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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe. But I’m an early retired douchebag with millions of dollars in the bank and highly successful and most importantly happy and healthy college graduated kids.

This is exactly the type of post I don't understand. You claim your kids graduated from college. Congratulations! Not to you, but your kids that actually did the work to receive their degrees.

You also claim to have "millions of dollars in the bank" and are highly successful. Why the odd flex? If you actually have that kind of money, good for you and your family. What is your rationale for posting that you are a millionaire or that you are "highly successful" on an anonymous thread? Am I supposed to give your rants more credence because of your claims?

You seem very insecure. I read most of the thread and had a few chuckles, but I didn't read a single post about how much money other posters had in the bank.

You need to learn how to read. I never said I was highly successful; I said my kids were.

Ok. Your post was poorly written. Why did you not address the rest of the PP post?


Bye troll.

[Anonymous]

It truly is maddening. Every morning I wake up - check emails, news, this forum. 80% of the "recent" posts are about where can my kid get in with these stats, and who got in where, and how can my kid get into ivy. It's just sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Passing time until our demise.

Most accurate response. lol

Also in my case, I was clueless. Things I did not know about when I started reading this board:

-1 That you don’t apply to all schools at the same time; had never heard of ED, ED2, EA, REA, rolling vs. RD.
-2 There is a strategy in using the above based on your kid’s list
-3 That my highly-motivated, high-stats kid has a nearly zero chance of getting into a top college
-4 What a “hook” is and realizing my kid doesn’t have one
-5 That ECs can be as important as SAT and GPA
-6 The difference between merit and financial aid
-7 Net price calculators
-8 Naviance/scattergrams
-9 That some top privates with stratospheric tuition could be more affordable for us than our in-state flagship (we are middle class, <150k family)
-10 That Canadian and other colleges could be a better bet for high stats kids with less than extraordinary ECs
-11 That our in-state flagship is a top school in the field kid wants to pursue and therefore not a safety for him even though it’s not in t40
-12 That kid needs to take the most rigorous courses available to them that they can get As in (without, of course, affecting their mental health)

I could go on but think I have already sufficiently exposed my ignorance.

I mean... these are common sense. Your freaking KID should know this or skip college altogether.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stop trying to make Small Ivies and State Ivies happen people. No such thing for Pete’s sake. No one says I went o Michigan the state ivy. They just say I went to Michigan or I went to school in Ann Arbor. Everyone knows what that means. FFs your labels are not going to happen

No one says that. It’s a way to give a better description of the kind of school someone chose (or accepted, rejected or context of stats for comparison with other schools) without naming it. It gives the reader some context to understand the answer that THEY asked for. You are far more obnoxious than the people you criticize.

[Anonymous]

Who knows and who cares. Bottom line is you don't need to go to Harvard or Princeton or Duke to have a good career. Anyone nitpicking that much has too much time on their hands.

[Anonymous]

But to specifically respond to OP...you tell us, are you new here? The original post was kind of idiotic to start.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stop trying to make Small Ivies and State Ivies happen people. No such thing for Pete’s sake. No one says I went o Michigan the state ivy. They just say I went to Michigan or I went to school in Ann Arbor. Everyone knows what that means. FFs your labels are not going to happen

+1

The posts that say "public ivy", whatever - are ridiculous. No one cares nearly as much about your school as you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who knows and who cares. Bottom line is you don't need to go to Harvard or Princeton or Duke to have a good career. Anyone nitpicking that much has too much time on their hands.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Now that's not nice.

Your choices were fine, thoughtful, and right for you. Be nice to people who make different ones or everyone will think you are an A.H.

No, my choices weren’t just “fine” - they were the only reasonable choice for anyone who isn’t truly independently wealthy and for whom money truly is no object. And I’m talking about the truly wealthy - not Biglaw partners types, for example, who still have to work for their money and justify their horrible jobs by saying they’re necessary because they pay for private schools followed by a Tulane. Ridiculous. Just ridiculous.

Just this past weekend we hosted several couples around our same age, with similar backgrounds and educations and for a time incomes, and more than one of them was lamenting the end of the student loan payment freeze and saying they will be paying off loans for their kids’ colleges until they’re dead. We - early retirees - feigned empathy because we’re nice people, but in reality we have none. We think they’re nuts for making the decisions they did.

And I’m not just talking about borrowing. I’m talking about saving thousands of dollars a year into 529s at the expense of finding retirements or other investment accounts or activities so your kids can “go wherever they want regardless of cost.” WTF??? It makes no sense.

Well now you have removed all doubt.

[Anonymous]

There are few people more pathetic than trolls. What a waste of your time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC is a multi-cultural city and I think we have a lot of posters here from cultures that infamously put a lot of pressure on their kids to go to to an ivy and/or make a lot of money. I swear I recognize one poster whose daughter got her finance degree 10 years ago - just obsessed with name dropping and prestige. No kidding , she found a way to bring up her SAT score at her wedding speech.

Since you’re new, I’ll warn you about the finance bros and their moms. They post a lot and perpetuate the “should my 1510 kid retake?” and “T20 or bust”. They’ll tell you a 3.8 1400 kid should start at community college.

Older white money is going to argue the benefits of a SLAC, and people from other parts of the country argue state flagship is best. Lots of inaccurate, ignorant posts about southern schools, but also lots of interest because it’s tough out there and people need to stay open-minded.

Welcome to the most miserable subject forum on the site.

