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

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[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., most people 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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Cornell, Vanderbilt, Dartmouth, Northwestern, and Duke ARE elite, and people recognize them as such. They may not be great economic deals for UMC families who pay full freight and have UVA, Michigan, or Berkeley as an in-state option, but for those who receive substantial grant-based financial aid or have enough money that full-freight doesn’t matter, these are awesome schools with a high-quality lifestyle experience. Yes, they are not HPYSM, but no one thinks these students are dumb rich kids or the equivalent of a Roll Tide graduate. [/quote]

+1.[/quote]

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