by his schooling.
Fitzgerald illustrates this fact masterfully when he writes of the doubts the characters have about Gatsby's having attended Oxford University, and their subsequent quest to discover the validity of that claim. "Well," Jordan Baker said, "-he told me once he was an Oxford man. However, I don't believe it"(53).
Again discussing Gatsby's college history, Tom says, "An Oxford man! Like hell he is! He wears a pink suit." Ivy League universities are so well respected that the characters are not able to accept that a man like Gatsby had attended one. Not until Gatsby explains in chapter seven, "It was nineteen-nineteen. I only stayed five months. It was an opportunity they gave to some of the officers after the Armistice. We could go to any of the universities in England of France" (136).
Further defining the importance of which schools one attended is the comment of Meyer Wolfshiem. Speaking of Gatsby, "[W]hen he told me he was an Oggsford I knew I could use him good" (179).
Other characters also cite their schools as if medals of honor. Nick Carraway mentions that he had attended Yale University.
Instead of a man's value being decided on the basis of his effort and ability, the rich assign value on the basis of pedigree and, as Fitzgerald demonstrated, the academic institutions one has attended.