How much do you think college truly influences the trajectory of someone's life?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a T10 from a very small town. I had been a big fish in a small pond, so I entered that school with the confidence of a lion. Obviously, I was knocked down a few pegs as I was no longer the smartest, funniest, or most popular. I learned to manage that and remain confident, but it was hard. I was also intimidated by all of the money that my peers had, but I learned a lot about the lifestyles and habits of wealthy people.

That said, I graduated and took all of that to my new career. I remained fairly confident and advanced easily. It was helpful to know how to stand up after you've been knocked down. IT was also invaluable to know a little about wealth and wealthy people. You could say that any success I've achieved is due to the name on my degree, but I don't think so. I think it's due to the fact that I have never discounted myself or assumed I deserved anything less than what I wanted. It's a "never say die" attitude that was instilled in me back in my small town. The big school could knock me around but it was already ingrained within me.

Conversely, my children have not grown up as big fish in a small pond. Their confidence has been rocked by going to high school in such a competitive and "dog eat dog" atmosphere. They are cynical but are trying to remain hopeful about life, in general. Although we are not wealthy, wealth does not intimidate them. It's very interesting for me to observe.

When it came to choosing a school for my oldest, we focused on fit and comfort. I couldn't have cared less about the rankings of those schools. I wanted DC to feel strong and confident about themselves again. I truly believe that one's attitude is what makes the difference. DC will be graduating from a small SLAC that gets no attention from DCUM. He has really blossomed there and has taken advantage of all the opportunities he was given there. He is looking forward to being employed when he graduates and is hoping to use that employment as a springboard towards his Master's. DD is heading towards a similar college decision and we are 100% on board.

TLDR: it's not necessarily prestige or reputation, it's fit. I needed one thing out of college and my kids need(ed) another.

That’s just a cliche. If college were a question of “fit”, how do you explain the fact that most people apply to schools that are different on the opposite end of the spectrum? Yale is different than Harvard, as they are different than MIT/CalTech. Brown is different than UChicago. Dartmouth is different than Columbia. The only common denominator is T10, T20, or T30. So, let’s not kid ourselves.

You are entitled to your opinion, even though nearly everyone in the college admissions business disagrees with you.

However, I think the mistake you make is equating what's best with what many people do. Yes, Brown and Columbia are very different schools academically, and yet some people apply to both. That doesn't mean both are best fit and it also doesn't mean some kids can't thrive at either. However, WHEN TRYING TO GET ACCEPTED to a highly competitive school, it is most advisable that it is a good fit and that you can show that in your application.

[Anonymous]

It wasn’t the school itself, but the people I met. A lot ended up in “high places” or famous. It doesn’t mean they are happy. But sometimes their connections help. I am not rich, powerful, or famous. But I feel like I got a good education and maybe still being friends with me reinforces their success, haha.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Obviously it does. It’s where kids spend their first 4 years as adults and start making the decisions that will shape their lives.

Does it matter career wise? I’d say not so much in law. The name of the law school matters a lot though. But WM to Yale vs Brown to Yale? IDK how much it matters.

I care a lot less about career though for undergrad and more about peer group and the college being a good fit for my kid. Somewhere they can grow and develop and be encouraged to make good choices. Chasing T10 or Ivy never made much sense to me. But, we did well regarded SLACs for both kids, so I have a bias towards small classes, relationship with professors, supportive residential community, lots of writing and public speaking, no Greek life, etc.

All this you and maybe one or two others exactly like you, have probably said on here 100 times. Very boring. Not really answering the OP's question, either.

[Anonymous]

I don't think the ivy's open as many doors as people think they do. Yes, if you want to clerk for a Supreme Court Justice, you need an ivy degree. If you want to work for a white shoe law firm, not necessarily. I went to a good college and average law school and I was able to get a job at a large firm b/c I got really good grades in law school. Consulting firms etc are trying to be more open minded than they used to. My really successful friends went to all kinds of different schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think the ivy's open as many doors as people think they do. Yes, if you want to clerk for a Supreme Court Justice, you need an ivy degree. If you want to work for a white shoe law firm, not necessarily. I went to a good college and average law school and I was able to get a job at a large firm b/c I got really good grades in law school. Consulting firms etc are trying to be more open minded than they used to. My really successful friends went to all kinds of different schools.

