Reply to Rising senior DD

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Rising senior DD"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Went through this just this year. Dream school was an ivy, kid well within range, multiple publications, etc. Rejected ED and that led to an update to all the RD schools (new publications, work on the hill). Admitted to another ivy RD. Ended up in a very happy place for her -- one of the strongest seven sisters.
[b]
What I'd encourage you to discuss with DD is not so much what the "brand" of the dream school is, but rather what she wants to get out of it. Education, experience, network / alums, path to envisioned future and how her choice would play in interviews etc. is ultimately going to prove more important than the bumper sticker you get to buy.[/b]

So much in this country now is about building brand hype and the appearance of being "elite". Other than playing into the competitiveness for "prestige" for many here (and in this city), there's little value to this and very little correlation to the quality of the education received. Look at metrics like % of graduates who ultimately go on to get a PhD, professor profiles and publications, student ratings of quality of life, commitment of alums, etc.

Stanford is great. So are about 50 other US schools.[/quote]

DP from way earlier on the thread and -- OP, this, above. Especially the bold. This PP is right on. The whole "dream school" problem is that it limits both kids' and parents' vision of what a college education is really for. There are so many schools out there that could have unique, creative approaches to the subjects in which your student is interested. But so many families on these threads seem not to give any thought to the student's possible major(s), or to colleges' academic approaches, course structure, opportunities for research/writing/unique projects etc. Be careful that "dream school" thinking doesn't obscure all the other places where there could be an [i]education[/i] that's a better fit for the student.

To PP above -- congratulations to your student on finding the right place where she's happy! Same happened with my DD.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics