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

[Anonymous]

I went to a school with a 96% admit rate. I have a person on my team that went to Harvard. Bet their parents kick themselves daily.

[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?!

You need to go to an ivie school, no joke, otherwise you are the biggest loser around if you go to anything lower. Stress your kid and yourself and enjoy the journey! Money is the most important thing in this world!

[Anonymous]

Going to top schools usually gives you a greater margin for error. Like it or not, that has value.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I was thinking about this lately too. A family we’ve known since elementary pushed their kid in a certain sport, unabashedly for college admissions. They sold the family business, sold their house for a loss, moved to a much smaller place in a less competitive area to redshirt the kid before high school and go all in for this kid’s sport. The dad even got himself hired as a coach at the HS to be in all the practices lol. But they did it! Kid is a recruited athlete. Was it worth all that sacrifice to land at ivy? Although the sport isn’t really one people do professionally, I think they are playing the long game for the types of things PPs are mentioning here - access to power, enhanced opportunities and dating pool, starting a legacy, etc.

Um..this is so sad.

[Anonymous]

Seems to depend on what you want to study and your value system.

I’m in medicine and literally does not matter what school. Many colleagues who went to Ivy for undergrad didn’t like their experience. Maybe ivy is good for careers PP posted- consulting, banking, PE, Wall Street)

For my super high stats kid, I still stress fit and vibe and opportunities for their interests.
For my above avg kid, I won’t make them kill themselves in HS. This is life too. Life is not just in the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to a school with a 96% admit rate. I have a person on my team that went to Harvard. Bet their parents kick themselves daily.

If both of you were laid off tomorrow, whose alumni network is more likely to be useful?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to a school with a 96% admit rate. I have a person on my team that went to Harvard. Bet their parents kick themselves daily.

These comments don’t ever make much sense to me.

I just read an article about a guy who graduated from Grove City College in Pittsburgh. 76% acceptance rate…so not the same but close.

He founded a robotics company like 10 years ago that finally is doing well and he hit a $1BN valuation.

He commented how hard it was to raise capital in the early years and if he had come out of CMU he has no doubt he would have raised it five years earlier and would probably be at a higher valuation today.

He barely hires kids out of Grove City but hires lots out of CMU…and Pitt to some extent.

So on the one hand it proves that correct it is the person and their drive that creates the success…but on the other, that very same person admits how he would have benefited if he had attended CMU instead.

This guy wouldn’t advise someone to attend Grove City over these other schools…even though that’s where he attended.

[Anonymous]

OP- what does your kid want to do career-wise? And how do you define success?

This thread has been Very helpful to me!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t matter.

Maybe if you’re going for a Wall Street job it will be easier. Or top-tier consulting. That’s about it.

If you want to go to law school or medical school go to the easiest school we’re getting the best grades as possible.

I say this with two kids at T15.

+1. Grad school matters more for everything. I went to a large midwest state flagship, followed by another state flagship for MS, followed by another not prestigious school for PhD. My PhD was sponsored by NASA and I partnered with Stanford. Now I work along side grads from Princeton, Wharton, MIT, Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, and so many other named and no name places. After 5 years it's all about the social skills. Don't get me wrong you have to be smart enough, and if you want to rise you have to be socially savvy too. The ones that get the furthest are usually just the most determined and more willing to sacrifice health and personal life for the job.

What is the point of life if you are sacrificing your health and personal life?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a school with a 96% admit rate. I have a person on my team that went to Harvard. Bet their parents kick themselves daily.

If both of you were laid off tomorrow, whose alumni network is more likely to be useful?

Both. That's the point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems to depend on what you want to study and your value system.

I’m in medicine and literally does not matter what school. Many colleagues who went to Ivy for undergrad didn’t like their experience. Maybe ivy is good for careers PP posted- consulting, banking, PE, Wall Street)

For my super high stats kid, I still stress fit and vibe and opportunities for their interests.
For my above avg kid, I won’t make them kill themselves in HS. This is life too. Life is not just in the future.

For medicine it does matter but an ivy doesn’t make you a more kind or empathetic or willing doctor. I care that my doctors went to a decent school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your alumni network is different. Your potential pool of SOs/life partners is different. Your enjoyment of the learning may be different.

That's a good argument against ivies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems to depend on what you want to study and your value system.

I’m in medicine and literally does not matter what school. Many colleagues who went to Ivy for undergrad didn’t like their experience. Maybe ivy is good for careers PP posted- consulting, banking, PE, Wall Street)

For my super high stats kid, I still stress fit and vibe and opportunities for their interests.
For my above avg kid, I won’t make them kill themselves in HS. This is life too. Life is not just in the future.

I have never had a family doctor who is an ivy graduate. Not a single one in the past 50 years.
I think most of ivy graduate doctors don't become family doctors. They are surgeons, specialists, MD/PhD heavily involved in research.
I agree school name matters much less for medicine, but yes and no. The no part: the ivy graduates are typically of high caliber, and they tend to become the elites.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is point of living a life if we all end up in graves?

True that! Those that are truly living don't compete and live stress free lives. Of course being born into wealth helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to a school with a 96% admit rate. I have a person on my team that went to Harvard. Bet their parents kick themselves daily.

Assuming you don’t recall admit rate from decades ago, so if it’s 96% now it must have been 120% then. Good job, way to make those Harvard parents mad!