Honestly, the number of old-money WASPs with Ivy legacy who discuss at birthday parties how to get their 10 year olds into their Alma mater (obscure musical instruments seems to be hot right now) exceeds the number of immigrant parents I've overheard or associated with who are Ivy or bust.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC is a multi-cultural city and I think we have a lot of posters here from cultures that infamously put a lot of pressure on their kids to go to to an ivy and/or make a lot of money. I swear I recognize one poster whose daughter got her finance degree 10 years ago - just obsessed with name dropping and prestige. No kidding , she found a way to bring up her SAT score at her wedding speech.

Since you’re new, I’ll warn you about the finance bros and their moms. They post a lot and perpetuate the “should my 1510 kid retake?” and “T20 or bust”. They’ll tell you a 3.8 1400 kid should start at community college.

Older white money is going to argue the benefits of a SLAC, and people from other parts of the country argue state flagship is best. Lots of inaccurate, ignorant posts about southern schools, but also lots of interest because it’s tough out there and people need to stay open-minded.

Welcome to the most miserable subject forum on the site.

Honestly, the number of old-money WASPs with Ivy legacy who discuss at birthday parties how to get their 10 year olds into their Alma mater (obscure musical instruments seems to be hot right now) exceeds the number of immigrant parents I've overheard or associated with who are Ivy or bust.

That is because immigrant parents only discuss it in small circles, with people who look just like them

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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 kind of a typical DCUM answer. Some useful perspective wrapped up in smug snarkiness designed to prop up a fragile ego. It certainly raises questions (written in the same smug, snarkiness to illustrate the point):

1. Who has "cocktail parties" anymore? Are you re-enacting Mad Men scenes in a mid-century version of Medieval Times?

2. When you're at these parties, why does anyone feel the need to talk about and, more importantly, "care" about where other people's kids went to college to the point of not "holding their heads up high" if they didn't make the "right" choice? Don't any of you have lives of your own separate from your children? Is everyone still talking about their kids' 8th grade Little League games or elementary school spelling bee victories?

3. Why would you brag about retiring early? Were you in a dead-end job? Why couldn't you find a job or career that held your interest for longer so you wouldn't need to use your children's colleges to bolster your faltering self-confidence as you age?

4. I agree that it's crazy to think about, much less argue about, whether someone else's kid's school choice is prestigious or worth the money. It's also crazy to argue about whether someone else's car, house, activity or summer camp for their kids, or family vacation is prestigious or worth the money. These are all just personal consumption choices, just like their kid's college or private school. They say nothing about anyone's parenting skills, intelligence, or status. There's no "right" or "wrong" answer as long as someone can make the payments for it.

In short, the answer to the OP is that this rankings obsession seems to be a DCUM, but probably DC Metro area generally, malady. Lots of striving, lots of poor self-confidence, lots of FOMO, and lots of pettiness.

I’m the poster you are dissecting. Ever hear of sarcasm? When I talk about cocktail parties and talking about holding my head up high at them I’m poking fun at folks who care about that kind of stuff. You really didn’t catch that? Wow.

As for retiring early, DCUM is full of posts seeking advice on how to accomplish just that. Do you really think that early retirees are largely in “dead end jobs?” Newsflash: the “dead end jobs” are the ones where you don’t make enough to retire early from!

If you want to work into your 60s or 70s so your kid can go to an $80k a year private school and pat yourself on the back for it well, have at it. It’s your sad little life - not mine.

In each post you further declare your bitterness at ... everything and everyone. You're just imagining everyone is patting themselves on the back for private school (or other personal consumption choices), which might be the start of your issues. I hope you're getting help other than through drinking and other forms of self-medication.

Lol I’m not even remotely “bitter.” Smug? Maybe. Proud of myself and secure in my knowledge that I made the smart choice and that many/most of my peers did not? Absolutely.

And yet still a douchebag? 100%!

Maybe. But I’m an early retired douchebag with millions of dollars in the bank and highly successful and most importantly happy and healthy college graduated kids.

You retired early and your kids have already graduated from college, but you are still on here? That's pretty pathetic.

Hahahahaha ok. That’s all you got?

I’m here to offer advice.

(whispers for the adults left on this thread - this is obviously a 15 year-old kid who still thinks grown-ups have cocktail parties, millions of dollars in the bank is enough to retire on in their 50s, and people hang out on threads like this long after their kids are graduated)

Wait, what? Millions is not enough to retire on in your 50s?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop trying to make Small Ivies and State Ivies happen people. No such thing for Pete’s sake. No one says I went o Michigan the state ivy. They just say I went to Michigan or I went to school in Ann Arbor. Everyone knows what that means. FFs your labels are not going to happen

+1

The posts that say "public ivy", whatever - are ridiculous. No one cares nearly as much about your school as you!

+2
I immediately know what kind of parent I’m dealing with if they manage to work “public ivy” into the conversation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop trying to make Small Ivies and State Ivies happen people. No such thing for Pete’s sake. No one says I went o Michigan the state ivy. They just say I went to Michigan or I went to school in Ann Arbor. Everyone knows what that means. FFs your labels are not going to happen

+1

The posts that say "public ivy", whatever - are ridiculous. No one cares nearly as much about your school as you!

+2
I immediately know what kind of parent I’m dealing with if they manage to work “public ivy” into the conversation.

You trolls keep trying to make some drama with this but sorry, none of the adults care.