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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]First of all, DC is fairyland so I would not consider it a benchmark. Most people here could not survive professionally in other markets (NYC, LA, SF/PA, Chicago, Boston). Although you can find serious players here, there are not many. Second, certain privates help students land a spot at the top schools. In NYC, top prep schools send 60% of their classes to the Ivies and top privates. So yes, it is worth in to send your DC to the right school. Third, there are more CEOs of major companies from Harvard/Stanford than other schools. Do your homework, punk. Finally, I don't think anyone said that you needed a degree from a top school to succeed. The point is that it helps more than a degree from a non-elite school ( See link: http://www.ceo.com/flink/?lnk=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.for...uce-the-most-ceos%2F&id=305480).[/quote]

First of all, I don't live in DC anymore, but I don't know that that is true about NYC, LA, SF/PA, Chicago, or Boston.  The degree to which the DC market or those markets are more competitive depends entirely on your field.

I don't know about 60%, although that depends on how to define "top private," but this list suggests to me that it is not nearly 60% [url]http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-COLLEGE0711-sort.html[/url].  I don't know that it is so much helping people land a spot as selecting groups of people who are highly academically competitive and whose parents have money/legacy.  I know that you get a fantastic education at some of these prep schools, but if you are really Harvard material, going to BCC or Whitman isn't going to hurt you.  Going to some bumfuck rural school or some shitty inner city school certainly will.

Third of all, while peer group is important, and all other things being equal, I would recommend that people send their kids to the most competitive school they can attend, there was a study that showed that part of this phenomenon of greater professional success is because top schools select the most outstanding students.  If you look at the earnings of people who got accepted to Harvard but chose not to go due to financial pressures, their level of professional success is identical.  The only time that an advantage was seen was for minorities who grew up in poverty.[/quote]

PP, You make some fair points. Although I would add the following:

DC does have several strong sectors but unless you are a lobbyist, the cities I referenced are stronger overall and most business school/law school grads are likely to chose other areas over DC.

The WSJ list includes only eight schools. If you inlude the Ivies, Little Ivies, Seven Sisters, Stanford, MIT, Northwestern, Duke, U of Chicago, Georgetwon, and NYU you approach 60%. If you include the top state schools including UVA, U of M, and UC Berkeley the number climbs higher. I think you also make my point re: importance of top prep schools. If your husband had access to one of these prep schools he would have found his way to a top university. Admissions people at the leading schools use certain schools as pipelines because they know the quality of the students and that the students at these schools are well prepared. Sure, they will take a kid from a rural school once in a while but with that kid they are taking a risk. Similarily, top graduate programs use the same rationale.

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