What’s the point of going to a top school if you end up in the same place as someone who didn’t

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you can afford a particular college and your DC likes it, go for it. But if you're shopping for future friends or worse, a spous, at particular colleges, my condolences to your future generations for having shallow, low-quality ancestors.

I agree if and only if that is someone's primary reason for preferring certain schools over others.

But for most of us, there are lots of other reasons already mentioned upthread, and the potentially better friend/SO/spouse pool is merely a coincidental added benefit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid wants to be an academia, it likely does not matter either since graduate school is more dispositive.

Graduate schools see a 4.0 from non-flagship state school applicants the same as a 4.0 from HYPSM?

NP. Well, at least in my field (biology), grad schools didn’t seem to care where you went to undergrad. They care about research experience/interest/trajectory, grades, ambition, etc. Getting in depends on finding a professor with similar research interests who will accept you in to his or her lab. That’s pretty much it.

Similarly, DH got into HLS from a medium level state flagship. He had a great LSAT score.

As a PP said, for most people & most jobs, no— where you attend undergrad doesn’t matter much.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, I should been more precise. Top graduate schools see a 4.0 from non-flagship state school applicants the same as a 4.0 from HYPSM, all else being equal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have the means to pay for the IVY with out debt it will always be worth it.

Say you go to medical school and you are Harvard, Yale, etc trained. And you decide to make a career move or say you work for the government and opt to go back in to private practice. The Harvard trained doctor is always going to be given a leg up vs. the doctor from another school.

If you’re smart enough to be educated at an IVY you stand above the others. Even if only on paper. It opens doors.

It provides the ability to meet and marry a spouse who will be at an earning level well above others.

Membership has its benefits.

"Smart enough" isn't what gets people into Ivy league schools though. Plenty of people don't apply or don't get in who have the same level of intelligence, even the same stats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your alumni network is different. Your potential pool of SOs/life partners is different. Your enjoyment of the learning may be different.

I never understand this comment. The median age for college educated people to get married these days is 30 (and even higher among those with advanced degrees). The odds these days that you are meeting a life partner in college are low.

Cream of the crop marry in their 20s. The leftovers scrabble in their 30s to marry what’s left.

I agree with this! It was true when I was in college 30 years ago and it's true now. I see it amongst my staff - most have PhDs, some MS in STEM field. The Ines that come in married are just.....better.... better looking, better background, smarter, etc.....the ones that go on the hunt until their 30s usually have some social-emotional issues. I know it's an unpopular idea, but it's true.

Now the ones that get married in their late teens or early 20s are different still. These are usually primed for a life of instability.

Mid to late 20s is optimal.

Yikes. That is not true at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have the means to pay for the IVY with out debt it will always be worth it.

Say you go to medical school and you are Harvard, Yale, etc trained. And you decide to make a career move or say you work for the government and opt to go back in to private practice. The Harvard trained doctor is always going to be given a leg up vs. the doctor from another school.

If you’re smart enough to be educated at an IVY you stand above the others. Even if only on paper. It opens doors.

It provides the ability to meet and marry a spouse who will be at an earning level well above others.

Membership has its benefits.

Dude, if you have the means to pay for the "IVY" without debt, you are already a step away from home plate, or maybe you already own the ball field. It REALLY doesn't matter where you go to college at that point.

[Anonymous]

Hilarious, OP! I’m a long ago Radford University graduate, product of FCPS and met DH on the job! We worked in different roles but for the same contractor. DH was early FCPS GT (gifted and talented) and went to a MUCH more prestigious OOS university with a comp science degree.

I was identified as learning disabled in HS but my parents refused services and denounced the label so I struggled mightily and relied upon peer tutors and after school help to maintain passing grades in math and science. I never got past algebra and highest science completed was biology.

DH ended up getting his masters degree in engineering-related science paid for by our former employer.

OP, I’ll bet my story angers you. How very dare a C average, RU graduate end up with a fabulous, lucrative career in a happy marriage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dude, if you have the means to pay for the "IVY" without debt, you are already a step away from home plate, or maybe you already own the ball field. It REALLY doesn't matter where you go to college at that point.

