Parents with kids in high school: Which Is More Stressful: College Admissions or Job Market?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why I never understand the families where they are so obsessed with their kid going to a top 20 university and then said kid majors in something like English. I rather my kid go to Penn State and major in Mechanical Engineering.

I think you are missing the point. Just because your kid goes to Penn state and majors in ME, doesn’t mean in a terrible economy someone will hand them a job because they went to Penn Sate and majored in ME. The English major could be a double major, could be planning on law school/grad schoo, could be planning to teach etc. No matter what they study there are so many other steps along the way of grades, internships, networking, knowing how to find and interview for a job etc., being willing to move where the jobs etc. and even then there are no guarantees. There are few fields in 2026 where graduating in the field is literally enough to guarantee a job, excluding service academies.

It’s less stressful with college admission because you know at the end of the day there is somewhere and a path if they want to go to college. There isn’t the same with the job market where there is definitely a path to work in their field at a livable wage within x amount of time of graduation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why I never understand the families where they are so obsessed with their kid going to a top 20 university and then said kid majors in something like English. I rather my kid go to Penn State and major in Mechanical Engineering.

Better to go to a top school and do MechE: MIT, Stanford, Ivies with real engineering, CMU, Rice, Hopkins, UCB...all are much better for top engineering jobs than penn state. Penn state is great for average engineering jobs.

For English majors it is even more important to go to a top school, unless you want to be an english teacher in middle school. Elite school grads with English majors get high paying jobs at think tanks, consulting, or top journalism positions, if they do not go the law or med school route which many English majors at top schools do. If they want to teach, they can get into a top phd much easier from a top undergrad, or they can get into the highest paying high school teaching jobs which are the feeder private schools, especially the boarding schools. Private schools care where the teachers got degrees because parents care.

[Anonymous]

Friend paid full cost for son to go to CMU for mechanical engineering - no internships, just research with profs, it was looking like no job after graduation so he will be doing masters at CMU next year. She says job search after college is way more stressful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why I never understand the families where they are so obsessed with their kid going to a top 20 university and then said kid majors in something like English. I rather my kid go to Penn State and major in Mechanical Engineering.

I think you are missing the point. Just because your kid goes to Penn state and majors in ME, doesn’t mean in a terrible economy someone will hand them a job because they went to Penn Sate and majored in ME. The English major could be a double major, could be planning on law school/grad schoo, could be planning to teach etc. No matter what they study there are so many other steps along the way of grades, internships, networking, knowing how to find and interview for a job etc., being willing to move where the jobs etc. and even then there are no guarantees. There are few fields in 2026 where graduating in the field is literally enough to guarantee a job, excluding service academies.

It’s less stressful with college admission because you know at the end of the day there is somewhere and a path if they want to go to college. There isn’t the same with the job market where there is definitely a path to work in their field at a livable wage within x amount of time of graduation.

x 100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why I never understand the families where they are so obsessed with their kid going to a top 20 university and then said kid majors in something like English. I rather my kid go to Penn State and major in Mechanical Engineering.

I think you are missing the point. Just because your kid goes to Penn state and majors in ME, doesn’t mean in a terrible economy someone will hand them a job because they went to Penn Sate and majored in ME. The English major could be a double major, could be planning on law school/grad schoo, could be planning to teach etc. No matter what they study there are so many other steps along the way of grades, internships, networking, knowing how to find and interview for a job etc., being willing to move where the jobs etc. and even then there are no guarantees. There are few fields in 2026 where graduating in the field is literally enough to guarantee a job, excluding service academies.

It’s less stressful with college admission because you know at the end of the day there is somewhere and a path if they want to go to college. There isn’t the same with the job market where there is definitely a path to work in their field at a livable wage within x amount of time of graduation.

I work in renewable energy and even now, there are far fewer qualified applicants for mechanical/electrical engineer positions at our company vs. communications/public policy positions. Finance/business development is somewhere in the middle.

It might not be cake walk to get a job in engineering, but you’re competing against 10 people with all the qualifications vs. 100 people with all the qualifications.

[Anonymous]

With AI, many capable young people will not be limited by the outdated rules which were artificially set up by older generations. The game will change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Friend paid full cost for son to go to CMU for mechanical engineering - no internships, just research with profs, it was looking like no job after graduation so he will be doing masters at CMU next year. She says job search after college is way more stressful.

