Did anyone's kid choose quality of life/social factors over prestige?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
In the past few years I’ve known people who chose the following, so yes it happens. Usually financial reasons but don’t discount following your child’s gut. Sounds like your child will be successful wherever they go. No doubt Ivies have the prestige advantage but good for her for not focusing on just prestige.

-UVA over Penn (OOS sports recruit, they could afford full pay but liked UVA better and scholarship)
-UVA (OOS) over Northwestern
-UMich over Penn (semi-local to Penn and wanted out of PA)
-Pitt over Penn (basically full scholarship to Pitt)
-Georgia Tech over 2 T20s, again scholarship
-UNC (OOS) over Harvard (sport scholarship)
-UMich (in-state) over CMU

Hold up if engineering then Georgia Tech is Top 4 overall and in the top 2 or 4 for all engineering disciplines. Unless the other 2 were MIT or Stanford this is not a good example.

Also, I don’t know many (in fact any) sports recruits that turn down Power 4 schools in any revenue sport or many sports in general…especially if there is any opportunity for NIL $$$s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I cannot imagine anyone sending a child to Columbia in this current environment, so that wouldn't even be a consideration at my house. Penn, maybe.

But I would take UVA over Penn any day.

X1,000 re: Columbia. In our circle, Columbia is not considered a prestigious school anymore. The other schools listed are much more desirable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I cannot imagine anyone sending a child to Columbia in this current environment, so that wouldn't even be a consideration at my house. Penn, maybe.

But I would take UVA over Penn any day.

Well you don’t have good imagination then because most successful, educated people I know would absolutely choose an Ivy over a southern state school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In this case the schools are largely the same so prestige doesn't matter so the child can choose the more social school without sacrificing academics and prestige.

But in other cases one has to consider the peer group. The other kids might be "fun" but will your kid have a lot in common with them? Will these kids go on to do the same level of things that grads of the higher ranked schools do? For many of us, our college friends are our lifelong friend group and network.

Basically this. The peer group is important. UVA students, like many other state school students, are 2/3rds from one state. That by definition means a weaker peer group than an Ivy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, Alabama over Tulane, Michigan and a few other higher rated schools. Worked out amazingly well, better than we could have imagined.

OP do not listen to this goobley gook no one picks Alabama over a higher rated school.

Not only is that fiscally irresponsible Alabama has no track to networking or jobs. It is full of students from the state with the worst education in the US>

This.

[Anonymous]

Most people would choose the Ivy, those saying they wouldn’t likely didn’t have the option. There are valid reasons for picking UVA based on fit, it is very different, but if paying the same amount that would be hard for me to do. A happy kid will be most successful, so if that’s truly what they wanted then I’d get over and keep thoughts to myself and support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In this case the schools are largely the same so prestige doesn't matter so the child can choose the more social school without sacrificing academics and prestige.

But in other cases one has to consider the peer group. The other kids might be "fun" but will your kid have a lot in common with them? Will these kids go on to do the same level of things that grads of the higher ranked schools do? For many of us, our college friends are our lifelong friend group and network.

Basically this. The peer group is important. UVA students, like many other state school students, are 2/3rds from one state. That by definition means a weaker peer group than an Ivy.

If you’re a desperate striver you should definitely approach it this way. If you’re more of a normal person, you’ll likely realize that these differences are not major at these types of schools, as they all attract strong kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, my kid is transferring out of a T20 for a school about 20 schools lower in the ranking pool because they want a better quality of life.

Transferring out of a T20 is code for couldnt hack being average or below.

You boring rankings-obsessed drones need to expand your social circles beyond other boring rankings-obsessed drones. You’re like those car-obsessed guys who are convinced that a vehicle with 205 horsepower is WAY superior to one with only 200 horsepower.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, my kid is transferring out of a T20 for a school about 20 schools lower in the ranking pool because they want a better quality of life.

Transferring out of a T20 is code for couldnt hack being average or below.

You boring rankings-obsessed drones need to expand your social circles beyond other boring rankings-obsessed drones. You’re like those car-obsessed guys who are convinced that a vehicle with 205 horsepower is WAY superior to one with only 200 horsepower.

LOL. This is so spot on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In this case the schools are largely the same so prestige doesn't matter so the child can choose the more social school without sacrificing academics and prestige.

But in other cases one has to consider the peer group. The other kids might be "fun" but will your kid have a lot in common with them? Will these kids go on to do the same level of things that grads of the higher ranked schools do? For many of us, our college friends are our lifelong friend group and network.

Basically this. The peer group is important. UVA students, like many other state school students, are 2/3rds from one state. That by definition means a weaker peer group than an Ivy.

If you’re a desperate striver you should definitely approach it this way. If you’re more of a normal person, you’ll likely realize that these differences are not major at these types of schools, as they all attract strong kids.

