Was Private Worth the Money if DC Didn’t Get into a “good” University?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't care where my kids go to college as long as, at the end of the day, they can afford to raise their kids the way they were raised.

+1
Many jobs are doing away with the stamp of college as a requirement. Hopefully, we'll go back to apprenticeships. Most of what is needed for any job is learned on the job. I have a PhD in STEM and I used maybe 10% of what I learned my first 5 years, everything else was learned on the job. Now 18 years in I draw on my experiences and business relationships, not anything from my education.

As long as my kids can maintain their lifestyle AND, more importantly, get off my books, why do I care about an arbitrary piece of paper?

You are so right. I went to the dr yesterday and I was like bring the orderly. I don’t need your MD high fallutin’ ways.

I heard something like this on NPR last week...but I couldn't find the article. I found this though. https://www.npr.org/2021/10/07/1043737586/college-degree-high-school-diploma-high-paying-trade-jobs

I don't think the PP was saying all job will go to a degree optional. I think the point is many high paying fields, like programming are not requiring them like they used to. Now they are moving to a competence based model. My highschooler is a very skilled python programmer and contracts her skills to make some extra money. This is very valuable experience that may land her a great job later. She's even built some video games for fun and sold them.

Well done!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP how many threads on this have you started??

Different poster here and I started a similar thread in recent weeks but not this one. I do think it's a subject on many peoples' minds.

If you’re spending 50k a year, rightfully you should have a right to know about the prospective college chances that your school has to offer.

Most of them post their matriculation lists. Not sure exactly what more you want.

If my kid goes to what you consider a "not good" university, I'll still consider private school money well spent. Know why? Because he's happy and learning. The environment in our zoned public school was cold and chaotic. Maybe other people have better public choices but we sure didn't. So we went private and my quiet, shy, anxiety-prone child has bloomed. Worth every penny. That will do more to inform the rest of his life than would going to what you consider a "good" university.

+ Same experience, but my kid is already in college at a regional school. He is top of class and doing very well with summer internships.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was joking. There is in fact a serious movement. We’ve lost skilled industry workers.

Why not?
Anesthetist nurse makes 300k
Electrician (union) starts at 140k and is paid to qualify

Look up Opportunity@Work; they call tearing the paper ceiling (diploma, get it?)

But I don’t think this is a realistic expectation for the kids at Big3

Are you joking about anesthetist nurse salary?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was joking. There is in fact a serious movement. We’ve lost skilled industry workers.

Why not?
Anesthetist nurse makes 300k
Electrician (union) starts at 140k and is paid to qualify

Look up Opportunity@Work; they call tearing the paper ceiling (diploma, get it?)

But I don’t think this is a realistic expectation for the kids at Big3

Are you joking about anesthetist nurse salary?

No. There is a woman on IG talking about her job in this area. She makes $280k for 35-45 hrs of work.
The average is $200k

[Anonymous]

A union electrician here can make $400k. If he has a firm more. No debt. Paid up to $70k per year to study.

[Anonymous]

We are not sending our kids to private for the sake of college admissions. We are doing it for quality education and a pleasant experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was joking. There is in fact a serious movement. We’ve lost skilled industry workers.

Why not?
Anesthetist nurse makes 300k
Electrician (union) starts at 140k and is paid to qualify

Look up Opportunity@Work; they call tearing the paper ceiling (diploma, get it?)

But I don’t think this is a realistic expectation for the kids at Big3

Are you joking about anesthetist nurse salary?

No. There is a woman on IG talking about her job in this area. She makes $280k for 35-45 hrs of work.
The average is $200k

The jobs in the medical field have changed a great deal in the past thirty years. NPs DNPs APPs are all more important, and better paid, than ever before. MDs are not all universally well compensated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We could avoid the gender pronouns being shoved down their throats and the rampant rants about male toxicity. Not a great place- so we chose private.

Yes GDS is super socially conservative. No pronouns there.

Duh. We chose a private accordingly.

[Anonymous]

My kids (did not go to a "Big 5") who went to a local private and wound up at a top SLAC and T15 school. So get over yourself about the Big 3 or Big 5 being the only "good" options and that nothing else is worth it. We could have chosen one of those schools but never would. For us it was about the journey - the values instilled that we teach at home, service to others and an excellent academic experience. I regret nothing about our choices and our kids are so grateful for the experience we were able to give them. And when I hear about some of the things going on at our local public I am so happy we were able to avoid attending.

[Anonymous]

If you only care about return on investment, research shows that going to an elite college often doesn't predict greater income in most fields like science and engineering. https://www.wsj.com/articles/do-elite-colleges-lead-to-higher-salaries-only-for-some-professions-1454295674

So if all you care about is ROI, perhaps you probably shouldn't even be concerned about whether your DC gets into a "good" university. If you care about the educational experience, there are clear differences between various colleges. Those factors may not be important to you, but if you measure success in terms of attending an elite college, then you should be honest with yourself that you care about more than just practical outcomes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Regretting every minute of private and all of the hassles with teachers, coaches, and snobby kids and parents. Will be running for the door at graduation!!!

Not OP and not in DC area but I feel the same way about our Boston area well regarded private. Both DH and I went to large top ranked public’s and did fine, but always thought that smaller class sizes/better access to teachers would have been a better experience. Maybe for certain kids but I now see that the large top ranked public’s might have a ton more kids but also have a ton more opportunities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in a pretty good district (our high school offers around 25 AP classes) and we don't have infinite resources, so yes, I would be a little salty if I spent $50k per year on private and our kid didn't get into a top college. We are considering sending our oldest to boarding school in a few years because it might be a good academic fit plus he could play a sport that isn't very competitive in the area. I would not feel good about this decision if he doesn't end up playing that sport at the D3 level at a good college because tuition represents a significant amount of money. We can afford it, but there would be tradeoffs. These are just the undeniable facts of our situation.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regretting every minute of private and all of the hassles with teachers, coaches, and snobby kids and parents. Will be running for the door at graduation!!!

Not OP and not in DC area but I feel the same way about our Boston area well regarded private. Both DH and I went to large top ranked public’s and did fine, but always thought that smaller class sizes/better access to teachers would have been a better experience. Maybe for certain kids but I now see that the large top ranked public’s might have a ton more kids but also have a ton more opportunities.

True. We were in a wealthy but small school district, and there were no great programs because they didn't have the economies of scale to justify the programs. No gifted or magnet.

[Anonymous]

I sent my child to private school because she was being assaulted by another child in her public school K class, and the school couldn't keep her safe.
She was accepted into several good colleges, and opted to go to a large state school, that was a safety for her based on stats, because she liked it best.
Private school was worth the money.

There are as many reasons for parents to send their children to private schools as there are children in private schools.
There as many reasons for college students to pick a particular college as there are college students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Obviously college matriculation isn’t everything, but I feel as if I have talked to parents who wish they had kept their kids in public had they known their kids were going to go to a subpar university. I have seen quite a few threads talking about grade deflation at ‘top whatever’ schools, and having concerns that it is negatively impacting their child’s admissions, then what exactly is the point of a top private school? Sure the quality of education in high school is important, but arguably you make most of your connections and zone in on your career path in college. Do you regret spending tens of thousands of dollars every year for private school?

Alex, I'll take things that never actually happened for $100.

DP. Oh come on, not every child who attends a private high school gets into a top university.

That said, who frickin cares. The obsession with colleges on this board is beyond ridiculous.