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

[Anonymous]

Even if you end up in the same place it’s a different experience. Ubers blacks and Uber X also take you to the same place. I much prefer the former.

[Anonymous]

The person who went to a no-name school may have gotten farther in life if they had had a better education. I went to a no-name school and I work with a guy from Princeton. He is dumb as a board and I am quite sure if I’d had the opportunities he’d had I would be in a very different place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The person who went to a no-name school may have gotten farther in life if they had had a better education. I went to a no-name school and I work with a guy from Princeton. He is dumb as a board and I am quite sure if I’d had the opportunities he’d had I would be in a very different place.

Oh you may work with me! I’m an academic Al Bundy, sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just ran across this gem.

Comedian who took 7 years to graduate from Florida State invited to speak at Harvard Business School on marketing.

https://www.tiktok.com/@bertkreischer/video/7355177752070262059#:~:text=My%20name%20is%20Bert%20Kreischer,spend%20the%20day%20with%20me.
Hey

Many famous actors and musicians who never attended college go speak at prestigious campuses.

Not sure what point you think you are making…other than why did the comedian waste 7 years at FSU or any college for that matter?

BTW, many successful comedy writers and comedians graduated from Harvard (Colin Jost, founders of National Lampoon, Conan O’Brien, et al) and it’s a common Hollywood complaint that writers’ rooms are stuffed with Ivy grads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, I’ll bite. I think there are two aspects to think about - the experience of going to a top school and the outcome. Some people care more about the first, some people care more about the latter, majority care about both.

I went to UConn on an athletic scholarship, my brother went to Yale. I visited him quite often and spent a good amount of time on campus. There is a massive difference in the environment at a state school vs a selective private university. It comes down to all the reasons people have discussed already - the level of resources, peers, access is on a different level. Yale was inspiration overload each time I was on campus.

I got a great education and I am happy with my life. But if you came and told me I could redo college and can choose to go to UConn/any state school vs go to Yale or another top school, I’d pick Yale in a heartbeat because it’s just a completely different experience.

That in a nutshell is what my ivy kid gets to have and my state flagship kid does not have. The flagship kid will hopefully get to do grad school at an elite to have that experience

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, I’ll bite. I think there are two aspects to think about - the experience of going to a top school and the outcome. Some people care more about the first, some people care more about the latter, majority care about both.

I went to UConn on an athletic scholarship, my brother went to Yale. I visited him quite often and spent a good amount of time on campus. There is a massive difference in the environment at a state school vs a selective private university. It comes down to all the reasons people have discussed already - the level of resources, peers, access is on a different level. Yale was inspiration overload each time I was on campus.

I got a great education and I am happy with my life. But if you came and told me I could redo college and can choose to go to UConn/any state school vs go to Yale or another top school, I’d pick Yale in a heartbeat because it’s just a completely different experience.

I, too, am from CT, and when I was applying to colleges, the peer groups of UConn and Yale, as crudely reflected by SAT ranges, didn't have a lot of overlap. However, I'd wager that a student at Berkeley would have had a comparable experience to your brother's, with the added bonus of Olympic caliber athletics across multiple sports.

Berkeley is a top school…while all would agree that UConn is in a different tier with a different average student. Why bring it into the discussion.

I don’t quite get the Olympic caliber athlete comment. Yale has Olympic caliber athletes in crew, squash, fencing, hockey (at times) depending on the year.

Most college students could care less about any sports other than football or basketball…just stick to those as Cal has more exciting revenue sports (except hockey).

The correct phrase is couldn't care less...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just ran across this gem.

Comedian who took 7 years to graduate from Florida State invited to speak at Harvard Business School on marketing.

https://www.tiktok.com/@bertkreischer/video/7355177752070262059#:~:text=My%20name%20is%20Bert%20Kreischer,spend%20the%20day%20with%20me.

Many famous actors and musicians who never attended college go speak at prestigious campuses.

