It Does Not Matter Where You Go to College

[Anonymous]

^it is not about the money but it is definitely a decent wage and lots of flexibility in summer for other pursuits.teacher are key to our kids success why would anyone be upset their kid is one? And with an ivy pedigree they get snapped up to boot

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^it is not about the money but it is definitely a decent wage and lots of flexibility in summer for other pursuits.teacher are key to our kids success why would anyone be upset their kid is one? And with an ivy pedigree they get snapped up to boot

It's fine if you can very easily pay for an Ivy. Otherwise, no, it isn't a great decision financially. I taught boarding school. It's a very specific lifestyle, and not a solid career plan since most leave after a few years. It's also not a "decent wage" at all. The main financial advantage is free room and board, and that comes with its own set of issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not just career. Some people meet their spouses in college. College provides a great filter.

There are still plenty of excellent "spouse material" candidates if your Ivy/T25 qualified attends their state school (honors program) or a school ranked in the T150. Plenty of like minded people. Sure it might be harder if they to to a school ranked 300, but in the T150-200, there are plenty of driven, hard working, smart people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lock, this website is full of strivers and insecure wannabes, many of whom went to fancy colleges themselves. They’re hardly going to be advocating a different path for their children. That would be admitting that they themselves aren’t that special.

This has some merit. I know lots of people who went to a prestigious college and have mediocre or non-headline careers. For many, their prestigious diploma is a core part of their identity. It’s like “ I’m super smart and could have done more with my life, but I’m ok being UMC in a nondescript job as long as you know I’m Ivy.”

This is so true!! Average not-so-successful people in their 50s reminding you whenever they can that they went to an Ivy. They peaked between age 18 and 22?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lock, this website is full of strivers and insecure wannabes, many of whom went to fancy colleges themselves. They’re hardly going to be advocating a different path for their children. That would be admitting that they themselves aren’t that special.

This has some merit. I know lots of people who went to a prestigious college and have mediocre or non-headline careers. For many, their prestigious diploma is a core part of their identity. It’s like “ I’m super smart and could have done more with my life, but I’m ok being UMC in a nondescript job as long as you know I’m Ivy.”

This is so true!! Average not-so-successful people in their 50s reminding you whenever they can that they went to an Ivy. They peaked between age 18 and 22?

I totally did peek young. I do have a nice life now, very stable, financially fine, but was most interesting and accomplished while in high school and college. Maybe my third act will be amazing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With Senior year for HS'ers kicking off, I just want get this spiel off my chest and hopefully ease the stress of a lot of parents (and their DS/DDs). In terms of your future career prospects it matters very little where you go to college. You might say, "But the Ivy Leaguers [or equivalent prestige] get the best jobs, make the most money, advance the most quickly" and so on. There's a lot of truth to this. HOWEVER, it is not because these kids went to Ivy League colleges. It's because they were smart and driven enough to get into them (and graduate from them) in the first place.

Now don't get me wrong, it is definitely important, as far as career prospects go, to GO to college and to work hard and do well there. But other than working as a first-year analyst at an investment bank (which would be terrible for most people) there are few jobs where a going to an Ivy League is going to be a prerequisite.

What I think is much more important - and what no one gives enough thought to - is what their major is going to be. That actually has a much bigger determinant on career prospects than where one attends college. I.e., vastly different outcomes for engineering/economics/social work/English

I agree with you

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I mean, I am by no means Ivy or bust but I do think it matters where you go.

Why do you think that?

For the vast majority of careers (PE and Investment banking aside), it does not matter. Put a highly qualified (qualified for lottery ticket for T25 schools) kid anywhere and they will excel. It's the kid's own work ethic and drive that leads to success, not the school they attend. Yes, T25 have a higher percentage who "excel" because literally everyone attending is a striver/has that work ethic. But go look at your State flagship, and track the kids who attend who "could have gone to an Ivy/T25" and you will see similar success.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, I am by no means Ivy or bust but I do think it matters where you go.

Why do you think that?

For the vast majority of careers (PE and Investment banking aside), it does not matter. Put a highly qualified (qualified for lottery ticket for T25 schools) kid anywhere and they will excel. It's the kid's own work ethic and drive that leads to success, not the school they attend. Yes, T25 have a higher percentage who "excel" because literally everyone attending is a striver/has that work ethic. But go look at your State flagship, and track the kids who attend who "could have gone to an Ivy/T25" and you will see similar success.

Once more…you are actually saying it does matter where you go to college. OP never said you had to go to an Ivy…OP said it doesn’t matter AT ALL where you go to college.

You are saying go look at your state flagship…well just about every state flagship is a top 200 school and many are top 50.

For whatever reason these threads immediately are Top 25 vs everyone else, even though that’s not what OP said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not just career. Some people meet their spouses in college. College provides a great filter.

I agree with this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not just career. Some people meet their spouses in college. College provides a great filter.

I agree with this.

What’s wrong with meeting a spouse at community college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not just career. Some people meet their spouses in college. College provides a great filter.

There are still plenty of excellent "spouse material" candidates if your Ivy/T25 qualified attends their state school (honors program) or a school ranked in the T150. Plenty of like minded people. Sure it might be harder if they to to a school ranked 300, but in the T150-200, there are plenty of driven, hard working, smart people.

+1
But it doesn’t have to be in the honors programs, which are often just “name only” programs with no real substance. Good schools attract smart people, period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to an Ivy and I think your pint is well taken - obviously within reason. I don’t think going to Harvard is equivalent to going to Radford although the Radford grad can certainly be successful this board likes to slice and dice rankings and it’s kind of crazy.

