Would/did anybody pick TJ over a private school?

[Anonymous]

9:59 again. Just to be clear, by quoting the stats, I'm not firing a shot in the public vs. private war that's raging here. I'm actually posting them because I think they're relatively comparable, and so don't favor one side or the other. The Intel award is certainly impressive, and the students who earned it deserve congratulations, no matter which school they come from.

[Anonymous]

TJ accepts: 92% public, 7% private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TJ accepts: 92% public, 7% private.

Let me fix that for you.
TJ accepts: 92% public, 8% private.
TJ applicants: 93% public, 7% private.

[Anonymous]

The connections at private school refers to the old boys club. Either you use your kids friends parents to expand your business, or you think your kid will benefit from the priveledge of having been a classmate of someone who became a somebody.

But careers are becoming global so who you went to elementary school with will hardly help you by the time you are middle aged

[Anonymous]

Careers may be becoming global but the old school networks will still survive. If you don't understand how important they can be, you are either not a part of them or you don't want to take part. You because you are born into that background does not necessarily mean you fit in. There have always been black sheep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Careers may be becoming global but the old school networks will still survive. If you don't understand how important they can be, you are either not a part of them or you don't want to take part. You because you are born into that background does not necessarily mean you fit in. There have always been black sheep.

Sorry, but you don't know what you're talking about.

You're fooling yourself if you think you can send your average kid to Sidwell and *poof* he's suddenly hanging out with old boys like the Rockefellers, who will pull strings at Harvard to get him in. First, I'm not aware of many families like this (old money and still actually influential) at Big 3s today. Those Administration DASses with kids at your kid's school will be gone from office, and probably from the DC area, in a few years. Those high tech millionaires from VA are too busy trying to get their own kids into the same colleges your kid is applying to, and anyway, do you really think one of them is going to call up Columbia and offer an extra 100 grand if they'll take your no-name kid? And the rest of your kids' classmates don't have that power or money, sorry.

As the granddaughter of a university president, I did hear stories about this - decades ago. These days, the sort of string pulling at colleges you're talking about might, might, work for a handful of kids per college per year. And the lucky kids are likely to be development cases or legacies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Careers may be becoming global but the old school networks will still survive. If you don't understand how important they can be, you are either not a part of them or you don't want to take part. You because you are born into that background does not necessarily mean you fit in. There have always been black sheep.

Sorry, but you don't know what you're talking about.

You're fooling yourself if you think you can send your average kid to Sidwell and *poof* he's suddenly hanging out with old boys like the Rockefellers, who will pull strings at Harvard to get him in. First, I'm not aware of many families like this (old money and still actually influential) at Big 3s today. Those Administration DASses with kids at your kid's school will be gone from office, and probably from the DC area, in a few years. Those high tech millionaires from VA are too busy trying to get their own kids into the same colleges your kid is applying to, and anyway, do you really think one of them is going to call up Columbia and offer an extra 100 grand if they'll take your no-name kid? And the rest of your kids' classmates don't have that power or money, sorry.

As the granddaughter of a university president, I did hear stories about this - decades ago. These days, the sort of string pulling at colleges you're talking about might, might, work for a handful of kids per college per year. And the lucky kids are likely to be development cases or legacies.

I am not talking about my kids specifically, or getting in to college. They are legacies at excellent universities and very smart, engaging people in their own right. They also have a family background of which to be quite proud. This is about the network from their schools down the road. It does matter and it does make a difference, only not in the way some people on here seem to think. I see it all the time in Washington and, if you don't okay, that is fine for you and your children. My children will have every opportunity and option available to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Careers may be becoming global but the old school networks will still survive. If you don't understand how important they can be, you are either not a part of them or you don't want to take part. You because you are born into that background does not necessarily mean you fit in. There have always been black sheep.

Sorry, but you don't know what you're talking about.

You're fooling yourself if you think you can send your average kid to Sidwell and *poof* he's suddenly hanging out with old boys like the Rockefellers, who will pull strings at Harvard to get him in. First, I'm not aware of many families like this (old money and still actually influential) at Big 3s today. Those Administration DASses with kids at your kid's school will be gone from office, and probably from the DC area, in a few years. Those high tech millionaires from VA are too busy trying to get their own kids into the same colleges your kid is applying to, and anyway, do you really think one of them is going to call up Columbia and offer an extra 100 grand if they'll take your no-name kid? And the rest of your kids' classmates don't have that power or money, sorry.

As the granddaughter of a university president, I did hear stories about this - decades ago. These days, the sort of string pulling at colleges you're talking about might, might, work for a handful of kids per college per year. And the lucky kids are likely to be development cases or legacies.

I am not talking about my kids specifically, or getting in to college. They are legacies at excellent universities and very smart, engaging people in their own right. They also have a family background of which to be quite proud. This is about the network from their schools down the road. It does matter and it does make a difference, only not in the way some people on here seem to think. I see it all the time in Washington and, if you don't okay, that is fine for you and your children. My children will have every opportunity and option available to them.

So, is your answer to the original question private or TJ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I am not talking about my kids specifically, or getting in to college. They are legacies at excellent universities and very smart, engaging people in their own right. They also have a family background of which to be quite proud. This is about the network from their schools down the road. It does matter and it does make a difference, only not in the way some people on here seem to think. I see it all the time in Washington and, if you don't okay, that is fine for you and your children. My children will have every opportunity and option available to them.

Nobody here has contested the importance of connections for getting jobs, or even getting into the right country club. But one PP did claim that Big 3 connections will get your kid into a *top college* and several of us are disputing that specific point.

I guess the logical next step would be to debate where the best career connections could be made. If you want a STEM career, TJ would be the place to make contacts, not a top private. But as others have said, your college connections - your profs and your classmates in your major - are much more important for career success than the one kid from your private school who entered the same field as you. If you want a scary read about the role of college buddies in Wall Street connections, read the Rolling Stone article about Dartmouth - it's all about frat bonding but no mention of family lineages.

There also seems to be some confusion about the value of school credentials per se vs belonging to some defunct white shoe banking club. Yes, a Princeton degree will open doors. But that's mostly because managers assume Princeton grads are smart, it's rarely because managers assume the Princeton grad shares their boarding school and values.