Yeah, PP phrased it quite badly.

But for someone coming from a low-to-middle income family who would get to attend for free, an Ivy League education and experience wouldn't make any difference?

[Anonymous]

Where you end up is your responsibility. You are not owed anything in life. No one cares where you went to school after you have been out a coupe of years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I’ll bet my story angers you. How very dare a C average, RU graduate end up with a fabulous, lucrative career in a happy marriage.

I'm not OP, but no one is arguing that your path is impossible or undeserving.

To me, the benefit of going to a top school is having better odds of reaching where you are, plus doing it 5 or 10 years earlier. Time is priceless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not a troll. I’m the parent of a HS sophomore who is killing themselves excelling in school and participating in extracurriculars to be competitive for T20.

At the same time, I see parents on here posting how their kid went to Cornell and ended up in the same place as someone who went to Pitt or another similarly ranked school.

At the same time, in my job I work alongside people who have gone to ivies and schools I’ve never heard of. I went to Michigan, btw.

My sister did her undergraduate at Oxford, stayed in the UK and is now partner at a well respected consulting firm alongside other partners that went to no name schools from India.

So seeing the stress my kid goes through, I am honestly asking what is the point of a Yale or Princeton if they take you to the same place that a school like Rutgers and Radford can take you?!

No offense, you’re exposing how small-minded and dumb you are coming from 50,000-student degree mill Michigan. You don’t realize you’re “working with” a handful of Ivy alums who were probably in the bottom of their classes. You also apparently don’t realize what a truly powerful tightknit alumni network and dating pool are. To be clear, a powerful alum network is not “our degree mill alumni network is so big there are grads everywhere!” But I know that’s what your kind thinks.

Lol, keep pushing your "velvet rope" nonsense, because in the end, that's all people like you have over the people you call "degree mill" who also make it big. You prey on the simple fact that people can't redo college and can't ever 100% know what they missed. You build your whole personality on that.

My personal take is that a lot of the sorting that goes on after college is still related to family wealth, attractiveness, EQ, etc. Advantages that people enter with. Not everyone agrees that Wall Street, MBB, and other such "prestige" occupations deserve the excess interest they receive mainly due to high salaries. Making your whole personality about the college you went to suggests a deep insecurity that can never be fully resolved. You're right...we can never understand!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you go to the ER you will see car crash survivors who wore a seat belt and, also, some who did not. Does it matter whether you wear a seat belt if you end up in the same place?

Not a good analogy. You can end up with the ER with permanent life-threatening injuries, or ones that are serious but fully recoverable. Wearing seat belts has a causal effect on the relatively likelihood of each.,

Going to a better school puts you in the company of people who understand analogies.

The SAT stopped testing analogies in 2005.

Reportedly because women did better at them than men.

[Anonymous]

You could potentially say I'm that person. I went to MIT and ended up an entrepreneur. The name opens a lot of doors. It also gives you a lot of credibility whether deserved or not. I also had a very different college experience than if I had gone to a much larger university. I killed myself with work as a young person and, arguably, I have a lot more flexibility today as a result.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s the point of driving a Mercedes when the Hyundai gets you the same place?

The actual cost of these cars is not as different as you think, and the main function is the same.

You are paying $40K more to cover luxury premium which means a lot of advertising, better grades of leather and plastic, and some showy stuff like color-changing light pipes that run all around the cabin and extra big display screens.

The quality and reliability could easily be the same.

Some would say you're paying $40K for nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s the point of driving a Mercedes when the Hyundai gets you the same place?

The actual cost of these cars is not as different as you think, and the main function is the same.

You are paying $40K more to cover luxury premium which means a lot of advertising, better grades of leather and plastic, and some showy stuff like color-changing light pipes that run all around the cabin and extra big display screens.

The quality and reliability could easily be the same.

Some would say you're paying $40K for nothing.

The acceleration, handling, and cabin volume are far superior in a Mercedes. Worth an extra $40K? Probably not. But saying "you're paying $40K for nothing" is straight-up disingenuous.