What is the obsession on DCUM with university rankings and were your kid goes to school?

[Anonymous]

I must be new here.

Why do so many of you care where our DC or other kids choose to go to college? I just don't understand all the arguments Public vs Private, blah blah blah. Top 10-50 colleges or bust? (You are a fool for spending $50K a year on private school) when my kids public school was free (and our public kid was accepted to the same university as your private school kid}.

What exactly is the point of these posts? Why does it matter? I hope that we all make decisions that we believe are best for our kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I must be new here.

Why do so many of you care where our DC or other kids choose to go to college? I just don't understand all the arguments Public vs Private, blah blah blah. Top 10-50 colleges or bust? (You are a fool for spending $50K a year on private school) when my kids public school was free (and our public kid was accepted to the same university as your private school kid}.

What exactly is the point of these posts? Why does it matter? I hope that we all make decisions that we believe are best for our kids.

Many of the "list" posters seem to be the same person.

[Anonymous]

Welcome to the insanity

[Anonymous]

So I can get the difference between were and where

[Anonymous]

There is that, sure, but I've also gotten some great info here, and even support. You just try to ignore the snark and take heart with the many good folks on the board.

[Anonymous]

Yes, you are new here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is that, sure, but I've also gotten some great info here, and even support. You just try to ignore the snark and take heart with the many good folks on the board.

Different poster here. Could you give me an example of the “great info” that you’ve gotten here. I ask because I have a perverse impulse to read treads on the college admissions forum time and again, and more often than not what’s posted here isn’t only not helpful, it’s demonstrably wrong. I don’t know why I keep coming back lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is that, sure, but I've also gotten some great info here, and even support. You just try to ignore the snark and take heart with the many good folks on the board.

Different poster here. Could you give me an example of the “great info” that you’ve gotten here. I ask because I have a perverse impulse to read treads on the college admissions forum time and again, and more often than not what’s posted here isn’t only not helpful, it’s demonstrably wrong. I don’t know why I keep coming back lol.

NP. I’ve been following here for 6 years getting 3 kids launched. Great info has included threads about specific schools or specific majors, the overall pattern of the admissions cycle, and how things have changed over those 6 years.

But I agree with OP. In general, the intensity that some posters invest in arguments about top schools is baffling. It really isn’t the life or death situation that some seem to view admissions as.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is that, sure, but I've also gotten some great info here, and even support. You just try to ignore the snark and take heart with the many good folks on the board.

Different poster here. Could you give me an example of the “great info” that you’ve gotten here. I ask because I have a perverse impulse to read treads on the college admissions forum time and again, and more often than not what’s posted here isn’t only not helpful, it’s demonstrably wrong. I don’t know why I keep coming back lol.

NP. I’ve been following here for 6 years getting 3 kids launched. Great info has included threads about specific schools or specific majors, the overall pattern of the admissions cycle, and how things have changed over those 6 years.

But I agree with OP. In general, the intensity that some posters invest in arguments about top schools is baffling. It really isn’t the life or death situation that some seem to view admissions as.

+1. I learned about a lot of things here, like Collegevine and the common data set. Some information about schools that give in-state tuition and scholarship money.

Like every board on DCUM, you have to ignore the bizarre or arrogant posters to find the helpful information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I must be new here.

Why do so many of you care where our DC or other kids choose to go to college? I just don't understand all the arguments Public vs Private, blah blah blah. Top 10-50 colleges or bust? (You are a fool for spending $50K a year on private school) when my kids public school was free (and our public kid was accepted to the same university as your private school kid}.

What exactly is the point of these posts? Why does it matter? I hope that we all make decisions that we believe are best for our kids.

I went to an elite college. Lots of amazing peers and many amazing professors. A few terrible profs and bad required classes in and out of major. About 1/4 of my classes were a total waste for one reason or another. Did I get a $200K education? Absolutely not. Did I get a $200K degree and make connections and get a job that paid that back and a lot more? Yes.

And I don't mean hobnobbing at country clubs. I hated the concept of networking and "golf" and "tennis"; I was committed to earning my way on my own efforts, and wanted to believe the world was fair. I got some bad grades because I refused to cheat or accept giveaways from profs like many classmates did.

