Why is DCUM so obsessed with small liberal arts colleges?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you know your parental connections are going to get your kids those first internships and jobs, and thus those top salaries, you get to pick what’s the best fit for your kids.

This was probably intended to be snarky, but I actually think it’s true.

OP here, that’s what I was thinking too but the link shows that the “top” salaries don’t really go to Grinnell/Oberlin/Skidmore/SLAC grads. So that doesn’t really make sense.

That’s a good point. The data in the link is probably some combination of middling-earning SLAC grads (like one of the PPs said), plus kids with jobs harvested for them by mom or dad (like this PP said), plus people who went to grad school after the SLAC and earn a decent living (plus, people who go on to do meaningful work for a non profit, or a family business, or stay home for a spell to take care of a loved one, or whatever).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most graduates of SLACs have pretty dismal earnings compared to their Ivy/Public University peers. So why are SLACs throw around here so often? I see a lot of people recommend random schools like Grinnell but why would you send your kid there for a pretty hefty sum when they could go to a state flagship and be in either a better or similar position?

Source:

https://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-Salaries_for_Colleges_by_Type-sort.html

The mid career salaries on your chart make liberal arts look a lot better than you imply

Is Colgate a SLAC? Because if so that 90th percentile seems to justify the DCUM hype. But whatever. My school is on this list and at 36 I make double my state flagship school’s mid career 90th percentile. Probably because grads stay in our low COL state. I won’t pay too much attention to these stats when my kids attend either.

[Anonymous]

Because you can play to get your child an education that will support them their entire life and keep them relatively safe while their brain is still developing and prone to bad decisions. Ultimate win.

[Anonymous]

Pay

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most graduates of SLACs have pretty dismal earnings compared to their Ivy/Public University peers. So why are SLACs throw around here so often? I see a lot of people recommend random schools like Grinnell but why would you send your kid there for a pretty hefty sum when they could go to a state flagship and be in either a better or similar position?

Source:

https://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-Salaries_for_Colleges_by_Type-sort.html

By the same logic, why would you ever go to Harvard/Yale over MIT/Caltech? The median earnings reflect the choice of major/field of study. To do a proper comparison, you need to control for that...

Smith graduate (with a starting salary over 100k, over two decades ago, which reflected the field of study/profession)

[Anonymous]

Have you seen the Williams campus? Skidmore? Lehigh? Denison?

[Anonymous]

Most go to professional or graduate school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most go to professional or graduate school.

But by 32 (aka ten years after graduation when this data was taken) they probably would’ve left grad school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you seen the Williams campus? Skidmore? Lehigh? Denison?

You people can’t be so foolish as to decide where your kid will go based on the goddamn campus....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because you can pay to get your child an education that will support them their entire life and keep them relatively safe while their brain is still developing and prone to bad decisions. Ultimate win.

So many weird assumptions with this... where do I start? First off, if your kid is gonna party out of a state school, they’ll probably party out of an SLAC too. And if they really need the coddling of a SLAC to make sure they graduate on time.... they’re probably not ready for college. And what does “relatively safe” even mean? Does DCUM really think that the big bad scary folks at a state school will endanger your kid? Grow up.

[Anonymous]

The only ones “obsessed” with the LACs are those that will only pay for public school education. Why do you need justification? I don’t care what kind of car you purchase or where you go on vacation. No one cares where young Larlo attends college either. Move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you seen the Williams campus? Skidmore? Lehigh? Denison?

You people can’t be so foolish as to decide where your kid will go based on the goddamn campus....

“Foolish”? If you can afford it that’s a fine consideration. People get so weird about this. It’s not a cattle brand, it’s four years of your kids’ life.

[Anonymous]

My private school kid, who has worked hard but not done well, will likely only have SLACs as his choice. Already deferred at one state university and will likely get rejected from the other three he's applying to. Our local pressure cooker privates have a direct line to the SLACs for the bottom of the class kids who can't get into the large universities. For my kid with a severe executive function disorder, he would have a difficult time navigating a large state university anyway. Though I have no stress about him navigating life once he graduates. He's smarter than 99% of the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only ones “obsessed” with the LACs are those that will only pay for public school education. Why do you need justification? I don’t care what kind of car you purchase or where you go on vacation. No one cares where young Larlo attends college either. Move on.

+10000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you seen the Williams campus? Skidmore? Lehigh? Denison?

+1

And mid-career earnings are more reflective of the reality that most LAC graduates go on to graduate or professional school.

My ‘18 graduate of one of the above three schools is making $102K. Not bad for a 24 year old.