Talk me off a ledge

[Anonymous]

Less relevant but I'm brainstorming other schools that could have worked (for next year or other families in the same boat): regional privates, public LACs, etc that remain affordable
- Duquesne (they even have a BS/DO equivalent program + know happy speech pathology majors)
- SUNY Purchase and Geneseo (for a smaller, still affordable feel)
- UNC Asheville
- College of Charleston w/scholarship
- UVM w/ scharship
- Ohio University
- Miami University OH (a bit bigger tho)

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My DC has a full tuition scholarship (academic) to East Stroudsburg (applied there for reasons not relevant but also cast a wide net and all that).

Got into FAR more rigorous colleges (think, Villanova, Colgate, Lehigh) but they gave ZERO aid. And we'd be looking at $200-300K for undergraduate studies. The "in between" ones are not appealing to DC for various reasons.

Would be a pre-health path of some type.

DC is thinking of taking the full tuition scholarship. And I'm absolutely freaking out about it. I cannot find anything about their pre-health outcomes on their website. (I left these decisions re: applications mostly to her and never thought this would be what it came down to). While I'm sure there are many successful outcomes for that school, I'm feeling very anxious over the entire thing. DC worked very hard in HS and I just feel like why?

I acknowledge the snobbery in my post (i went to a similar type of school and wanted better for DC). But, I'm also legit worried about grad school and job placement outside of the small area of PA (it's more a regional school). Please give me some perspective.

My cousin had a similar thing happen. She got a full ride at an ok school and took it even though she got into an Ivy! She did premed, worked in the local hospital and is now at a good medical school who is top in the niche field she wants to study. She figured it out and made sure she was the top at the so/so undergrad school. She has great friends from there and she knew her extracurricular and hard work would get her into a good medical school.

Another friend decided to take the expensive route. She struggled at the more-well known schools and had to take time off and then reapply for medical school. Got into a so/so medical school, but then got an excellent residency, fellowship, and is finally in her surgeon level job. She has high 6 figure debt, but she and her spouse still were able to buy a 7 figure home. She has mentioned to be several times how she thinks she would have got here if she took an almost full ride with medical school component she got into instead of the fancy, name brand undergrad school. Now she has to pay back all that debt instead of doing other things.

That is to say if your kid has the drive, they will do it. He should go to the full ride place and you put aside what you would have for medical or graduate school or a downpayment on a home.

OR he transfers junior year so you are only paying fill price for the two last years and hell end up with a degree from the later anyway.

I will give you the flip side. Friend went to Princeton thinking she would be pre-med. Decided after Sophomore year it wasn't for her.

Ended up working for Bain Consulting after graduation.

Do you think OP's kid will have that optionality, or your cousin would have had that option?

DP. Yes.

Sure…so many ESU grads populating the ranks of top management consulting firms.

It’s possible.

Show an example…I mean winning the powerball is possible.

An Ivy caliber kid at ESU would have the same outcomes.

Explain how to all of us.

Explain to all of us how it’s impossible for a brilliant kid from ESU to get a top consulting job.

They won’t ever recruit there or step foot on campus…your resume just sent over the internet will be screened by AI to not make it to the desk of anyone with hiring capacity…they don’t know you were brilliant but ended up at ESU (BTW OPs kid didn’t get admitted to an Ivy), they just know you are at ESU.

Again…you are the one claiming it is possible, so give us the road map.

Networking.

Wow…what a road map…networking where? With whom?

You don't know how to network?

Hey…send your kid to ESU and let’s see who has any interest in networking with your kid.

Of course…you wouldn’t do it.

I'm sure they would be successful networking from ESU. Hopefully, with successful people far nicer than you.

You are full of s**t and you know it.

Actually, bright kids don't need to be coddled by elite colleges to get top jobs.

That’s not true at all…connected kids don’t need to be coddled…but the world is littered with bright kids that went to crappy colleges that never had a chance at top jobs and still don’t have them.

You are missing the point that out of 4000 colleges in this country…ESU is in the 3000-4000 range in the overall scheme.

Some bright kids that go to schools like ESU might not get a top job, but you’re kidding yourself if you really think it’s impossible.

99% won’t get a top job…again, how does anyone know they are bright? You can’t lay out any scenario in terms of how they get one of these jobs so you just respond in generalities.

Sorry…give the specific roadmap or just admit you don’t know how it happens.

You really think you need to go to an elite college for people to think you’re smart? Are you really that shallow?

You are really dense. Never said an elite school…this is about a school that ranks near the lowest in the country to basically all other schools.

If you think schools ranked in the top 250 or even 300 are elite.

Heck…go look at the colleges that change lives…even that person acknowledges there is a minimum cutoff that absolutely matters.

So now you are arguing with that guy.

You’re missing the point. A bright kid can be successful from ESU or any college. Bright kids will rise to the top and find a way. If you need a “road map” to understand I can’t help you.

You don’t have a road map…that’s your problem. You like to pretend you do because you won’t admit that you don’t have the foggiest idea of how an ESU grad becomes a Bain consultant.

You can’t provide anything specific because you are arguing a losing point.

Hey, send your kid to ESU and com back to us in 4 or 5 years. Let us know how it worked out.

