I find it annoying when people get on here and say it really doesn't matter where your kid goes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, but it doesn’t matter. It matters to the the overbearing helicopter parent that wear their kid’s college brand like a designer handbag and that we will be directionless and aimless when DC leaves the nest. But for your kid, their employer will care that they went to school but not where. The exception, of course, is on both extremes. If they go to a top 5-7 school, great, they get bonus points (except for the many employers that specifically don’t want someone with those credentials because they tend to believe that they are entitled to an accelerated journey). On the other extreme, if they went to an online school or a super esoteric school, there better be a good reason.

Other than that, schools #7-150 or so are completely interchangeable in the real world.

I'm sorry but I just don't agree that this applies to everyone. The assumption that wealth & eduction correlates with Middle class white culture is so off-putting. I'm asian and a child of immigrants- I've seen way too many successful lives destroyed by events that would never be life 'destroyers' for their white peers b/c of a lack of exposure to ideas/UMC ways of doing things and confidence. The difference that going to a top ten law school would make for my kid even though their parents are lawyers will be much much bigger than it is for your kids and there are plenty of immigrants, brown and black people and even first generation college grad white posters here and we know better than you how social mobility works b/c its something we have experienced for ourselves, not just read about in the Atlantic and VOX. I've seen first hand the difference in girls who go to George mason vs. even UVA/George Washington and what they've gone on to do with their lives. Exposure to a wider set of possibilities and the self concept that you are one of the ppl who should be applying to post docs at Magdalen college and MS at LSE and opening businesses with friends you met at NYU Beijing are vastly different than a fed contractor driving to target and their home in Burke with no USAID/FSO posting in sight day after miserable day. Many ppl on here have benefited from their superior merit and work ethic and want make sure that their kids move that one rung up to having even more choices and possibilities when their grandparents struggled and sacrificed. That is what ppl move here for, if I wanted to keep treading water, my father should've stayed home and not left his family and everyone he held dear.

+1
AMEN!!

Thank you. It is nerve wrecking to have discussions on this board because the majority lack basic knowledge about the experiences of immigrants especially brown and black people.

+1 have to agree. I'm a child of uneducated immigrants, and I went to a no name state u. I think if I had gone to a "better" school, it would've broadened my horizons, and I could've achieved a lot more.

that's not to say that I don't have a great life. I have a umc life, and I'm thankful for it. I eventually ended up at a FAANG. But, going to no name state u meant that I did not have that exposure and network to venture out more.

You don't have to go to a T10 to get that kind of exposure and experience, but where you go can and, often times, does impact the trajectory of your career.

+1000

Anyone who's in denial about the fact that where you go to college matters is just delusional. There was that study showing that the top 1% is disproportionately dominated by elite colleges.

Going to an elite college matters, full stop

The 1% buy their way into those colleges. Jared Kushner, Donald Trump, George W. Bush, and a bazillion other failsons are Ivy league educated because their parents bought their way in.
There are some success stories like Bill Gates, but there are similiar stories for strong state universities like UVA or Illinois or UW or Michigan.

The average Ivy League degree is worth about $100,000 to $200,000 increase in LIFETIME earnings over the average lifetime earnings of any 4 year graduate. That's not that much money over a 40-50 year career.

There are some careers where Ivy League is super important - government, law (especially if you want a high profile judicial appointment), and media. But for the rest of the world, it just doesn't matter.

Not true! Important for finance and consulting as well.

and medicine and academics...

the list goes on...

[Anonymous]

I am on a college admissions FB page that maybe some of you are on. I've noticed that the people in that FB group who say "it doesn't matter where you go to school" live in either the Midwest and South with rare exception. Needless to say, what's relevant in Ames or Greenville isn't what's relevant in NYC or SF. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, but it's shocking how little those parents know of what goes on outside of their own environment.

Where you go to school does matter. It doesn't mean it will determine how successful/happy you will be in life but it confers a lifetime of cachet which helps grease the wheels.

[Anonymous]

If it does not matter, people wont come here to discuss. Everyone who is posting here is implicitly saying they think ranking matters.

[Anonymous]

It is just like McKinsey saying, what major you do does not matter. Then look at who they are hiring it is 50-1 engineering/science/business to history/philosophy/literature.

People can say whatever they want, it is better to look at what they actually do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It matters to me. I want my child to experience a bigger world than the one she’s grown up in, and I hope she doesn’t come back to the suburbs. I never wanted to end up there but I did. Almost all of the people I know who went to state schools came back home and live boring 2.5 kids soccer lives. Maybe they’re happy. I think some of them are. But I think a lot of them just never thought any bigger. She doesn’t have to go to an Ivy League school. She wouldn’t get in. But I want her to go somewhere where she’s exposed to a lot of different people and has options to experience things she wouldn’t otherwise. And you can tell me that’s not true and give me examples but I see it all around me.

is that what she wants, or what you want?

I wanted to do a semester abroad, but couldn't afford it. I love traveling. I tell my kids to go abroad, I'm happy to pay for it, but they don't want.