But just casually knowing someone who knew someone who was hiring for upwardly mobile roles, set my life trajectory.

I got an amazing job for a new grad, from career fair in college because a friend's older friend worked there and invited me to apply, even after I applied my filter of avoiding "evil" companies.
I got an interview at a rising star company because a friend from HS and college was visiting and told me their friend from college had a friend from college who was hiring, and gave me the hiring manager's info.
A classmate friend married a classmate whose family member was someone you know from the news, and gave me that person's cell phone number to apply for a job at their young growing company.

That's why elite colleges are important to people. Even people who don't know those details, who only know "PYSH is elite" are indirectly getting their impression from facts like what I mentioned above. People who go to those schools arecon average more successful than people who don't, all else equal.

Are things different now? Can you rise above your station thanks to the Internet and Twitter and whatever to find opportunities and compete in your merit? Maybe.

[Anonymous]

See: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1140538.page

[Anonymous]

We sent our kids to public schools in NOVA then to UVA. Saved thousands and thousands of dollars in tuition while the kids got a great education and attended a college that was plenty good enough for us to hold our heads up high at cocktail parties and other DMV social events - and to retire much earlier than the typical DCUM poster.

But hey, continue to argue about whether Northeastern or Emory or Tulane or etc is prestigious and worth the money. Y’all are crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I must be new here.

Why do so many of you care where our DC or other kids choose to go to college? I just don't understand all the arguments Public vs Private, blah blah blah. Top 10-50 colleges or bust? (You are a fool for spending $50K a year on private school) when my kids public school was free (and our public kid was accepted to the same university as your private school kid}.

What exactly is the point of these posts? Why does it matter? I hope that we all make decisions that we believe are best for our kids.

I went to an elite college. Lots of amazing peers and many amazing professors. A few terrible profs and bad required classes in and out of major. About 1/4 of my classes were a total waste for one reason or another. Did I get a $200K education? Absolutely not. Did I get a $200K degree and make connections and get a job that paid that back and a lot more? Yes.

And I don't mean hobnobbing at country clubs. I hated the concept of networking and "golf" and "tennis"; I was committed to earning my way on my own efforts, and wanted to believe the world was fair. I got some bad grades because I refused to cheat or accept giveaways from profs like many classmates did.

But just casually knowing someone who knew someone who was hiring for upwardly mobile roles, set my life trajectory.

I got an amazing job for a new grad, from career fair in college because a friend's older friend worked there and invited me to apply, even after I applied my filter of avoiding "evil" companies.
I got an interview at a rising star company because a friend from HS and college was visiting and told me their friend from college had a friend from college who was hiring, and gave me the hiring manager's info.
A classmate friend married a classmate whose family member was someone you know from the news, and gave me that person's cell phone number to apply for a job at their young growing company.

That's why elite colleges are important to people. Even people who don't know those details, who only know "PYSH is elite" are indirectly getting their impression from facts like what I mentioned above. People who go to those schools arecon average more successful than people who don't, all else equal.

Are things different now? Can you rise above your station thanks to the Internet and Twitter and whatever to find opportunities and compete in your merit? Maybe.

But if you stop accepting the legacy kids and rich 1%s, these type of opportunities are diminished. Is your first gen roommate’s dad going to get you a summer job? If the rich and powerful are no longer at the school, the chance for connections and social mobility are also minimized.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We sent our kids to public schools in NOVA then to UVA. Saved thousands and thousands of dollars in tuition while the kids got a great education and attended a college that was plenty good enough for us to hold our heads up high at cocktail parties and other DMV social events - and to retire much earlier than the typical DCUM poster.

But hey, continue to argue about whether Northeastern or Emory or Tulane or etc is prestigious and worth the money. Y’all are crazy.

This is the way!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I must be new here.

Why do so many of you care where our DC or other kids choose to go to college? I just don't understand all the arguments Public vs Private, blah blah blah. Top 10-50 colleges or bust? (You are a fool for spending $50K a year on private school) when my kids public school was free (and our public kid was accepted to the same university as your private school kid}.

What exactly is the point of these posts? Why does it matter? I hope that we all make decisions that we believe are best for our kids.

Passing time until our demise.