Perspective on the Madness

[Anonymous]

Circle back when you have a senior in HS.
It's very hard to stay logical, sane, and grounded through the process. But, I'm sure you'll be fine....(since you went to a T-14 and are immune to the competitive nature of college rankings...)

[Anonymous]

I find very few of the folks that succeed in many different areas (banking, P/E, tech) from the schools you describe share your viewpoint.

The vast majority turn around and send their own kids to the elite schools you claim are part of the madness.

My kid works at an AI start-up founded by a University of Nebraska drop-out who has his own kid at Stanford and essentially told my kid that you might as well just skip college entirely if you don't go to a top school (based on his time at Nebraska) and you have strong technical skills on your own.

[Anonymous]

Perceived prestige and materialism in this country are through the roof. It's hard to teach your bright kid how not to get sucked into the rat race when their cohort is constantly competing at the behest of their parents. No one seems to be truly happy over a considerable span of time. They achieve something, be happy for a few moments and move on to the next challenge. Not sure what the end game is for everyone? More money? So, they can save for their children's education and groom the next generation for the rat race?
I have all the respect for folks that are trying to get out of poverty and overcome hardships, but can others not be happy with what they already have? It's not a complex concept, but it's just not in the DNA of this country. The transplants like me are infected too after living here for long. I can't imagine going back with a huge pay cut. I'm disappointed in myself.
I just want all the kids to experience unconditional happiness and be resilient when things don't go as planned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Circle back when you have a senior in HS.
It's very hard to stay logical, sane, and grounded through the process. But, I'm sure you'll be fine....(since you went to a T-14 and are immune to the competitive nature of college rankings...)

lol. so true. i laughed when reading OP's first post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most people outside DCUM don’t buy into the hype. The “Disappointment” thread is already 19 pages long….

there's actually some good advice in that thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not in terms of jobs but in terms of money Musk (UPenn), Bezos (Princeton), Larry Ellison (dropout UIUC), zuck & gates (dropout Harvard), Page (UMich), Brin (UMaryland), Dell (dropout UTA), Ballmer (Harvard), Bloomberg (JHU) have all the bananas.

Steve Jobs (dropout Reed College)
Mark Cuban (University of Pittsburgh college, Indiana University MBA)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not in terms of jobs but in terms of money Musk (UPenn), Bezos (Princeton), Larry Ellison (dropout UIUC), zuck & gates (dropout Harvard), Page (UMich), Brin (UMaryland), Dell (dropout UTA), Ballmer (Harvard), Bloomberg (JHU) have all the bananas.

Steve Jobs (dropout Reed College)
Mark Cuban (University of Pittsburgh college, Indiana University MBA)

Jobs' kids attended Stanford and Harvard. Cuban has a kid at Vanderbilt and a crew recruit daughter going to UCLA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not in terms of jobs but in terms of money Musk (UPenn), Bezos (Princeton), Larry Ellison (dropout UIUC), zuck & gates (dropout Harvard), Page (UMich), Brin (UMaryland), Dell (dropout UTA), Ballmer (Harvard), Bloomberg (JHU) have all the bananas.

Steve Jobs (dropout Reed College)
Mark Cuban (University of Pittsburgh college, Indiana University MBA)

Jobs' kids attended Stanford and Harvard. Cuban has a kid at Vanderbilt and a crew recruit daughter going to UCLA.

I think the point is that successful people come from all over, not that you shouldn’t want to go to a good school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not in terms of jobs but in terms of money Musk (UPenn), Bezos (Princeton), Larry Ellison (dropout UIUC), zuck & gates (dropout Harvard), Page (UMich), Brin (UMaryland), Dell (dropout UTA), Ballmer (Harvard), Bloomberg (JHU) have all the bananas.

Steve Jobs (dropout Reed College)
Mark Cuban (University of Pittsburgh college, Indiana University MBA)

Jobs' kids attended Stanford and Harvard. Cuban has a kid at Vanderbilt and a crew recruit daughter going to UCLA.

What does it matter where the kids go? They are nepo babies now. Ofc they'll inherit privilege. It's the schools the parent went to (Mark Cuban) who made the wealth that matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not in terms of jobs but in terms of money Musk (UPenn), Bezos (Princeton), Larry Ellison (dropout UIUC), zuck & gates (dropout Harvard), Page (UMich), Brin (UMaryland), Dell (dropout UTA), Ballmer (Harvard), Bloomberg (JHU) have all the bananas.

Steve Jobs (dropout Reed College)
Mark Cuban (University of Pittsburgh college, Indiana University MBA)

Jobs' kids attended Stanford and Harvard. Cuban has a kid at Vanderbilt and a crew recruit daughter going to UCLA.

What does it matter where the kids go? They are nepo babies now. Ofc they'll inherit privilege. It's the schools the parent went to (Mark Cuban) who made the wealth that matters.

Because those same parents when wealthy want their kids to attend top schools...even though it doesn't matter at all where their kids attend college.

