Carnegie Mellon and Georgetown - why so low endowments?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have yet to meet one person who graduated from GU that I have an ounce of respect for.

It funny you say that because I have had similar experience - although I would say I have been underwhelmed.

But they hold themselves in very very high esteem.
The school should do something to tone the attitude of its graduates down - it's repulsive to others.
The typical graduate says 'I went to GU and then there's a pause and you're supposed to bow, clap or throw money or something. All three I guess.

I met my spouse at GU and while I don't think we are quite as bad as you think we are, I know what attitude you are referring to. It is what made it hard for me to like college until I met my now spouse halfway through the 4 years. I always assumed it was because I was a public school kid surrounded by private school kids with loads more money. I promise there are good people come out of GU, but I think the attitude you are referring to started in many of them before they were even accepted.

I was emailing my DD's teacher about a simple sports team question and he was quoting Aristotle . It's embarrassing and awkward.
I heard it at the Georgetown tour we took too. I'm not sure I want my daughter to go to a school where everyone thinks they are more special than the rest of the world? It's just a small little private school of which there are many similar as well as many other intelligent people in the world. They need to tone it down and get some humility.

I have relatives who graduated from their medical school long ago and they are humble and friendly which is better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD turned down CMU because the buildings were in such a state of disrepair. She thought the buildings were beautiful but falling down. Of course, it didn't help that the students seemed depressed and overworked. Her classmate enrolled and, while she likes the school, she is stressed. I know everyone rants about how the luxuries are a waste of money but when you turn off students because of a lack of upkeep, you are going to far in the other direction.

Cmu dorms are disgusting and filthy. I don't expect wake forest or Princeton level accommodations but come on.

They're old because the buildings are historic (mine even had a fireplace in it.. closed off for students of course), but I never found them unclean.

I went to CMU for the education anyway. I didn't care about hotel-style dorms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have yet to meet one person who graduated from GU that I have an ounce of respect for.

It funny you say that because I have had similar experience - although I would say I have been underwhelmed.

But they hold themselves in very very high esteem.
The school should do something to tone the attitude of its graduates down - it's repulsive to others.
The typical graduate says 'I went to GU and then there's a pause and you're supposed to bow, clap or throw money or something. All three I guess.

Georgetown is the dream school for the student council try-hard dorks who lacked self-awareness. The few peers I know who are GU alums didn't even apply to Ivies. It was all about GU.

It's the catholic harvard

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Georgetown's relatively small endowment has been a problem for a long while. When I was in college (early 90s) my senior year there was not enough financial aid to go around. Seniors were told they could go to their flagship state university and still graduate from Georgetown. At the last minute, there was some deal where funds were found at the law school and loaned to the undergrad operations so that financial aid could be provided to seniors . . .

I'd always heard that the reason for the relatively small endowment (relative to the prestige of the school and success of its grads) was because it's a Catholic institution and people feel like when they give to the church, they're "covered" or something like this (even though the Catholic church does not financially support Georgetown U.)

I went to the law school in the late 90s and it just felt like we were just there to be the cash cow for the rest of the university. We were at this sad ugly campus in a not-great neighborhood and it did not feel part of the campus community at all. The tuition felt outrageous and it was very law-school-factory feeling due to the high number of law students. I've never given them a dime FWIW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD turned down CMU because the buildings were in such a state of disrepair. She thought the buildings were beautiful but falling down. Of course, it didn't help that the students seemed depressed and overworked. Her classmate enrolled and, while she likes the school, she is stressed. I know everyone rants about how the luxuries are a waste of money but when you turn off students because of a lack of upkeep, you are going to far in the other direction.

Cmu dorms are disgusting and filthy. I don't expect wake forest or Princeton level accommodations but come on.

They're old because the buildings are historic (mine even had a fireplace in it.. closed off for students of course), but I never found them unclean.

I went to CMU for the education anyway. I didn't care about hotel-style dorms.

