Reply to My child attends an elite college. It is overrated.

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What does elite mean here?

Harvard, MIT, Stanford, and perhaps Princeton & Yale are elite.

Cornell, Vanderbilt, Dartmouth, Northwestern, Duke, etc. etc. are not.

And yes, even Harvard/MIT/Stanford/Princeton/Yale won't give your kid a $150k job, wealthy spouse (a 1950's reason to go to a elite school, but okay), and a wealthy, highly-connected friend group off the bat. And thank god for that.

The purpose of top schools is to have top professors and top students to learn from and compete with, and improve oneself in the process. Not a $150k job, wealthy spouse and highly-connected wealthy network.

What these schools do provide beyond the education though is a pedigree that lasts through 40+ years of one's careers, and certainly can come in handy down the line - if you want to use it.

As for the rest - Cornell, Vanderbilt, Dartmouth, Northwestern, Duke, etc., [b]most people [/b]do not view these schools to be more "elite" than top state flagships like Berkeley, Michigan, etc. Most will consider these students to either be wealthy dumb kids (too dumb for HYPSM) or top middle-class kids, the same that attend top flagships. 
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+1[/quote]

Who are most people? Just cause you say it doesn’t make it so.[/quote]
Selective firms in industry, graduate, medical and law schools.

A history major at Harvard, Princeton or Yale can waltz into a McKinsey consulting or Goldman Sachs investment banking job with little experience. Stanford, MIT graduates have a huge advantage in raising funds for start up ventures in Silicon Valley.

The name carries enough prestige and aura to give a significant advantage in hiring or business ventures.

The same simply does not hold true for Duke, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Washington University, etc. In fact, many top investment firms that recruit at Berkeley, Michigan, UT-Austin don't bother recruiting at Vanderbilt, Washington University, etc.

Medical and law schools are generally less undergrad-prestige-obsessed, but admissions officers are people. Graduate schools care about the department quality within a given range.[/quote]

You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.[/quote]
Either put up an argument or shut up. Show me that the top industry firms recruiting at Vanderbilt are the same ones recruiting at Harvard rather than Michigan[/quote]

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