Also, as someone else rightly pointed out...it's like a 10-to-1 ratio of elite school grads to non-elite if you are looking at the wealthiest people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my field, all top spots are filled by Ivy grads. It’s going to greatly depend on what field you are in. Most it doesn’t matter, a few select fields it really matters. Stem it doesn’t matter.

+1 we paid for the Ivy because my kid is in one of those fields. Rising college sophomore and the internship and Fall sophomore study abroad at prestigious European university all are part of it and connections, etc.

Genuinely curious as to the fields where this is still a big thing. Comp lit? 16th Century Renaissance history?

Academia, investment banking, journalism (although you'd better have an Ivy degree AND a trust fund for the latter).

international relations/policy/public affairs/state dept (and add gtwon/gw)

State Department? Do people still work there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're in the midwest- at my DS's private HS there are kids with 1530-1600 SAT scores, grades, etc. (I know this because it's a small school, kids talk, parents talk, etc). If the parents don't have money, the kids go in-state, honors or out of state on schools that offer a lot of merit and financial aid.
A lot of talent doesn't go to the Ivy League or T20- it's too expensive for most families, especially if there are multiple bright siblings.

If the parents qualify for need based aid, there is no better deal than the ivies especially Princeton Harvard Penn Yale who have the best financial aid. For many brackets of income up to around 200-225k household, the top schools have a lower net cost than instate. We know families who got zero need based aid from WM but got financial aid at the ivy making the net cost less than WM in-state. Same with UVA: engineering in state full cost is 50k. They pay 43k all in at the ivy. These are not the neediest families—those have $0 cost of attendance at almost all schools—but they are families with need and the ivies do the best job covering the gap. Other top 15 privates with high endowments also give great need based aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not in terms of jobs but in terms of money Musk (UPenn), Bezos (Princeton), Larry Ellison (dropout UIUC), zuck & gates (dropout Harvard), Page (UMich), Brin (UMaryland), Dell (dropout UTA), Ballmer (Harvard), Bloomberg (JHU) have all the bananas.

Steve Jobs (dropout Reed College)
Mark Cuban (University of Pittsburgh college, Indiana University MBA)

Jobs' kids attended Stanford and Harvard. Cuban has a kid at Vanderbilt and a crew recruit daughter going to UCLA.

What does it matter where the kids go? They are nepo babies now. Ofc they'll inherit privilege. It's the schools the parent went to (Mark Cuban) who made the wealth that matters.

Because those same parents when wealthy want their kids to attend top schools...even though it doesn't matter at all where their kids attend college.

Also, as someone else rightly pointed out...it's like a 10-to-1 ratio of elite school grads to non-elite if you are looking at the wealthiest people.

Bingo. Of course they do. And wealthy and powerful families continuing to desire these schools says a lot about what that level of school provides education and opportunity wise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're in the midwest- at my DS's private HS there are kids with 1530-1600 SAT scores, grades, etc. (I know this because it's a small school, kids talk, parents talk, etc). If the parents don't have money, the kids go in-state, honors or out of state on schools that offer a lot of merit and financial aid.
A lot of talent doesn't go to the Ivy League or T20- it's too expensive for most families, especially if there are multiple bright siblings.

86% of all college students attend college within 500 miles of where they live.

I don't know where you are in the Midwest, but it would be interesting to know how many kids apply to or attend U Chicago (which admittedly, may fall outside the 500 miles if you live in say Kansas City).

I guarantee if you were to pick up your school with the same kids and families, and plop your school down in CT, you would have a massive number of those kids applying to and attending Ivy and other top schools.

As someone else pointed out, these schools have the most generous financial aid...which would likely be more well-known by you and others if these schools were only a couple hours drive away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're in the midwest- at my DS's private HS there are kids with 1530-1600 SAT scores, grades, etc. (I know this because it's a small school, kids talk, parents talk, etc). If the parents don't have money, the kids go in-state, honors or out of state on schools that offer a lot of merit and financial aid.
A lot of talent doesn't go to the Ivy League or T20- it's too expensive for most families, especially if there are multiple bright siblings.

If the parents qualify for need based aid, there is no better deal than the ivies especially Princeton Harvard Penn Yale who have the best financial aid. For many brackets of income up to around 200-225k household, the top schools have a lower net cost than instate. We know families who got zero need based aid from WM but got financial aid at the ivy making the net cost less than WM in-state. Same with UVA: engineering in state full cost is 50k. They pay 43k all in at the ivy. These are not the neediest families—those have $0 cost of attendance at almost all schools—but they are families with need and the ivies do the best job covering the gap. Other top 15 privates with high endowments also give great need based aid.

It's not just Ivy League. Stanford, MIT, Vanderbilt, Rice, Northwestern, CalTech, Williams, Pomona all offer exceptional financial aid. Very few middle class students are priced out of these schools.

The fact is that getting a good job is difficult. And a resume with a T20 school is going to get looked at. Plus, the networking is often great. My kids go to "elite" schools with financial aid that brings the cost below state flagships. And they are getting great paid internships because of the school brand. They wouldn't have these opportunities if they had gone to a public school.