Not sure what point you think you are making…other than why did the comedian waste 7 years at FSU or any college for that matter?

BTW, many successful comedy writers and comedians graduated from Harvard (Colin Jost, founders of National Lampoon, Conan O’Brien, et al) and it’s a common Hollywood complaint that writers’ rooms are stuffed with Ivy grads.

Exactly. I know all that. I just think it's funny that there's all this "velvet rope" stuff about the elite people you get to meet at the Ivies and then it turns out to be people like this guy who spent 7 years at FSU. He was the subject of a National Lampoon movie: Van Wilder. So he's made bank off the interest Harvard people have in him...exotic Florida man that he is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just ran across this gem.

Comedian who took 7 years to graduate from Florida State invited to speak at Harvard Business School on marketing.

https://www.tiktok.com/@bertkreischer/video/7355177752070262059#:~:text=My%20name%20is%20Bert%20Kreischer,spend%20the%20day%20with%20me.

Many famous actors and musicians who never attended college go speak at prestigious campuses.

Not sure what point you think you are making…other than why did the comedian waste 7 years at FSU or any college for that matter?

BTW, many successful comedy writers and comedians graduated from Harvard (Colin Jost, founders of National Lampoon, Conan O’Brien, et al) and it’s a common Hollywood complaint that writers’ rooms are stuffed with Ivy grads.

Exactly. I know all that. I just think it's funny that there's all this "velvet rope" stuff about the elite people you get to meet at the Ivies and then it turns out to be people like this guy who spent 7 years at FSU. He was the subject of a National Lampoon movie: Van Wilder. So he's made bank off the interest Harvard people have in him...exotic Florida man that he is.

This is a strange tangent, but I don’t think the elite people being referenced are the entertainers and musicians that come to campus giving one-off talks.

It’s more the Nobel Prize winners or former PMs (like former NZ PM) or those types that are hired for faculty positions and/or two-year teaching assignments…plus the successful alums from all walks of life that are constantly on campus to meet with students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just ran across this gem.

Comedian who took 7 years to graduate from Florida State invited to speak at Harvard Business School on marketing.

https://www.tiktok.com/@bertkreischer/video/7355177752070262059#:~:text=My%20name%20is%20Bert%20Kreischer,spend%20the%20day%20with%20me.

Many famous actors and musicians who never attended college go speak at prestigious campuses.

Not sure what point you think you are making…other than why did the comedian waste 7 years at FSU or any college for that matter?

BTW, many successful comedy writers and comedians graduated from Harvard (Colin Jost, founders of National Lampoon, Conan O’Brien, et al) and it’s a common Hollywood complaint that writers’ rooms are stuffed with Ivy grads.

Exactly. I know all that. I just think it's funny that there's all this "velvet rope" stuff about the elite people you get to meet at the Ivies and then it turns out to be people like this guy who spent 7 years at FSU. He was the subject of a National Lampoon movie: Van Wilder. So he's made bank off the interest Harvard people have in him...exotic Florida man that he is.

This is a strange tangent, but I don’t think the elite people being referenced are the entertainers and musicians that come to campus giving one-off talks.

It’s more the Nobel Prize winners or former PMs (like former NZ PM) or those types that are hired for faculty positions and/or two-year teaching assignments…plus the successful alums from all walks of life that are constantly on campus to meet with students.

You are humorless. And believe that inspiration only comes from famous people.

[Anonymous]

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?!

Because like in another post on this forum mentioned and many posts say without saying it: to be in a place with certain demographic student population or to be around "people like them", or to go to a place to avoid a certain group of people (e.g. Asians at Duke, fewer at Vanderbilt etc..) - let the arguments begin now. AND for other factors such as location, AND for the program if kid knows what they want to study, AND so parents of student can humble brag to neighbors who don't even know who they are, AND.......

[Anonymous]

We are opting out. Not even looking at selective schools. The kids we know who stressed themselves out trying to check all the boxes, do the SAT prep, max out on service hours and ECs….. are largely going to the same schools that similarly economically situated, similarly bright but without all of the ECs and bells and whistles are going to.