That was the problem. Then again if the student wants an R&D job they needed the masters anyway. Top masters programs in engineering are often funded. Not sure if they can get funding from CMU for a masters there, though they may very well be able to as CMU has internal fellowships as well as assistantships for many of its engineering masters students.
If the student had planned ahead they would have applied to the top masters programs with full funding and would have also tried their luck at the many funded overseas options in engineering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why I never understand the families where they are so obsessed with their kid going to a top 20 university and then said kid majors in something like English. I rather my kid go to Penn State and major in Mechanical Engineering.

But if the kid is gonna major in English, might at well major in English at Yale. These comparisons are always nonsensical because they never align students of the same degree, interests, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why Are You Writing Like This?

Stressing About Getting Into An Elite College: The DCUM Story

Not really. Just typed too fast. I’m surprised by the optimism on DCUM—people spend so much energy discussing how to get into top schools without really worrying about the price tag or career outcomes. Does this mean most people here don't really care about whether their kids work or not... all trust fund families here?

No not at all. The ivies provide plenty of opportunities and have fantastic job and grad/professional outcomes. It was a huge sigh of relief when they got in. The internships they and peers have gotten is quite different from those attending schools a couple of tiers down. Ivy or at least T-20/Williams/Amherst is worth it for the outcomes boost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Friend paid full cost for son to go to CMU for mechanical engineering - no internships, just research with profs, it was looking like no job after graduation so he will be doing masters at CMU next year. She says job search after college is way more stressful.

That was the problem. Then again if the student wants an R&D job they needed the masters anyway. Top masters programs in engineering are often funded. Not sure if they can get funding from CMU for a masters there, though they may very well be able to as CMU has internal fellowships as well as assistantships for many of its engineering masters students.
If the student had planned ahead they would have applied to the top masters programs with full funding and would have also tried their luck at the many funded overseas options in engineering.

Our kid is pretty heady (awards at a top engineering college) and didn’t have this experience at all. If you want funding, get the PhD.

[Anonymous]

I guess college. They shouldn't feel pressure to get a 'good paying' job right after college. Life is long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why Are You Writing Like This?

Stressing About Getting Into An Elite College: The DCUM Story

Not really. Just typed too fast. I’m surprised by the optimism on DCUM—people spend so much energy discussing how to get into top schools without really worrying about the price tag or career outcomes. Does this mean most people here don't really care about whether their kids work or not... all trust fund families here?

No not at all. The ivies provide plenty of opportunities and have fantastic job and grad/professional outcomes. It was a huge sigh of relief when they got in. The internships they and peers have gotten is quite different from those attending schools a couple of tiers down. Ivy or at least T-20/Williams/Amherst is worth it for the outcomes boost.

I do hope what you said is true. The education background I see from Linkedin tells a different story. Perhaps I only look at specific jobs and companies and skip those medium size companies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why Are You Writing Like This?

Stressing About Getting Into An Elite College: The DCUM Story

Not really. Just typed too fast. I’m surprised by the optimism on DCUM—people spend so much energy discussing how to get into top schools without really worrying about the price tag or career outcomes. Does this mean most people here don't really care about whether their kids work or not... all trust fund families here?

No not at all. The ivies provide plenty of opportunities and have fantastic job and grad/professional outcomes. It was a huge sigh of relief when they got in. The internships they and peers have gotten is quite different from those attending schools a couple of tiers down. Ivy or at least T-20/Williams/Amherst is worth it for the outcomes boost.

Why Williams Amherst specifically?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why Are You Writing Like This?

Stressing About Getting Into An Elite College: The DCUM Story

Not really. Just typed too fast. I’m surprised by the optimism on DCUM—people spend so much energy discussing how to get into top schools without really worrying about the price tag or career outcomes. Does this mean most people here don't really care about whether their kids work or not... all trust fund families here?

No not at all. The ivies provide plenty of opportunities and have fantastic job and grad/professional outcomes. It was a huge sigh of relief when they got in. The internships they and peers have gotten is quite different from those attending schools a couple of tiers down. Ivy or at least T-20/Williams/Amherst is worth it for the outcomes boost.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why Are You Writing Like This?

Stressing About Getting Into An Elite College: The DCUM Story

Not really. Just typed too fast. I’m surprised by the optimism on DCUM—people spend so much energy discussing how to get into top schools without really worrying about the price tag or career outcomes. Does this mean most people here don't really care about whether their kids work or not... all trust fund families here?

No not at all. The ivies provide plenty of opportunities and have fantastic job and grad/professional outcomes. It was a huge sigh of relief when they got in. The internships they and peers have gotten is quite different from those attending schools a couple of tiers down. Ivy or at least T-20/Williams/Amherst is worth it for the outcomes boost.

+1

-1, we have a kid at one of the institutions mentioned and currently the network is doing nothing