Yale vs Penn State - Your Honest Opinion Please

[Anonymous]

First of all, I just want to acknowledge how lucky my DS is to have these two choices, but, as a family we are very much torn between the two.

We are in a very fortunate position to be able to afford both schools BUT Yale would be an additional ~35k/year. Now, my husband is in favor of Penn State purely from a financial perspective - his thinking is that, if the education is exactly the same, why pay 35k more? His thinking is that if he goes to Penn State, that 35k could be then put towards either graduate school (if DS decides to go or for a house down payment). DS loves Yale, and wants to go there.

I am in the middle, I can see the financial argument but I am concerned that my son might miss out on a unique opportunity....so we are stuck.

I am posting here because I'd very much appreciate your perspective - if the education he will receive is pretty much the same at Yale and Penn State, then what other non-academic factors should we be weighing and thinking about?

[Anonymous]

Yale is one of the few schools I would do it for.

[Anonymous]

I just read an article about how Yale just hosted an author who is brazenly antisemitic and against all white people.
She apparently said she was happy about 9/11. She said the Jews deserved the holocaust.

So, Yale doesn’t seem like such a great place to me.

[Anonymous]

Here is information about the speaker PP referenced from the student newspaper on the Yale campus.
https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2023/04/10/alleged-antisemitic-activist-speaks-on-campus-raising-questions-about-free-speech/

No question, I’d choose Yale.

[Anonymous]

Yale hands down.

[Anonymous]

Most people would say Yale. But another way to think about it is if you put that money saved in a diversified ETF it would be worth over $750k by the time they are 55 with a 4.5% growth rate. It would be like a retirement insurance policy/top-up that could provide confidence to take risks and try new things earlier in life. At the end of the day Yale and Penn State will both provide entry to most jobs.

[Anonymous]

Of course Yale. How is this even a question?

[Anonymous]

Yale could open such large career doors that 35k/yr could be a blip in 5yrs. What if ds made $120k coming out of Yale?

[Anonymous]

Does DS love Yale or the idea of Yale (that it's an Ivy)? If the former, then it's probably worth the extra money. If the latter, then probably not.

Possible ways to ferret this out:

Ask him for a one-page essay explaining the rationale for why Yale is worth the extra $150k+ (prices will continue to rise). Look for things like it being important to him that his classmates have average test scores in the 99th percentile, vs. 87th percentile, wanting smaller class sizes, liking the proximity to big cities, specific programs he likes, etc.

You could also offer him half the difference in cost as spending money if he goes to Penn State.


For what it's worth, Yale (#5) holds up much better than most elite universities (Princeton #18, Harvard #41) when the criteria are changed significantly from what US News uses. The ranking below uses professor quality, student happiness, diversity and classroom experience. I like that its strengths extend beyond that which it knows it's going to be ranked on. (PSU is not on the list, which only includes colleges with an average SAT score of 1350 or higher.)

https://lesshighschoolstress.com/blog/6/

Whatever he chooses, congrats! Those are, as you said, two excellent choices and you can't go wrong.

[Anonymous]

If you have the money and ds’s preference is Yale, then yes to Yale. Honestly, I think it would be cruel to tell him he couldn’t go when you have the funds. It would be different if the money wasn’t there and going to Yale meant burdensome loans or crippled your family finances. But if you can afford it, the choice should be his.

[Anonymous]

Go with whatever school your DS feels most happy and comfortable with. Penn State can open just as many doors as Yale and life isn’t all about how much money you can earn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yale could open such large career doors that 35k/yr could be a blip in 5yrs. What if ds made $120k coming out of Yale?

This should not be a part of the equation. Dale and Kruger's research has shown over and over (3 decades of data) that the same student will have the same outcomes financially whether they go to an elite college or their safety school. The situation OP is in is literally what D+K's study focuses on.

[Anonymous]

Your husband’s assumption that Yale and PS are the same is wrong. Yes, your son will get a degree from both, but the quality of education and lifetime prestige is much better from Yale. If your son is pursuing a degree outside of STEM, Yale’s prestige matters even more. If your son worked hard enough to get into Yale, PS is an insult, especially if you have the money.

[Anonymous]

This is a very odd choice!! A typical Yale admit has alternatives that are much better than Penn State.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your husband’s assumption that Yale and PS are the same is wrong. Yes, your son will get a degree from both, but the quality of education and lifetime prestige is much better from Yale. If your son is pursuing a degree outside of STEM, Yale’s prestige matters even more. If your son worked hard enough to get into Yale, PS is an insult, especially if you have the money.

+1 no question, the experience and education at Penn State does not compare. BTW this is your sons decision, not yours if you told him you could pay.