Finally, someone who appears to have a functioning brain! A minor difference in rank or average SAT scores is far less significant than the other differences having to do with location, attitudes, distractions, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most people would choose the Ivy, those saying they wouldn’t likely didn’t have the option. There are valid reasons for picking UVA based on fit, it is very different, but if paying the same amount that would be hard for me to do. A happy kid will be most successful, so if that’s truly what they wanted then I’d get over and keep thoughts to myself and support.

Most people would also choose Northwestern over UVA, but OP’s kid didn’t. I don’t think Columbia or Penn are better than Northwestern, so not sure why suddenly having doubts. Just because they are ivies? There are a number of schools better than many of the Ivies, with Northwestern being one of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In this case the schools are largely the same so prestige doesn't matter so the child can choose the more social school without sacrificing academics and prestige.

But in other cases one has to consider the peer group. The other kids might be "fun" but will your kid have a lot in common with them? Will these kids go on to do the same level of things that grads of the higher ranked schools do? For many of us, our college friends are our lifelong friend group and network.

Basically this. The peer group is important. UVA students, like many other state school students, are 2/3rds from one state. That by definition means a weaker peer group than an Ivy.

If you’re a desperate striver you should definitely approach it this way. If you’re more of a normal person, you’ll likely realize that these differences are not major at these types of schools, as they all attract strong kids.

Finally, someone who appears to have a functioning brain! A minor difference in rank or average SAT scores is far less significant than the other differences having to do with location, attitudes, distractions, etc.

NP, think the point is less about the minor differences and more about the peer group. I think UVA is wonderful. Live in a state with another top public of same or better caliber. There is a difference, the campuses and pulse feel vastly different. I can easily see why someone would have a strong preference for one or another.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In this case the schools are largely the same so prestige doesn't matter so the child can choose the more social school without sacrificing academics and prestige.

But in other cases one has to consider the peer group. The other kids might be "fun" but will your kid have a lot in common with them? Will these kids go on to do the same level of things that grads of the higher ranked schools do? For many of us, our college friends are our lifelong friend group and network.

Basically this. The peer group is important. UVA students, like many other state school students, are 2/3rds from one state. That by definition means a weaker peer group than an Ivy.

If you’re a desperate striver you should definitely approach it this way. If you’re more of a normal person, you’ll likely realize that these differences are not major at these types of schools, as they all attract strong kids.

Finally, someone who appears to have a functioning brain! A minor difference in rank or average SAT scores is far less significant than the other differences having to do with location, attitudes, distractions, etc.

NP, think the point is less about the minor differences and more about the peer group. I think UVA is wonderful. Live in a state with another top public of same or better caliber. There is a difference, the campuses and pulse feel vastly different. I can easily see why someone would have a strong preference for one or another.

Of course, but there was a PP in this chain that mentioned that “peer group is important” because UVA peer group is “weaker.” But that difference is so minor. The other things you mentioned are much more meaningful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In this case the schools are largely the same so prestige doesn't matter so the child can choose the more social school without sacrificing academics and prestige.

But in other cases one has to consider the peer group. The other kids might be "fun" but will your kid have a lot in common with them? Will these kids go on to do the same level of things that grads of the higher ranked schools do? For many of us, our college friends are our lifelong friend group and network.

Basically this. The peer group is important. UVA students, like many other state school students, are 2/3rds from one state. That by definition means a weaker peer group than an Ivy.

If you’re a desperate striver you should definitely approach it this way. If you’re more of a normal person, you’ll likely realize that these differences are not major at these types of schools, as they all attract strong kids.

Finally, someone who appears to have a functioning brain! A minor difference in rank or average SAT scores is far less significant than the other differences having to do with location, attitudes, distractions, etc.

NP, think the point is less about the minor differences and more about the peer group. I think UVA is wonderful. Live in a state with another top public of same or better caliber. There is a difference, the campuses and pulse feel vastly different. I can easily see why someone would have a strong preference for one or another.

Of course, but there was a PP in this chain that mentioned that “peer group is important” because UVA peer group is “weaker.” But that difference is so minor. The other things you mentioned are much more meaningful.

Yes, but some of that is the peer group strength. Kind of like if a public’s honor college was the entire campus it would change how it felt and moved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most people would choose the Ivy, those saying they wouldn’t likely didn’t have the option. There are valid reasons for picking UVA based on fit, it is very different, but if paying the same amount that would be hard for me to do. A happy kid will be most successful, so if that’s truly what they wanted then I’d get over and keep thoughts to myself and support.

Most people would also choose Northwestern over UVA, but OP’s kid didn’t. I don’t think Columbia or Penn are better than Northwestern, so not sure why suddenly having doubts. Just because they are ivies? There are a number of schools better than many of the Ivies, with Northwestern being one of them.

NW does have a reputation for being miserable these days, Penn and Columbia do not.