What I’m getting is that unless you can full pay at the selective schools, none of this crap matters that much.

No matter how much we “prep” my son, he grew up in NoVa and is not going to stand out in a sea of similar but richer kids, enough to get fantastic merit aid or anything.
We cannot full pay at 80-90k per year so we are opting out of shooting for highly selective schools. What’s the point in getting in if we can’t pay? DC does some ECs and sports but really for his own enjoyment, challenging himself, physical fitness, and mental health. He will go to college, albeit not a T20 or probably even T40. He won’t take out loans. It will be fine.

[Anonymous]

I’m an over achiever graduate of hard knocks university who works with high achievers from Ivys (@ a MBB)

I am jealous they had Uber Black lives and I had Uber Pool … on one hand we’re now at the same destination but on the other it would have been nice to have an easier ride here and that line on my resume that always guaranteed it was read.

The truth is, it is somewhat soul crushing to realize that the doors really aren’t open to everyone. You can scan this thread and see that the C suite isn’t achievable to the best candidate because the best candidate never gets selected to even work in strategy, let alone work in the ladder to the top. Achieving, keeping and advancing in this top consulting firm I now have a possible future here but I’m a rare breakout example

My college roommates and friends are my soulmates but they aren’t famous or connected and that’s great - I love them and they make my life richer decades after graduation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, I’ll bite. I think there are two aspects to think about - the experience of going to a top school and the outcome. Some people care more about the first, some people care more about the latter, majority care about both.

I went to UConn on an athletic scholarship, my brother went to Yale. I visited him quite often and spent a good amount of time on campus. There is a massive difference in the environment at a state school vs a selective private university. It comes down to all the reasons people have discussed already - the level of resources, peers, access is on a different level. Yale was inspiration overload each time I was on campus.

I got a great education and I am happy with my life. But if you came and told me I could redo college and can choose to go to UConn/any state school vs go to Yale or another top school, I’d pick Yale in a heartbeat because it’s just a completely different experience.

100%

My kid is full pay at an Ivy. I went to a big state school. It’s very, very different in all the ways you describe. We could afford to give our kid that experience. He earned admission w/out tutors or paid counselors or test prep, so we were glad to be able to fund it for him. My parents couldn’t for me. I do agree all of these private colleges cost way too much nowadays, but the experience and the peers and the faculty are the size are all worth it if you can swing it w/out going into debt or taking loans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, I’ll bite. I think there are two aspects to think about - the experience of going to a top school and the outcome. Some people care more about the first, some people care more about the latter, majority care about both.

I went to UConn on an athletic scholarship, my brother went to Yale. I visited him quite often and spent a good amount of time on campus. There is a massive difference in the environment at a state school vs a selective private university. It comes down to all the reasons people have discussed already - the level of resources, peers, access is on a different level. Yale was inspiration overload each time I was on campus.

I got a great education and I am happy with my life. But if you came and told me I could redo college and can choose to go to UConn/any state school vs go to Yale or another top school, I’d pick Yale in a heartbeat because it’s just a completely different experience.

100%

My kid is full pay at an Ivy. I went to a big state school. It’s very, very different in all the ways you describe. We could afford to give our kid that experience. He earned admission w/out tutors or paid counselors or test prep, so we were glad to be able to fund it for him. My parents couldn’t for me. I do agree all of these private colleges cost way too much nowadays, but the experience and the peers and the faculty are the size are all worth it if you can swing it w/out going into debt or taking loans.

The differences are amazing! i am grateful to be able to pay for both of ours to go to ivies, which may not have happened if I had not been poor enough to get a lot of grants so my parent could pay less than the state school to send me to a different ivy

[Anonymous]

Just remember: it’s not WHAT you know, it’s WHO you know.

PP from a no-name party school who has gotten every job through a connection.