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[quote=Anonymous]

Of course it's possible to thrive if one does not attend a top college.  But seriously, if college status didn't matter at all, why would anyone even care?  Why do so many families strain their budgets to pay for elite colleges instead of choosing from the plethora of schools that are more affordable?  Obviously, all else being equal most kids would prefer to attend the highest ranking school they are capable of getting in to.  Is it really so unreasonable that the parents of a high achieving kid, are dismayed to know that there is a very good chance that their child might attend Average State U, because of finances that extremely limit their options?[/quote]

"all else being equal, everyone wants to go to the highest ranked school they are capable of getting into".  NO, you can't assume that this is true for everyone everywhere.  What a ridiculous assumption.  Ranking is actually the last thing my kids cared about.  They were impressed by things like famous alumni, architecture, famous professors -- and being stupid high school students, they also cared a lot about dumb things like whether or not there was an ice cream maker in the cafeteria.  If you think that kids are rational actors when it comes to making educational choices, I'd like to direct you to a thread of College Confidential called something like "stupidest reasons my child wouldn't consider a school."  There, you will find that people's children have rejected fine educational options, often after the family paid a lot of money to travel to those institutions to look, because:  I don't look good in the school colors;  the dorms "smelled funny";  the girl giving the college tour was a dork;  the dorm rooms were too small;  there aren't any cute boys here (my daughter's main criticism of W and M), etc.   .[/quote]

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