I think there’s a judge in CA with a HS degree that might say a college degree is not necessary. She might say, “Look at me, I have a HS degree, went to a cert program at a law school, that doubled as a “college” degree, all credits also going towards a law degree!” And she was able to land a job as a judge after working as an attorney.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a T10 from a very small town. I had been a big fish in a small pond, so I entered that school with the confidence of a lion. Obviously, I was knocked down a few pegs as I was no longer the smartest, funniest, or most popular. I learned to manage that and remain confident, but it was hard. I was also intimidated by all of the money that my peers had, but I learned a lot about the lifestyles and habits of wealthy people.

That said, I graduated and took all of that to my new career. I remained fairly confident and advanced easily. It was helpful to know how to stand up after you've been knocked down. IT was also invaluable to know a little about wealth and wealthy people. You could say that any success I've achieved is due to the name on my degree, but I don't think so. I think it's due to the fact that I have never discounted myself or assumed I deserved anything less than what I wanted. It's a "never say die" attitude that was instilled in me back in my small town. The big school could knock me around but it was already ingrained within me.

Conversely, my children have not grown up as big fish in a small pond. Their confidence has been rocked by going to high school in such a competitive and "dog eat dog" atmosphere. They are cynical but are trying to remain hopeful about life, in general. Although we are not wealthy, wealth does not intimidate them. It's very interesting for me to observe.

When it came to choosing a school for my oldest, we focused on fit and comfort. I couldn't have cared less about the rankings of those schools. I wanted DC to feel strong and confident about themselves again. I truly believe that one's attitude is what makes the difference. DC will be graduating from a small SLAC that gets no attention from DCUM. He has really blossomed there and has taken advantage of all the opportunities he was given there. He is looking forward to being employed when he graduates and is hoping to use that employment as a springboard towards his Master's. DD is heading towards a similar college decision and we are 100% on board.

TLDR: it's not necessarily prestige or reputation, it's fit. I needed one thing out of college and my kids need(ed) another.

That’s just a cliche. If college were a question of “fit”, how do you explain the fact that most people apply to schools that are different on the opposite end of the spectrum? Yale is different than Harvard, as they are different than MIT/CalTech. Brown is different than UChicago. Dartmouth is different than Columbia. The only common denominator is T10, T20, or T30. So, let’s not kid ourselves.

You obviously didn’t read my post. By fit I meant somewhere where you are comfortable and primed to succeed. If a school full of competitive assholes would simply make you crawl deeper into your hole of insecurity then it doesn’t matter what it’s ranked. You have to go somewhere and try to become the best version of you. How’s that for a cliche?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"where you go is not who you'll be" -- it's a book all about this. And how it doesn't matter.

But that said yes pedigree matters still for certain academics and supreme court justices though it may matter less over time.

Right. Amy Coney Barrett went to Rhodes College, which some refer to as a CTCL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think the ivy's open as many doors as people think they do. Yes, if you want to clerk for a Supreme Court Justice, you need an ivy degree. If you want to work for a white shoe law firm, not necessarily. I went to a good college and average law school and I was able to get a job at a large firm b/c I got really good grades in law school. Consulting firms etc are trying to be more open minded than they used to. My really successful friends went to all kinds of different schools.

I’m Black. In my very small graduate program, each of the 4-5 classes that I knew well had 1 Black student per class. Each one of us graduated from HYP. That is likely not a coincidence. One of the things that HYP can do is serve as a shortcut for hiring managers and admissions committees trying to decide which very small number of POC will be taken seriously as candidates who “fit”. In my case, I’m sure that my undergrad degree made it easier for my grad school to seriously consider me as a candidate. In my case, it means that some of the doors that would have been closed to me cracked open just enough for me to be seriously considered. It makes the difference between difficult and impossible.

tldr: Whether or not Ivys “open doors” likely has a lot to do with what doors would have been open in the first place. For those of us with very few available open doors, it can be a significant factor: the difference between difficult and impossible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An LSU degree will open as many doors as an Ivy degree. It's all about the person wielding it.

Maybe, but they ain't the same doors.

People call yell all they want but this is true. LSU is a great school and I have a couple of friends that went there including a guy that makes a couple of million a year. But the path is not the same from the schools. One example, Art History major at LSU is not being hired by Goldman but an Art History major at an Ivy could very well be. Substitute Art History for just about any other major. I am not saying it is the be all and end all. It is just a wider array of options that open easier.