My DC in college wants the same type of life that we have (this is what DC told me) - umc in the burbs with a good work/life balance. Personally, I find that boring for a young adult, but that's what they want.

What is the alternative? Living in Manhattan and dealing with all that crap? Life in the high end burbs of NY is much better than life in Manhattan

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP: you’re being disingenuous. You love the bloodsport. If you were truly annoyed, you won’t be here and certainly won’t be posting this

Ok, guilty as charged

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP: you’re being disingenuous. You love the bloodsport. If you were truly annoyed, you won’t be here and certainly won’t be posting this

Ok, guilty as charged

Well, grab the popcorn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP: you’re being disingenuous. You love the bloodsport. If you were truly annoyed, you won’t be here and certainly won’t be posting this

Ok, guilty as charged

Well, grab the popcorn.

Yes- quite the thread. Brought a lot of people out of the woodwork. Really touched a nerve.

[Anonymous]

Sometimes it matters, other times it doesn't. I had surgery recently and the surgeon went to UMD as an undergrad, then to the mormon college and then a practically unheard of women's hospital in the midwest. She then quickly became the top surgeon of a specialist women's interest at Johns Hopkins by her mid30s.

Clearly in her case, it was her skills that mattered and that carried her to success, not the colleges she attended. She wasn't at Harvard, Columbia, Johns Hopkins as a student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, but it doesn’t matter. It matters to the the overbearing helicopter parent that wear their kid’s college brand like a designer handbag and that we will be directionless and aimless when DC leaves the nest. But for your kid, their employer will care that they went to school but not where. The exception, of course, is on both extremes. If they go to a top 5-7 school, great, they get bonus points (except for the many employers that specifically don’t want someone with those credentials because they tend to believe that they are entitled to an accelerated journey). On the other extreme, if they went to an online school or a super esoteric school, there better be a good reason.

Other than that, schools #7-150 or so are completely interchangeable in the real world.

I'm sorry but I just don't agree that this applies to everyone. The assumption that wealth & eduction correlates with Middle class white culture is so off-putting. I'm asian and a child of immigrants- I've seen way too many successful lives destroyed by events that would never be life 'destroyers' for their white peers b/c of a lack of exposure to ideas/UMC ways of doing things and confidence. The difference that going to a top ten law school would make for my kid even though their parents are lawyers will be much much bigger than it is for your kids and there are plenty of immigrants, brown and black people and even first generation college grad white posters here and we know better than you how social mobility works b/c its something we have experienced for ourselves, not just read about in the Atlantic and VOX. I've seen first hand the difference in girls who go to George mason vs. even UVA/George Washington and what they've gone on to do with their lives. Exposure to a wider set of possibilities and the self concept that you are one of the ppl who should be applying to post docs at Magdalen college and MS at LSE and opening businesses with friends you met at NYU Beijing are vastly different than a fed contractor driving to target and their home in Burke with no USAID/FSO posting in sight day after miserable day. Many ppl on here have benefited from their superior merit and work ethic and want make sure that their kids move that one rung up to having even more choices and possibilities when their grandparents struggled and sacrificed. That is what ppl move here for, if I wanted to keep treading water, my father should've stayed home and not left his family and everyone he held dear.

+1
AMEN!!

Thank you. It is nerve wrecking to have discussions on this board because the majority lack basic knowledge about the experiences of immigrants especially brown and black people.

+1 have to agree. I'm a child of uneducated immigrants, and I went to a no name state u. I think if I had gone to a "better" school, it would've broadened my horizons, and I could've achieved a lot more.

that's not to say that I don't have a great life. I have a umc life, and I'm thankful for it. I eventually ended up at a FAANG. But, going to no name state u meant that I did not have that exposure and network to venture out more.

You don't have to go to a T10 to get that kind of exposure and experience, but where you go can and, often times, does impact the trajectory of your career.

+1000

Anyone who's in denial about the fact that where you go to college matters is just delusional. There was that study showing that the top 1% is disproportionately dominated by elite colleges.

Going to an elite college matters, full stop

The 1% buy their way into those colleges. Jared Kushner, Donald Trump, George W. Bush, and a bazillion other failsons are Ivy league educated because their parents bought their way in.
There are some success stories like Bill Gates, but there are similiar stories for strong state universities like UVA or Illinois or UW or Michigan.

The average Ivy League degree is worth about $100,000 to $200,000 increase in LIFETIME earnings over the average lifetime earnings of any 4 year graduate. That's not that much money over a 40-50 year career.

There are some careers where Ivy League is super important - government, law (especially if you want a high profile judicial appointment), and media. But for the rest of the world, it just doesn't matter.

Not true! Important for finance and consulting as well.

and medicine and academics...

the list goes on...

Wait. It depends on who you are, your family, your families wealth and connections. Many Ivy League grads have boring standards careers. The few who do really well financially, fame, etc are usually coming from a lot of wealth and are given opportunities you would never see. Those people drive the averages up. Many Ivy League grads end up working for these truly wealthy people or their families like remora…feeding off the scraps.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the PP. Ivy League grads are the best fourth highest ranking employees at companies all over the world.

