Reply to Ever leave the DMV and see successful people who aren't this T20 college obsessed and wonder?

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Reply to "Ever leave the DMV and see successful people who aren't this T20 college obsessed and wonder?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP, I grew up on one of the nicest South Jersey shore towns, probably very close to where you are spending the summer, and I still have family there.  I know exactly the kind of people you see around you, and here’s the thing:  your sample is skewed.  There are rich people everywhere and who send their kids to every school, and what you’re seeing are the rich people from Philly who went to and are sending their kids to Big Five schools.  Not everyone who goes to those schools ends up as rich as the ones you are seeing.  Not everyone from Philly has a house at the shore either.

There are plenty of rich people in the DC area who didn’t go to top 20 colleges either.

[/quote]

I grew up near there and there were parents obsessed with T20 schools back in the 80s. Granted it was much easier to get it back then, but it was a given that some kids were going to attend certain schools. We had a bunch head to Ivy League schools.

Many of my NY/Boston friends have an even more intense attitude to college.

The DC area is just like other affluent areas around the US. 
[/quote]

I’m the poster who is calling the OP out on this, and I agree with you.  I just wanted to add that, while there are plenty of big Catholic families in the Philly area who are not obsessed with the Ivies, it’s only because they don’t have to be.  They’re rich and connected and their kids are going to be fine going to a Big Five school.  They will be taken care of.

Beach houses in towns like Avalon and Stone Harbor go for $2 million to $10 million plus.  They’re much more expensive than the Delaware and Maryland beaches.  People own them as second homes, and many are not rented out.  These are seriously rich people.

So much for OP’s “regular world.”[/quote]

OP here.  I'm not in Avalon or Stone Harbor but am in OCNJ.  Sure, there is money here but you are taking "Jersey Shore" and immediately assuming I mean the wealthiest shores towns in NJ.

Also, i said it above but will reiterate, some of these families I am speaking of come from money but most do not.  Some are Catholic but some are not. 
Believe what you wish.  I am not creating a narrative out of thin air to stir the pot. 
There are many kids who achieve first-generation success (as measured by a high level job, high quality of life) without having attended one of the top 50 universities.  
I know this runs contrary to the DCUM narrative.  But it should make us all feel BETTER!  Not worse.  Our kids (if they work hard) will be OKAY regardless of where they attend college.  I know most of us know this (in theory) but the stress to 
achieve admission at one school or another is high around the DMV.  At the Big3 (which I mentioned because its my world here and a unique world at that) it can be stifling.

[/quote]
Thanks for clearing that up, OP.  Now I agree with you, but only because Ocean City is a step (or two) below most of the shore towns below and above it as well as the Delaware beaches.  So, yea, you’re not hanging out with the rich.  At all.  So, yea, it’s different than your “Big 3” world.  But that’s on you.  You made your choice.  [/quote]
So, first you were attacking the OP based on facts you invented about where she was staying and the type of people you decided she was hanging out with. Now that you have deigned to agree with her regarding the reality of what she reported (Gee, thanks!), you are attacking her for pushing an academic path for her kids that she know realizes might have been a mistake? Lovely. [/quote]

You're misunderstanding.  OP painted a scenario of rich families summering at a high end beach who all send their kids to St Joe's, suggesting that that goes to show that you don't need top 20 schools for your kids.  I don't think you need top 20 schools regardless, but her depiction doesn't jive with reality.  The kids are working, she's working, the town is nice but not high end, and the people she is associating with aren't wealthy either.  They're just people, and they're also people who -- or whose parents -- bought these houses way back when when the prices were much cheaper.

If she's saying, "you know what?  I'm fine with my kids just being people," then she can put her money where her mouth is an put them in a "just people" public school.[/quote]

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