NYT opinion article "Did I choose the wrong college "

[Anonymous]

Just saw this online today - sort of interesting perspective although she lost me at the end. It's about a woman who chose between a full ride to U of Florida and some assistance (but not a lot) at Cornell. She's an adult now and reflecting on her choice.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/04/28/opinion/sunday/college-debt-choices.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

[Anonymous]

Yeah the end kind of makes no sense since her first novel was based on her experience of going to college away from home at Cornell.

http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/books/article29630989.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just saw this online today - sort of interesting perspective although she lost me at the end. It's about a woman who chose between a full ride to U of Florida and some assistance (but not a lot) at Cornell. She's an adult now and reflecting on her choice.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/04/28/opinion/sunday/college-debt-choices.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

Agree. I thought there could be some really good insight, but other than her noting that her friend who did go to U of F has a house in a really nice neighborhood and is successful as well, i'm not sure what to take from it, or why anything other than the headline belonged in the NYT.

[Anonymous]

She apparently liked the experience at Cornell well enough to stay there for 4 years and graduate. To second guess that decision now at such a late date and after she has already benefited from her education at Cornell.....what is the purpose of that?

University of Florida didn't check all the boxes for her for some reason. If UF had been meant to be she would have jumped at the free ride she was offered but she didn't do that. Her parents also saw an opportunity for their daughter at Cornell that they didn't see at UF. So they did what they had to do to get her into Cornell.

The odd thing is she ONLY applied to those two schools because the application process is so expensive (still less than $100 per school). Yet, she and her parents willingly chose to mortgage their house and take on thousands of dollars student loan debt....to send her to Cornell. They thought that it was worth doing.

I hope that she realizes that there are parents out there taking out HELOCs and other debt in order to send their kids to UF.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just saw this online today - sort of interesting perspective although she lost me at the end. It's about a woman who chose between a full ride to U of Florida and some assistance (but not a lot) at Cornell. She's an adult now and reflecting on her choice.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/04/28/opinion/sunday/college-debt-choices.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

Agree. I thought there could be some really good insight, but other than her noting that her friend who did go to U of F has a house in a really nice neighborhood and is successful as well, i'm not sure what to take from it, or why anything other than the headline belonged in the NYT.

Yep. What were the pros and cons of her decision? Is she still paying off debt? Were her parents able to financially recover from mortgaging their home and are they doing o.k.?

Does she have regrets? If so, why?

[Anonymous]

I have a Latina friend who got in to Cornell 30 years ago. Apparently Cornell admits tons of people without fully funding them. She couldn't afford Cornell then and had to turn it down for a community college. She's now a loud-mouth low-level govt clerk. Yeah, the one you saw at DMV. After seeing her in action, I realized Cornell isn't all that. It's a school that takes in a CC-level student for stats purpose.

[Anonymous]

I was struck by her lack of self awareness and the blame she seemed to attach to her parents. It was a weird piece.

[Anonymous]

I had a similar choice and went Ivy, and also think now I would have been happier as big fish in small pond Florida.

People who do well st Ivies for the most part already come from UMC; all of us on aide are ALWAYS trying catching up but still falling behind even after college.

Starts with HS prep, and being woefully unprepared for rigorous academics, then to career path and having no clue what is lucrative or not, then having no network to leverage nor parents help for risk taking career paths, graduate/professional school, or down payments.

Staying in my cheap as grits FL town, working an easy 40 hr job as a city worker or accountant sounds like a sweet gig, and houses cost about the same as a down payment here.

Like her, I didn’t really appreciate that I might have ended up in a happier place until much later, mid career and with kids.

[Anonymous]

A kid that has the smarts and stats to get offered a full ride at UF AND admission into Cornell has the brains to figure this stuff out for themselves.

She is lucky that she had two working parents to help her. Between the three of them they decided that Cornell was worth taking on some debt and dipping into their own nest egg. Parents and students make financial choices like this every day although they are usually not trying to decide between Ivy or a full ride at the state flagship

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A kid that has the smarts and stats to get offered a full ride at UF AND admission into Cornell has the brains to figure this stuff out for themselves.