So true. I went to a top SLAC (Swarthmore/Amherst/Williams) and I was a *philosophy* major. I interviewed for McKinsey, Goldman, Merrill Lynch, and law firms like Cravath and a couple of boutique firms in DC. I learned later that this is not usual.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An LSU degree will open as many doors as an Ivy degree. It's all about the person wielding it.

Maybe, but they ain't the same doors.

People call yell all they want but this is true. LSU is a great school and I have a couple of friends that went there including a guy that makes a couple of million a year. But the path is not the same from the schools. One example, Art History major at LSU is not being hired by Goldman but an Art History major at an Ivy could very well be. Substitute Art History for just about any other major. I am not saying it is the be all and end all. It is just a wider array of options that open easier.

So true. I went to a top SLAC (Swarthmore/Amherst/Williams) and I was a *philosophy* major. I interviewed for McKinsey, Goldman, Merrill Lynch, and law firms like Cravath and a couple of boutique firms in DC. I learned later that this is not usual.

Sorry, I hit submit before I finished. I mean that this was not usual in that these firms seek you out if you attend one of these top colleges. You don't go to them - well, you do "sign up" at the college career center to interview - but they come to your college to hire a few of you. The odds are so much greater this way than sending a resume and hoping for an interview.

[Anonymous]

The ivys definitely open doors to investment banks but I guess that is only helpful if you are interested in that kind of work. No way would I have survived the insane work hours and cut throat culture of these companies. I have friends who went to Goldman Sacks etc and they all hated the work but did make $$$

[Anonymous]

We were not raised rich but sort of fell by circumstance into a very UMC group and it's opened my eyes that it's not really about money, it's about the whole picture. I have ZERO concern about where my kid goes to college. I see they can basically go to a state school or unknown private and be just fine because of everything else they are growing up with.

- connections, just in our peer circle we have doctors/surgeons, politicians, a few accomplished actors/musicians, lots of C-level or VP level business, tech entrepreneurs, law partners, professors, authors, engineers at Google/FB, designers.. sky is the limit in terms of getting your foot in the door.. I did NOT have this as a kid at all and see how much easier it makes things especially at the college level or right after.
- Kids golf, play tennis, sail + ski on regular basis through lessons, clinics and camps in addition to other sports
- Kids attend expensive, elite sleepover camps
- family involvement in multiple philanthropies every year on the chair or board level
- kids grow up doing organized charity/debutante roles learning social traditions and manners
- international travel frequently
- 2nd house out west in mountain town
- attend top 20 nationally ranked public HS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were not raised rich but sort of fell by circumstance into a very UMC group and it's opened my eyes that it's not really about money, it's about the whole picture. I have ZERO concern about where my kid goes to college. I see they can basically go to a state school or unknown private and be just fine because of everything else they are growing up with.

- connections, just in our peer circle we have doctors/surgeons, politicians, a few accomplished actors/musicians, lots of C-level or VP level business, tech entrepreneurs, law partners, professors, authors, engineers at Google/FB, designers.. sky is the limit in terms of getting your foot in the door.. I did NOT have this as a kid at all and see how much easier it makes things especially at the college level or right after.
- Kids golf, play tennis, sail + ski on regular basis through lessons, clinics and camps in addition to other sports
- Kids attend expensive, elite sleepover camps
- family involvement in multiple philanthropies every year on the chair or board level
- kids grow up doing organized charity/debutante roles learning social traditions and manners
- international travel frequently
- 2nd house out west in mountain town
- attend top 20 nationally ranked public HS

Sorry mean't to say it's not really the *prestige of your undergrad degree* not money

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"where you go is not who you'll be" -- it's a book all about this. And how it doesn't matter.

But that said yes pedigree matters still for certain academics and supreme court justices though it may matter less over time.

Right. Amy Coney Barrett went to Rhodes College, which some refer to as a CTCL.

She was put in her position for political reasons and not because of credentials.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"where you go is not who you'll be" -- it's a book all about this. And how it doesn't matter.

But that said yes pedigree matters still for certain academics and supreme court justices though it may matter less over time.

Right. Amy Coney Barrett went to Rhodes College, which some refer to as a CTCL.

She was put in her position for political reasons and not because of credentials.

False. Politics usually play a role in SCOTUS appointments but she also has the credentials.