NYT opinion article "Did I choose the wrong college "

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we were in the similar situation this year. We chose full ride to UVA. The child got some financial aid from two Ivy colleges. We are middle-upper middle class, but we saved only for the in-state tuition for each child. To send her to Ivy with financial aid would mean either to take loans for additional $15-20k per year, or to re-mortgage our fully paid house. We went back and forward many times, discussed it with two different financial advisors, and decided to go UVA.

I know several rich families in this area (fully paid houses that costs 1,5-2.5 mil), stable jobs and still sending their children to state college. For me, as a middle class parent, it is a good indicator how rich people invest money.

Contrary, we went to both Ivies to the admitted student days, one was a two day with overnight stay. There were a lot of stressed parents who are taking huge loans, a lot of them look like immigrants/or first generation americans. My child stayed with a kid who's parents took loans and paying them while child is in the school. My kid decided that she doesn't want to put any financial stress on us when we have a free option.

Yet, the stressed out families return the next year and the next year. Obviously, they feel as though their kid is getting an extraordinary education that will set them apart from the rest.

The writer of this article has managed to land herself a tenured spot at a university w/o having a PHD. There is value to these ivy educations.

There are tons of Ivy graduates with master's who cannot get teaching jobs, let alone, tenured positions at state universities. You can't be serious she got tenured because of her undergraduate ivy degree. Absolutely not.

Well the author is the one saying "eh, I attended Cornell and look where I ended up" - stuck in Nebraska forever.

She probably does miss her family and the community that she grew up in. Miami has some pretty posh areas and gorgeous beaches. Maybe she would have been happier staying at home graduating from UF and teaching HS English. But I don't really understand why she couldn't have moved back to Miami after Cornell.

What exactly she is regretting about her circumstances isn't all that clear.

That's what she says, "eh, I attended Cornell and look where I ended up." It would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible, for someone to get a teaching job in liberal arts with just a master's degree. She would have qualified for online colleges or community colleges, but not at a 4-year university. I knew someone with a Ph.d degree in liberal arts from Oxford who was teaching in Hong Kong because he couldn't find a job in the US. For each teaching job opening, there were 300-500 Ph.d applicants 15-20 years ago. How do you think this lady, Ms. Capó Crucet, got her name in front of the line with just a master's degree?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we were in the similar situation this year. We chose full ride to UVA. The child got some financial aid from two Ivy colleges. We are middle-upper middle class, but we saved only for the in-state tuition for each child. To send her to Ivy with financial aid would mean either to take loans for additional $15-20k per year, or to re-mortgage our fully paid house. We went back and forward many times, discussed it with two different financial advisors, and decided to go UVA.

I know several rich families in this area (fully paid houses that costs 1,5-2.5 mil), stable jobs and still sending their children to state college. For me, as a middle class parent, it is a good indicator how rich people invest money.

Contrary, we went to both Ivies to the admitted student days, one was a two day with overnight stay. There were a lot of stressed parents who are taking huge loans, a lot of them look like immigrants/or first generation americans. My child stayed with a kid who's parents took loans and paying them while child is in the school. My kid decided that she doesn't want to put any financial stress on us when we have a free option.

Yet, the stressed out families return the next year and the next year. Obviously, they feel as though their kid is getting an extraordinary education that will set them apart from the rest.

The writer of this article has managed to land herself a tenured spot at a university w/o having a PHD. There is value to these ivy educations.

There are tons of Ivy graduates with master's who cannot get teaching jobs, let alone, tenured positions at state universities. You can't be serious she got tenured because of her undergraduate ivy degree. Absolutely not.

Well the author is the one saying "eh, I attended Cornell and look where I ended up" - stuck in Nebraska forever.

She probably does miss her family and the community that she grew up in. Miami has some pretty posh areas and gorgeous beaches. Maybe she would have been happier staying at home graduating from UF and teaching HS English. But I don't really understand why she couldn't have moved back to Miami after Cornell.

What exactly she is regretting about her circumstances isn't all that clear.

That's what she says, "eh, I attended Cornell and look where I ended up." It would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible, for someone to get a teaching job in liberal arts with just a master's degree. She would have qualified for online colleges or community colleges, but not at a 4-year university. I knew someone with a Ph.d degree in liberal arts from Oxford who was teaching in Hong Kong because he couldn't find a job in the US. For each teaching job opening, there were 300-500 Ph.d applicants 15-20 years ago. How do you think this lady, Ms. Capó Crucet, got her name in front of the line with just a master's degree?

I don't know and she ain't saying. In fact, she doesn't even seem to appreciate what a lucky duck she is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we were in the similar situation this year. We chose full ride to UVA. The child got some financial aid from two Ivy colleges. We are middle-upper middle class, but we saved only for the in-state tuition for each child. To send her to Ivy with financial aid would mean either to take loans for additional $15-20k per year, or to re-mortgage our fully paid house. We went back and forward many times, discussed it with two different financial advisors, and decided to go UVA.

I know several rich families in this area (fully paid houses that costs 1,5-2.5 mil), stable jobs and still sending their children to state college. For me, as a middle class parent, it is a good indicator how rich people invest money.

Contrary, we went to both Ivies to the admitted student days, one was a two day with overnight stay. There were a lot of stressed parents who are taking huge loans, a lot of them look like immigrants/or first generation americans. My child stayed with a kid who's parents took loans and paying them while child is in the school. My kid decided that she doesn't want to put any financial stress on us when we have a free option.

Yet, the stressed out families return the next year and the next year. Obviously, they feel as though their kid is getting an extraordinary education that will set them apart from the rest.

The writer of this article has managed to land herself a tenured spot at a university w/o having a PHD. There is value to these ivy educations.

