ROI for attending 70K+ colleges & Universities

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is at an ivy. She got a summer internship based on a relationship with a prof whose class she took. Her internship mentor had a friend working on her campus that he called to recommend her for a research spot. Connections have helped.

My daughter goes to a little liberal arts college in Pennsylvania and almost the exact thing happened to her. I am not sure why Ivy is relevant.

This. But keep thinking Ivy connections are somehow gold.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College is about more than your first job. Peer groups are important, too. Some people make life long friendships in college that turn into business partnerships, career opportunities, private investing opportunities, marriages. I'm hoping my son will go to an ivy or a nescac school and continue his team sport there. I'll love him just the same wherever he ends up, but I'm gently nudging him that direction and prepared to pay for it.

This. OP, in time, please update us on the quality of work for each. Also, let us know how careers develop for each after five years or so.

That's a cool story but peers honestly do not help you get jobs when you are in a high powered profession with actual skills involved. If you don't have the ability and intelligence, no amount of networking is going to help you unless you are from a filthy rich family. Also, virtually no networking occurs at the undergraduate level, at least not important networking. Even in ivy league graduate professional programs, alumni networking and school loyalty play a fairly small role in ability to move up in an industry. In the top firms in most industries, there are many checks and balances concerning how subordinate evaluations are conducted. For example, at many top consulting, accounting, and finance firms you have to be evaluated by multiple superiors, and they then have to take your ratings and reviews to a central meeting among partners/directors/etc. who then benchmark across multiple offices and come to joint decisions about who gets promoted, who gets what raise, etc. The only way "networking" would in any way help you is if multiple of your powerful superiors happened to be networked in with you due to school loyalty or experience, and then put more weight on that than your actual value added. I think "networking is the reason to go to top 20 schools" is just something parents tell themselves to justify wasting a bunch of money. I say this as a professor who has both professional degrees from and has taught in the ivy league.

Networking gets you in the door, which in and of itself is huge. After that, you have to prove yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just hired five recently CS graduates in our technology division; one from CMU, one from Northeastern, one from UCLA, one from UVA, and one from GMU. All of them were offered the same salary at 115K/year. In other words, the graduate from GMU makes the same salary as the graduate from CMU and Northeastern, and the cost to attend GMU is more than less than half of CMU and Northeastern.

Here's the deal.. You got the best kid from GMU, the middling kid from Northeastern and the bottom quartile kid from CMU. Sample size matter..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just hired five recently CS graduates in our technology division; one from CMU, one from Northeastern, one from UCLA, one from UVA, and one from GMU. All of them were offered the same salary at 115K/year. In other words, the graduate from GMU makes the same salary as the graduate from CMU and Northeastern, and the cost to attend GMU is more than less than half of CMU and Northeastern.

FWIW - I have family friends with a student at Northeastern who was given so much credit for AP that they started as a second semester sophomore and would graduate with a Masters with fewer semesters than it would take a student entering as a true first semester freshman to get their Bachelors. They only had to pay the school for semesters attended and also received $ (not sure if it was need or merit). Their ROI will be great, so be careful with comparison points - not everyone is paying the full load.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just hired five recently CS graduates in our technology division; one from CMU, one from Northeastern, one from UCLA, one from UVA, and one from GMU. All of them were offered the same salary at 115K/year. In other words, the graduate from GMU makes the same salary as the graduate from CMU and Northeastern, and the cost to attend GMU is more than less than half of CMU and Northeastern.

FWIW - I have family friends with a student at Northeastern who was given so much credit for AP that they started as a second semester sophomore and would graduate with a Masters with fewer semesters than it would take a student entering as a true first semester freshman to get their Bachelors. They only had to pay the school for semesters attended and also received $ (not sure if it was need or merit). Their ROI will be great, so be careful with comparison points - not everyone is paying the full load.

