What does a private education buy you?

[Anonymous]

I went to Syracuse University, and am now looking at big state public flagship schools with my daughter.

Honestly, comparing big public school vs. big private school with comparable academics - say, Penn State and Syracuse - I don't see much of a difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to Syracuse University, and am now looking at big state public flagship schools with my daughter.

Honestly, comparing big public school vs. big private school with comparable academics - say, Penn State and Syracuse - I don't see much of a difference.

Thanks. Good luck and congrats on some good choices.

[Anonymous]

Smaller classes vs the 400 seat auditorium class. Real professors vs a teaching assistant. Some professors will actually know your name. The big state schools now offer online classes. These may be convenient, but as a parent, paying $$ for a class my kid has to teach himself is insulting. State schools also have a lot of added costs depending on major.

Big state schools neglect to tell you the horrors of class scheduling (might take you 5 years to graduate) and housing lotteries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to Syracuse University, and am now looking at big state public flagship schools with my daughter.

Honestly, comparing big public school vs. big private school with comparable academics - say, Penn State and Syracuse - I don't see much of a difference.

This is not always true though. My H works as a managing director in finance and does some hiring in his sector. He thinks Syracuse has a great finance program and will happily hire undergrads from there vs. places like Penn Syate (not that he gets a lot of applicants from there that I’ve heard) or even Cornell (does get a lot of applicants from there and hasn’t been impressed by them).

This is why the schools in question matter and you can’t answer across the board.