You haven’t demonstrated that Bain won’t hire an ESU grad.

You haven't proven they will. Find me one grad working there as a consultant (understanding even Bain hires people to work low-level hourly jobs).

You haven’t proven they won’t.

Find me one ESU grad former or current that has worked or is working as a Bain consultant.

Show us where Bain says they won’t hire from ESU.

Show me a current or former grad working there...we can do this all day long.

Show us where Bain says the won’t hire from ESU.

Of course Bain is not going to make a blanket statement that they will not hire from ____ University. However, if they don't recruit there, how do you think a kid is going to get their foot in the door? It's tough enough for kids coming from, say, Lehigh and Lafayette -- which means it's virtually impossible from a place like ESU.

Networking.

What if OP’s child is not a networking powerhouse? That’s the WHOLE point. She’ll not only get a less rigorous education there but ALSO will have to work much harder compared to kids who go to schools that actually support med school/consultanting/etc.

ESU doesn’t support pre-med kids?

Not the same way any of the more rigorous options would. But yes, OP’s daughter needs to do a LOT of research to understand how ESU supports pre med, how many get in, and compare that to her other choices.

What about their program is different?

That’s for OP’s daughter to figure out. It’s a totally logical assumption that a low-tier school will have less ability to place students in highly competitive jobs & grad schools.

Schools don’t “place” students. Smart kids get in.

Not smart kids with the incorrect preparation, no connections, and no support from their school, not without a lot of luck and additional effort. And again - why deliberately chose to give yourself that kind of leg down to begin with? Maybe there is some reasonable case but she hasn’t made it.

ESU has pre-med advising. How do you know the preparation would be incorrect? How do you know they don’t support?

The stat does not show they are sending a lot of students to medical school? Every school has advisors and department but you have to rely on the data.

[Anonymous]

I'd aim for the higher ranked schools. Yes, transferring is a possibility, but most schools do not prioritize aid for transfer students. Also, as you apply to med school, it is important to have developed relationships with professors who will write your recommendations. Of course, if you can only afford ES, go there. But it is very regional. If you can stretch for the others, go for it. Many medical schools are now tuition free and more will join that group in the coming years.

[Anonymous]

What did the family decide?

[Anonymous]

Took a full scholarship to a school nobody has ever heard of. Graduated first in my class. Got a partial scholarship to a T6 law school. Biglaw partner. Doing great. Your DC will be fine. It's not the school, it's the kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Took a full scholarship to a school nobody has ever heard of. Graduated first in my class. Got a partial scholarship to a T6 law school. Biglaw partner. Doing great. Your DC will be fine. It's not the school, it's the kid.

Finishing top of the class, even at a no-name college, will almost always carry weight. The question is, does someone in the top 10 or 20 percent of a no-name college also get admitted to T6 law schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Took a full scholarship to a school nobody has ever heard of. Graduated first in my class. Got a partial scholarship to a T6 law school. Biglaw partner. Doing great. Your DC will be fine. It's not the school, it's the kid.

Finishing top of the class, even at a no-name college, will almost always carry weight. The question is, does someone in the top 10 or 20 percent of a no-name college also get admitted to T6 law schools?

No

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Took a full scholarship to a school nobody has ever heard of. Graduated first in my class. Got a partial scholarship to a T6 law school. Biglaw partner. Doing great. Your DC will be fine. It's not the school, it's the kid.

You may be right…but someone posted a recent list of schools feeding kids into Harvard law and I would wager nearly everyone on DCUM has heard of the US schools (there are many random foreign school) and they were all at least top 200.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Took a full scholarship to a school nobody has ever heard of. Graduated first in my class. Got a partial scholarship to a T6 law school. Biglaw partner. Doing great. Your DC will be fine. It's not the school, it's the kid.

Finishing top of the class, even at a no-name college, will almost always carry weight. The question is, does someone in the top 10 or 20 percent of a no-name college also get admitted to T6 law schools?

No

They get admitted to bottom of the barrel law schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Took a full scholarship to a school nobody has ever heard of. Graduated first in my class. Got a partial scholarship to a T6 law school. Biglaw partner. Doing great. Your DC will be fine. It's not the school, it's the kid.

I will wager that I have heard of your undergraduate school.

[Anonymous]

Rice, unless cooked, is very hard to the teeth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would be concerned about a regional campus when she's planning on a competitive graduate school. What are the in-betweens, academically and financially?

Completely disagree with this. Grad schools and law schools want a diverse student body and she will stand out at a small school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If she’s a hard worker she’ll be fine no matter where she goes.

This, OP.

The only outcome that matters here is hers, and if she did well enough to earn a full scholarship, she’ll succeed. Period.

[Anonymous]

There's "live comfortably upper class for decades succeed," and there's "potentially amass generational wealth" succeed. Let's not pretend like the odds for the latter are the same from every college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's "live comfortably upper class for decades succeed," and there's "potentially amass generational wealth" succeed. Let's not pretend like the odds for the latter are the same from every college.

Jesus people. What happened to “be a good person and contribute to society while making enough to be comfortable and happy” success? Why is it all about amassing millions? I’m so glad I don’t know anyone like you guys IRL. Your priorities are effed up.