Is it that serious?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Four of our five are college grads. The youngest is in college now. They all went to SEC schools. They all have great jobs. No one is living in my basement. And most importantly, none of them have a dime in student loans. Two of them got ROTC scholarships. Two of them received merit aid. I have a national merit scholar and we did no test prep at all. Ever. There was zero stress associated with the applying to college. Literally none. I read the dcum threads and just shake my head. Don’t look to dcum for college advice. Or really, any parenting advice. This site is more for comic relief than anything else.

Lol, what Utopia is this?

5 Perfect situations?

The utopia that follows good parenting. Hard work and it is free. Unfortunately most parents trust the buying process more. Look inside and well done to the parent of 5.

[Anonymous]

Good parenting plus some pretty easy going, naturally intelligent kids. It's like the perfect storm of parenting.

[Anonymous]

I have taught at an Ivy, a top public research school, and also UMBC. I am totally bemused by the parent conversations on here. The quality of the education was much better at UMBC - the Ivy profs were zoned out and going through the motions because they don't care about teaching (it's the least important part of our job), the public research school was OK, pretty good but not amazing. The quality of the students was basically the same at al 3- I was surprised at how poor the students at the top-20 schools were at writing, for example. I would rather send my own daughter to UMBC over the Ivy any day, because of greater diversity, and more real people, just nicer, not trying to compete all the time. The students at the Ivy seemed like stressed-out robots who weren't discovering themselves, and the Greek thing seemed toxic to women; the whole experience seemed designed to keep them from becoming actual adults. I think that if your child is smart and creative, they'll be able to make a good life with any reasonably good degree / brand name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have taught at an Ivy, a top public research school, and also UMBC. I am totally bemused by the parent conversations on here. The quality of the education was much better at UMBC - the Ivy profs were zoned out and going through the motions because they don't care about teaching (it's the least important part of our job), the public research school was OK, pretty good but not amazing. The quality of the students was basically the same at al 3- I was surprised at how poor the students at the top-20 schools were at writing, for example. I would rather send my own daughter to UMBC over the Ivy any day, because of greater diversity, and more real people, just nicer, not trying to compete all the time. The students at the Ivy seemed like stressed-out robots who weren't discovering themselves, and the Greek thing seemed toxic to women; the whole experience seemed designed to keep them from becoming actual adults. I think that if your child is smart and creative, they'll be able to make a good life with any reasonably good degree / brand name.

Most Ivys do not have a large Greek community. They range from Dartmouth which has the most vibrant Greek community to Harvard which currently (and for most its history) has none. I think you miss the point about the Ivy instruction. It’s not spoon fed and relies on the curiosity and intelligence of the students to conquir the material. It’s a different philosophy of learning that has worked well for centuries and makes the transition to adult life easier. The workforce is not going to expend significant resources training new hires. I wonder what you teach if you believe the quality of a UMBC student is the same as an HPY student? Obviously there are , in general, significant difference in their academic and test performance. Or is your point that UMBC students have all of the graduate school opportunities and job opportunities that HPY offer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have taught at an Ivy, a top public research school, and also UMBC. I am totally bemused by the parent conversations on here. The quality of the education was much better at UMBC - the Ivy profs were zoned out and going through the motions because they don't care about teaching (it's the least important part of our job), the public research school was OK, pretty good but not amazing. The quality of the students was basically the same at al 3- I was surprised at how poor the students at the top-20 schools were at writing, for example. I would rather send my own daughter to UMBC over the Ivy any day, because of greater diversity, and more real people, just nicer, not trying to compete all the time. The students at the Ivy seemed like stressed-out robots who weren't discovering themselves, and the Greek thing seemed toxic to women; the whole experience seemed designed to keep them from becoming actual adults. I think that if your child is smart and creative, they'll be able to make a good life with any reasonably good degree / brand name.

And yet your writing is terrible. Yikes.

[Anonymous]

I went to a top 25. DH went to a small public school you've never heard of. We both ended up with the exact same job after college graduation, and he now has a PhD from Johns Hopkins.

That said, I am 100% confident that if I had gone to his school, *I* would not have been as successful as I have been, and vice versa. We both loved our individual schools and went to schools that had campuses, environments, and teaching styles that were right for us.

So help your kid find the school that's right for him or her - that's WAAAAAY more important than any ranking.

[Anonymous]

Cream rises to the top. I know a lot of elite credentialed folks who have very “basic” careers.

Elite schools are so alluring because EVERYONE is hyper-ambitious and pursing exciting things. An average university is generally full of average intelligence provincial kids just going through the motions - which is fine, it’s just not noteworthy and not likely to broaden your scope very much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are being an idiot.
First of all the bill will be at least 100k by the time your kid gets to college.
Second of all, when your kid earns a spot to one of the top universities in the country all on his own you’re not going to turn around and send him to state school.
Stop the stupid grandstanding.

Um. Plenty of people do. My daughter was accepted into two Ivys. She turned them both down for University of Florida. She graduated three years ago. Has a job making just under 100,000 a year. And ZERO student loan debt. I would say she is in much better shape than most young adults.

Did you offer to help pay for her Ivy League education or did you just say ‘sorry, you’ll be saddled with endless student loans if you go there!’
Did you want her to be just like you and not ‘better’? If you are so successful as you are why couldn’t you help her more with college?

Is she ‘allowed’ to go to graduate school now or must she just do her $100k a year sales job forever?

What is your malfunction?? Why are you so pompous and nasty and/or what is your axe to grind?? You do realize what douchebag you sound like with each of your responses???

[Anonymous]

Pot/kettle.