Personally, I’m not that much of a fan of the Ivies and think smaller schools that focus on undergrad education are preferable. That seems to not be the prevailing sentiment on this board but for the $$$ I’m paying that’s my preference. My oldest just started at a smaller school (although not even as small as I would like) and my next one may not take my advice on this but I didn’t think the education I got at an Ivy was all that great. It was good but the professors were by and large not focused on undergrads as much as grad students.

I also think the network thing is overrated. I’m not someone who is overly calculating so I wasn’t trying to angle my way into the groups of the wealthy and connected at the school. My friends are basically regular smart people I could have met at a lot of other schools. Everyone is doing well at middle age in a mix of careers but so are a lot of other friends who went to a range of schools.

How is the network thing overrated if you didn’t even try to network?

My point is that most people (I think) aren’t that cynical and calculating. There were some kids of well known and very wealthy people at my school when I went there. I suppose I could have plotted to get myself into the “right” clubs and social circles to rub elbows with them but for most people you make friends with the people you meet that you like in the normal course of things. My friends do interesting things - doctors, lawyers, ceo of a nonprofit, education policy, scientist etc…but I know plenty of people that went to non Ivy type schools with similar jobs and successes.

Why is that people that want to meet other people are cynical and calculating, and for some reason the fact that you didn't try makes you a saint?

I don't know where you went to school, but did you try to join a frat/eating club/final club, etc.?

Ivy schools are like 14%-20% from the top 1%....sure, some may be a**holes, but plenty aren't.

DP:

Went to a T10 school with a lot or rich kids. Then there was me, on mega FA, struggling to pay the bills and stay in school. Had no choice but to work a lot. I didn't have time to try to join an "eating club" or something that cost me more $$ or the time. I didn't do stuff like that in HS and had no desire to do it in college.

75% of my friends were also on Work study/financial aid and had to work summer jobs to stay at school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, I am by no means Ivy or bust but I do think it matters where you go.

Why do you think that?

For the vast majority of careers (PE and Investment banking aside), it does not matter. Put a highly qualified (qualified for lottery ticket for T25 schools) kid anywhere and they will excel. It's the kid's own work ethic and drive that leads to success, not the school they attend. Yes, T25 have a higher percentage who "excel" because literally everyone attending is a striver/has that work ethic. But go look at your State flagship, and track the kids who attend who "could have gone to an Ivy/T25" and you will see similar success.

Once more…you are actually saying it does matter where you go to college. OP never said you had to go to an Ivy…OP said it doesn’t matter AT ALL where you go to college.

You are saying go look at your state flagship…well just about every state flagship is a top 200 school and many are top 50.

For whatever reason these threads immediately are Top 25 vs everyone else, even though that’s not what OP said.

Finally common sense

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, I am by no means Ivy or bust but I do think it matters where you go.

Why do you think that?

For the vast majority of careers (PE and Investment banking aside), it does not matter. Put a highly qualified (qualified for lottery ticket for T25 schools) kid anywhere and they will excel. It's the kid's own work ethic and drive that leads to success, not the school they attend. Yes, T25 have a higher percentage who "excel" because literally everyone attending is a striver/has that work ethic. But go look at your State flagship, and track the kids who attend who "could have gone to an Ivy/T25" and you will see similar success.

Once more…you are actually saying it does matter where you go to college. OP never said you had to go to an Ivy…OP said it doesn’t matter AT ALL where you go to college.

You are saying go look at your state flagship…well just about every state flagship is a top 200 school and many are top 50.

For whatever reason these threads immediately are Top 25 vs everyone else, even though that’s not what OP said.

Nope, I'm stating it Does NOT matter where you go. Unless you want to be an investment banker or go into Private Equity (and you don't really get into that without your MBA, so then what matters is your MBA school, not your undergrad degree). So for 99.9999% of people, it does NOT matter.
And for IB, it only matters because they recruit at a limited number of schools, so it's harder to break in if you are not at those schools. But its more than 10 schools.



State flagship was an example, because that is where many "who have the resume for ivy/T25" end up for finances and other reasons. It's not the only choice. However a kid with a 1580/4.0UW/12AP+/top EC is not that likely to end up at Mary Washington or VCU. They will likely get into UVA or VaTech or W&M (or the equivalents in MD or elsewhere). So yes, unless finances are an issue, nobody is choosing MWU if they got into UVA/W&M/VaTech. Or they go to a good private that gives them excellent merit.

But if they did choose MWU (for whatever reason), they will be top dog in a small pond and do exceedingly well. Their outcomes are 99.99999% driven by what they do, not where they are.

Look around at the C-suite at your company and your partners company. Odds are 75-80% did not attend "elite schools" for undergrad. Some may have even gone to ones you haven't even heard of. Yet they are obviously doing well in life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not just career. Some people meet their spouses in college. College provides a great filter.

There are still plenty of excellent "spouse material" candidates if your Ivy/T25 qualified attends their state school (honors program) or a school ranked in the T150. Plenty of like minded people. Sure it might be harder if they to to a school ranked 300, but in the T150-200, there are plenty of driven, hard working, smart people.

+1
But it doesn’t have to be in the honors programs, which are often just “name only” programs with no real substance. Good schools attract smart people, period.

+1

One kid attended a 80-100 ranked school. Yes there are kids there who had a 3.3UW in HS and only a 1150. But there are also plenty of kids who had a 1400+/3.9UW/10AP+ and are majoring in engineering/biomedical sciences/etc. Plenty of smart driven kids. As well as plenty of kids like my kid, with a 1250/3.5UW. All of my kid's friends graduated in 4 years, have jobs or are attending graduate school. 3 years out of undergrad and they are all "successful".
And yes, the kids find their crowd and most of the "really smart" find a crowd that includes many really smart kids as well. Not hard to find your group