Reply to Turning down top private for state school

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Turning down top private for state school "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Some sociologists did a study on this kind of thing 15 or 20 years ago.  I'll try to dig up a link.  Their research found that those who were accepted at elite institutions but chose state schools instead had statistically indistinguishable career outcomes from those who went to the elite privates.

The reasoning was (in part), that applying and being accepted to an elite institution was a proxy for intelligence+drive+existing support.  But the effect of the institution itself was undetectable.

There are other potential positive effects that might be associated with the state school choice, too, like graduating with zero debt (at least back then, before need blind), big fish in a small (or at least less competitive) pond, etc.[/quote]

It's Dale & Krueger...they did mention that the kids also graduate near the top of their class at State U (in the actual example it was a kid choosing Penn State over Yale and graduating near the top of their Penn State class).

That is an important distinction in their research.  If your kid goes to UVA and just graduates middle of the class, then they would not expect the same outcomes of the average Harvard graduate.[/quote]

Guarantee you that kid had 1000x more fun at PSU than he'd have had at Yale.  Mine chose a state flagship over a better regarded private (not Harvard vs. UVA, but the same relative difference) because the flagship offered the better program for what my kid wants to do.  There are tons of other reasons (don't want to be surrounded by pretentious jerks for 4 years, athletic opportunity, location, size, type of campus setting).

OP, mind your own damn business.[/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