She is lucky that she had two working parents to help her. Between the three of them they decided that Cornell was worth taking on some debt and dipping into their own nest egg. Parents and students make financial choices like this every day although they are usually not trying to decide between Ivy or a full ride at the state flagship

Ha, no. You don’t understand the world she is coming from at all. She was probably full of idealistic dreams of making a difference and follow your dreams and don’t worry about money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A kid that has the smarts and stats to get offered a full ride at UF AND admission into Cornell has the brains to figure this stuff out for themselves.

She is lucky that she had two working parents to help her. Between the three of them they decided that Cornell was worth taking on some debt and dipping into their own nest egg. Parents and students make financial choices like this every day although they are usually not trying to decide between Ivy or a full ride at the state flagship

Ha, no. You don’t understand the world she is coming from at all. She was probably full of idealistic dreams of making a difference and follow your dreams and don’t worry about money.

eh, she doesn't mention a thing about her idealistic dreams of changing the world. In fact, she specifically mentions how she and her parents were schmoozed in by Cornell. They thought that attending Cornell would offer her privileges that a state flagship would not.

Now that she has fully enjoyed 4 years of those privileges, she is second guessing the benefits of her education. I dunno. When I think about the kids who would jump at the chance to take that full ride at UF....yeah, I don't feel much sympathy for her.

[Anonymous]

I am curious about her DH. For a beautiful woman like her, going Ivy also opens up dating circles. Not PC to say so, but it’s rare for a man to marry up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A kid that has the smarts and stats to get offered a full ride at UF AND admission into Cornell has the brains to figure this stuff out for themselves.

She is lucky that she had two working parents to help her. Between the three of them they decided that Cornell was worth taking on some debt and dipping into their own nest egg. Parents and students make financial choices like this every day although they are usually not trying to decide between Ivy or a full ride at the state flagship

Ha, no. You don’t understand the world she is coming from at all. She was probably full of idealistic dreams of making a difference and follow your dreams and don’t worry about money.

eh, she doesn't mention a thing about her idealistic dreams of changing the world. In fact, she specifically mentions how she and her parents were schmoozed in by Cornell. They thought that attending Cornell would offer her privileges that a state flagship would not.

Now that she has fully enjoyed 4 years of those privileges, she is second guessing the benefits of her education. I dunno. When I think about the kids who would jump at the chance to take that full ride at UF....yeah, I don't feel much sympathy for her.

You don’t end up here: “Jennine Capó Crucet, an assistant professor of English and ethnic studies at the University of Nebraska-Linco” unless you followed some kind of idealism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A kid that has the smarts and stats to get offered a full ride at UF AND admission into Cornell has the brains to figure this stuff out for themselves.

She is lucky that she had two working parents to help her. Between the three of them they decided that Cornell was worth taking on some debt and dipping into their own nest egg. Parents and students make financial choices like this every day although they are usually not trying to decide between Ivy or a full ride at the state flagship

Ha, no. You don’t understand the world she is coming from at all. She was probably full of idealistic dreams of making a difference and follow your dreams and don’t worry about money.

eh, she doesn't mention a thing about her idealistic dreams of changing the world. In fact, she specifically mentions how she and her parents were schmoozed in by Cornell. They thought that attending Cornell would offer her privileges that a state flagship would not.

Now that she has fully enjoyed 4 years of those privileges, she is second guessing the benefits of her education. I dunno. When I think about the kids who would jump at the chance to take that full ride at UF....yeah, I don't feel much sympathy for her.

She doesn’t have the life her parents envisioned for her, that’s the point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am curious about her DH. For a beautiful woman like her, going Ivy also opens up dating circles. Not PC to say so, but it’s rare for a man to marry up.

I wish the writer would disclose who her UF married -- I'd bet she married well. Really, the undercurrent of the piece is the writer didn't find a born or soon-to-be rich Ivy husband while in college.

And being a tenured professor at a Big10 college is a pretty freaking big deal. She probably makes $150,000 a year...for life?