I graduated from CMU in the 1980s so my information is very out of date. I agree there is a lack of spirit at the university and I wonder if it is in part because everyone is segregated into colleges from the very beginning and that the core curriculum is so rigid.

As far as dorms, I was mostly in Mudge Hall in the old mansion part with a big bay window that opened to the stone balcony overlooking the garden. It was a great room. Most CMU dorms were utilitarian then but I thought the ones built in the late 90s and aughts were supposed to be much nicer.

[Anonymous]

had a relative who worked in development office at GU for several years, 10 years ago. their endowment was small then and mostly because it was not a focus until the last ten years. It is now one of the fastest growing endowments and probably over time will reach its appropriate size

[Anonymous]

List (in order, 2015) of endowment per student, schools who have over 1 million USD endowment per student:

Princeton 2.81
Yale 2.07
Harvard 1.73
Stanford 1.32
Pomona 1.27
Amherst 1.22
Swarthmore 1.197
MIT 1.190
Williams 1.14
Grinnell 1.03

Source: National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do grads not like these schools enough to give after they graduate?

It's because a large number of grads go into public service and non-profit work versus ivy peers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD turned down CMU because the buildings were in such a state of disrepair. She thought the buildings were beautiful but falling down. Of course, it didn't help that the students seemed depressed and overworked. Her classmate enrolled and, while she likes the school, she is stressed. I know everyone rants about how the luxuries are a waste of money but when you turn off students because of a lack of upkeep, you are going to far in the other direction.

Cmu dorms are disgusting and filthy. I don't expect wake forest or Princeton level accommodations but come on.

They're old because the buildings are historic (mine even had a fireplace in it.. closed off for students of course), but I never found them unclean.

I went to CMU for the education anyway. I didn't care about hotel-style dorms.

Went there also and completely agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do grads not like these schools enough to give after they graduate?

It's because a large number of grads go into public service and non-profit work versus ivy peers

Actually Georgetown students do just as well as Ivy grads financially and they come wealthier families, so in theory they should be giving more.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/college-mobility/georgetown-university

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do grads not like these schools enough to give after they graduate?

It's because a large number of grads go into public service and non-profit work versus ivy peers

Ivies are not the peers of GU

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD turned down CMU because the buildings were in such a state of disrepair. She thought the buildings were beautiful but falling down. Of course, it didn't help that the students seemed depressed and overworked. Her classmate enrolled and, while she likes the school, she is stressed. I know everyone rants about how the luxuries are a waste of money but when you turn off students because of a lack of upkeep, you are going to far in the other direction.

Cmu dorms are disgusting and filthy. I don't expect wake forest or Princeton level accommodations but come on.

Princeton doesn't have nice dorms. People don't go to Princeton for the dorms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it has a lot to with community. Besides basketball, GTown doesn't really have much that bonds students together. Everyone I know that went there wanted to be president or a big shot on WS, so maybe there's an emphasis on individual goals?

Sounds like NYU with its low endowment. Big sports schools build spirit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it has a lot to with community. Besides basketball, GTown doesn't really have much that bonds students together. Everyone I know that went there wanted to be president or a big shot on WS, so maybe there's an emphasis on individual goals?

GU's most successful basketball seasons were under a coach, John Thompson. Major scandal in the 90s, they let in a lot of young men in the 80s and 90s who had no business on a college campus, crime, admissions standards ignored. He coached from 1972–1999.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD turned down CMU because the buildings were in such a state of disrepair. She thought the buildings were beautiful but falling down. Of course, it didn't help that the students seemed depressed and overworked. Her classmate enrolled and, while she likes the school, she is stressed. I know everyone rants about how the luxuries are a waste of money but when you turn off students because of a lack of upkeep, you are going to far in the other direction.

Cmu dorms are disgusting and filthy. I don't expect wake forest or Princeton level accommodations but come on.

Princeton doesn't have nice dorms. People don't go to Princeton for the dorms.

People don't go to Princeton for the dorms, but the dorms are generally quite nice. For example, the crappiest residential college in my time there -- Butler -- has been completely redone and is now leaps and bounds better than before.