There are some exceptions for sure (like tech entrepreneurs coming out of Stanford), but Ivy League is a fast track to being in the in-house, general counsel of a medium sized company.

Comfortable living, can support your family. If that makes you happy, get after it.

[Anonymous]

And yes, I understand that Stanford isn’t an Ivy League school. It was a reference to hyper elite schools…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, but it doesn’t matter. It matters to the the overbearing helicopter parent that wear their kid’s college brand like a designer handbag and that we will be directionless and aimless when DC leaves the nest. But for your kid, their employer will care that they went to school but not where. The exception, of course, is on both extremes. If they go to a top 5-7 school, great, they get bonus points (except for the many employers that specifically don’t want someone with those credentials because they tend to believe that they are entitled to an accelerated journey). On the other extreme, if they went to an online school or a super esoteric school, there better be a good reason.

Other than that, schools #7-150 or so are completely interchangeable in the real world.

I'm sorry but I just don't agree that this applies to everyone. The assumption that wealth & eduction correlates with Middle class white culture is so off-putting. I'm asian and a child of immigrants- I've seen way too many successful lives destroyed by events that would never be life 'destroyers' for their white peers b/c of a lack of exposure to ideas/UMC ways of doing things and confidence. The difference that going to a top ten law school would make for my kid even though their parents are lawyers will be much much bigger than it is for your kids and there are plenty of immigrants, brown and black people and even first generation college grad white posters here and we know better than you how social mobility works b/c its something we have experienced for ourselves, not just read about in the Atlantic and VOX. I've seen first hand the difference in girls who go to George mason vs. even UVA/George Washington and what they've gone on to do with their lives. Exposure to a wider set of possibilities and the self concept that you are one of the ppl who should be applying to post docs at Magdalen college and MS at LSE and opening businesses with friends you met at NYU Beijing are vastly different than a fed contractor driving to target and their home in Burke with no USAID/FSO posting in sight day after miserable day. Many ppl on here have benefited from their superior merit and work ethic and want make sure that their kids move that one rung up to having even more choices and possibilities when their grandparents struggled and sacrificed. That is what ppl move here for, if I wanted to keep treading water, my father should've stayed home and not left his family and everyone he held dear.

+1
AMEN!!

Thank you. It is nerve wrecking to have discussions on this board because the majority lack basic knowledge about the experiences of immigrants especially brown and black people.

+1 have to agree. I'm a child of uneducated immigrants, and I went to a no name state u. I think if I had gone to a "better" school, it would've broadened my horizons, and I could've achieved a lot more.

that's not to say that I don't have a great life. I have a umc life, and I'm thankful for it. I eventually ended up at a FAANG. But, going to no name state u meant that I did not have that exposure and network to venture out more.

You don't have to go to a T10 to get that kind of exposure and experience, but where you go can and, often times, does impact the trajectory of your career.

+1000

Anyone who's in denial about the fact that where you go to college matters is just delusional. There was that study showing that the top 1% is disproportionately dominated by elite colleges.

Going to an elite college matters, full stop

The 1% buy their way into those colleges. Jared Kushner, Donald Trump, George W. Bush, and a bazillion other failsons are Ivy league educated because their parents bought their way in.
There are some success stories like Bill Gates, but there are similiar stories for strong state universities like UVA or Illinois or UW or Michigan.

The average Ivy League degree is worth about $100,000 to $200,000 increase in LIFETIME earnings over the average lifetime earnings of any 4 year graduate. That's not that much money over a 40-50 year career.

There are some careers where Ivy League is super important - government, law (especially if you want a high profile judicial appointment), and media. But for the rest of the world, it just doesn't matter.

Not true! Important for finance and consulting as well.

and medicine and academics...

the list goes on...

No, not medicine. That's bubble thinking but it's not correct.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes it matters, other times it doesn't. I had surgery recently and the surgeon went to UMD as an undergrad, then to the mormon college and then a practically unheard of women's hospital in the midwest. She then quickly became the top surgeon of a specialist women's interest at Johns Hopkins by her mid30s.

Clearly in her case, it was her skills that mattered and that carried her to success, not the colleges she attended. She wasn't at Harvard, Columbia, Johns Hopkins as a student.

I’m Catholic, but I have been impressed with every Mormon I’ve known. Smart, clean, thrifty. None have had more than one spouse.

I knew some in the military & they were wonderful to work with. No stumbling into the office hung over. No need for coffee breaks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It matters to me. I want my child to experience a bigger world than the one she’s grown up in, and I hope she doesn’t come back to the suburbs. I never wanted to end up there but I did. Almost all of the people I know who went to state schools came back home and live boring 2.5 kids soccer lives. Maybe they’re happy. I think some of them are. But I think a lot of them just never thought any bigger. She doesn’t have to go to an Ivy League school. She wouldn’t get in. But I want her to go somewhere where she’s exposed to a lot of different people and has options to experience things she wouldn’t otherwise. And you can tell me that’s not true and give me examples but I see it all around me.

Totally agree! People are kidding themselves and being defensive just in case their little darlings end up at a dreaded place like GMU.