There are tons of Ivy graduates with master's who cannot get teaching jobs, let alone, tenured positions at state universities. You can't be serious she got tenured because of her undergraduate ivy degree. Absolutely not.

Well the author is the one saying "eh, I attended Cornell and look where I ended up" - stuck in Nebraska forever.

She probably does miss her family and the community that she grew up in. Miami has some pretty posh areas and gorgeous beaches. Maybe she would have been happier staying at home graduating from UF and teaching HS English. But I don't really understand why she couldn't have moved back to Miami after Cornell.

What exactly she is regretting about her circumstances isn't all that clear.

That's what she says, "eh, I attended Cornell and look where I ended up." It would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible, for someone to get a teaching job in liberal arts with just a master's degree. She would have qualified for online colleges or community colleges, but not at a 4-year university. I knew someone with a Ph.d degree in liberal arts from Oxford who was teaching in Hong Kong because he couldn't find a job in the US. For each teaching job opening, there were 300-500 Ph.d applicants 15-20 years ago. How do you think this lady, Ms. Capó Crucet, got her name in front of the line with just a master's degree?

I don't know and she ain't saying. In fact, she doesn't even seem to appreciate what a lucky duck she is.

Well, I have no personal knowledge of her application. I must pass over in silence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know an MIT grad with $120,000 loans who changed her studies in grad school to music. She said she's screwed.

How are you even allowed to have $120K in loans? Who is approving that.

[Anonymous]

I don't get it. Does she feel that Cornell was not worth it? That the financial stress was too much for her parents? Or did she realize that where you go to college does not determine your life outcome? In that case, no shit Sherlock.

I feel like the essay was half finished.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't get it. Does she feel that Cornell was not worth it? That the financial stress was too much for her parents? Or did she realize that where you go to college does not determine your life outcome? In that case, no shit Sherlock.

I feel like the essay was half finished.

Listen, in poor communities, the idea of an elite education and moving into wealth does feel like a golden ticket. No one in your circle has any clue as to otherwise; most parents have no degrees or from 3rd tier state colleges, and your teachers in these struggling areas are not from the Ivies and generally come from a local teachers college.

You have to remember when she went to college, internet was still very new, so movies and magazines basically portrayed career paths for those trying to rise in income class.

[Anonymous]

Just pointing out the author has an mfa, which is a terminal degree for artists and would be appropriate for creative writing. So not an irregular situation for an academic in her field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get it. Does she feel that Cornell was not worth it? That the financial stress was too much for her parents? Or did she realize that where you go to college does not determine your life outcome? In that case, no shit Sherlock.

I feel like the essay was half finished.

Listen, in poor communities, the idea of an elite education and moving into wealth does feel like a golden ticket. No one in your circle has any clue as to otherwise; most parents have no degrees or from 3rd tier state colleges, and your teachers in these struggling areas are not from the Ivies and generally come from a local teachers college.

You have to remember when she went to college, internet was still very new, so movies and magazines basically portrayed career paths for those trying to rise in income class.

I don't know too many middle class high schools that are filled with Ivy educated teachers. In fact, I don't recall any of my kids' teacher or any of my own teachers having Ivy degrees. It never even dawns on most middle class kids to apply to these Ivy schools because they are so expensive and so out of reach for their family budgets. I've also never heard of an Ivy school schmoozing a regular middle class family the way that Cornell schmoozed this author.

The author of this article applied to two schools: University of Florida which is THE flagship school in FL and to Cornell (why Cornell?). She didn't apply to any other schools because the applications cost money. Yet, she and her family took on debt, her parents mortgaged the family home to send her to Cornell. They thought it was worth it. And her position as a tenured professor at a university is a nice reward for those efforts. Yet, we are somehow supposed to feel like she was hoodwinked into going to Cornell?

If you look up Hialeah, FL, where the author is from, it looks like a pretty middle class town to me although I don't know which specific neighborhood she grew up in. Her parents owned their own home and had lots of family and friends nearby - she mentions how they couldn't go anywhere without running into someone that her mother knew. I have little doubt that her parents worked hard, sacrificed, scrimped and saved to give their daughter every advantage that they reasonably could but the same exact thing could be said about a lot of working and middle class families.

She is a gifted writer and story teller, I will give her that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just pointing out the author has an mfa, which is a terminal degree for artists and would be appropriate for creative writing. So not an irregular situation for an academic in her field.

Terminal degrees in English and Ethnic Studies are normally PhDs.

[Anonymous]

I don't think a big name school is any guarantee of success. Debt is a guaranteed way to struggle.

I know many people with student loan and mediocre careers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tenure is a pay bump, prob about $7-10k at Nebraska, so she's going to make approx. $85k this year. Nearing six figures before factoring in perks in ultra low cost flyover country.

Yeah but who wants to live in Lincoln Nebraska????

Judging by population statistics, not many.

[Anonymous]

If she had just taken the full ride to UF her story today would be sort of boring. Cornell is what makes her experience so unique.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tenure is a pay bump, prob about $7-10k at Nebraska, so she's going to make approx. $85k this year. Nearing six figures before factoring in perks in ultra low cost flyover country.

Yeah but who wants to live in Lincoln Nebraska????

Judging by population statistics, not many.

Lincoln Nebraska has been rated in the top ten best college towns. She could do way worse than that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If she had just taken the full ride to UF her story today would be sort of boring. Cornell is what makes her experience so unique.

She wasn't hired for her Cornell pedigree. She was hired for the other pedigree. A UF degree would not have changed that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If she had just taken the full ride to UF her story today would be sort of boring. Cornell is what makes her experience so unique.

She wasn't hired for her Cornell pedigree. She was hired for the other pedigree. A UF degree would not have changed that.

But look at what she is best known for writing about - leaving Hialeah and going to Cornell. Without that experience to write about she's nothing special.