And several NEU kids get scholarships that bring the cost down to about the same as instate UVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just hired five recently CS graduates in our technology division; one from CMU, one from Northeastern, one from UCLA, one from UVA, and one from GMU. All of them were offered the same salary at 115K/year. In other words, the graduate from GMU makes the same salary as the graduate from CMU and Northeastern, and the cost to attend GMU is more than less than half of CMU and Northeastern.

Here's the deal.. You got the best kid from GMU, the middling kid from Northeastern and the bottom quartile kid from CMU. Sample size matter..

If you graduate at the bottom half 50% at CMU while paying full price, is it still worth it? Not everyone can be superstars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is at an ivy. She got a summer internship based on a relationship with a prof whose class she took. Her internship mentor had a friend working on her campus that he called to recommend her for a research spot. Connections have helped.

My daughter goes to a little liberal arts college in Pennsylvania and almost the exact thing happened to her. I am not sure why Ivy is relevant.

This. But keep thinking Ivy connections are somehow gold.

Without sharing the salary/experience at the internships, it is impossible to compare the two situations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just hired five recently CS graduates in our technology division; one from CMU, one from Northeastern, one from UCLA, one from UVA, and one from GMU. All of them were offered the same salary at 115K/year. In other words, the graduate from GMU makes the same salary as the graduate from CMU and Northeastern, and the cost to attend GMU is more than less than half of CMU and Northeastern.

You have a middle class view of money, college, and working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just hired five recently CS graduates in our technology division; one from CMU, one from Northeastern, one from UCLA, one from UVA, and one from GMU. All of them were offered the same salary at 115K/year. In other words, the graduate from GMU makes the same salary as the graduate from CMU and Northeastern, and the cost to attend GMU is more than less than half of CMU and Northeastern.

You have a middle class view of money, college, and working.

unless mom and dad set enough aside to 'help', it's a good mentality to have. Not everyone gets a 500k check to help with their first house

[Anonymous]

Ivy grad.

Classmates are all over the place. I suppose in a way it's not a good ROI. It's not a ticket to a 400k/yr HHI. But it can help. On the other hand, if you're capable enough, you'll likely be in the same place regardless of where you went to school - for most people. Some caveats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is at an ivy. She got a summer internship based on a relationship with a prof whose class she took. Her internship mentor had a friend working on her campus that he called to recommend her for a research spot. Connections have helped.

My daughter goes to a little liberal arts college in Pennsylvania and almost the exact thing happened to her. I am not sure why Ivy is relevant.

If you don’t mind me asking, what school does she attend?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$70K?? Jesus Christ, why? That seems just nuts.

many schools are are nearing $85k now...

For what, though? If my kid wanted to go somewhere that cost $85K I would think I did a terrible job raising them with any understanding of the value of a dollar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$70K?? Jesus Christ, why? That seems just nuts.

many schools are are nearing $85k now...

For what, though? If my kid wanted to go somewhere that cost $85K I would think I did a terrible job raising them with any understanding of the value of a dollar.

If my kid got into Columbia or Chicago or Harvey Mudd or Northwestern (currently the most expensive cost of attendance), I'd probably be proud of them, but to each their own

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just hired five recently CS graduates in our technology division; one from CMU, one from Northeastern, one from UCLA, one from UVA, and one from GMU. All of them were offered the same salary at 115K/year. In other words, the graduate from GMU makes the same salary as the graduate from CMU and Northeastern, and the cost to attend GMU is more than less than half of CMU and Northeastern.

You have a middle class view of money, college, and working.

+2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just hired five recently CS graduates in our technology division; one from CMU, one from Northeastern, one from UCLA, one from UVA, and one from GMU. All of them were offered the same salary at 115K/year. In other words, the graduate from GMU makes the same salary as the graduate from CMU and Northeastern, and the cost to attend GMU is more than less than half of CMU and Northeastern.

$115K per year is mid to lower tier firm. High-mid to top tier firms offer $150,000-200,000/year right out of college. We need stats from these firms, not the lower level firms that hire mostly state or boot camp grads.