Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t leave pre-kids, wait until your kids are in one of the 2000 student cut-throat schools*50 of them in the dmv.
Stressful and total crapshoot applying to colleges around here.

But have fun with all the sports and arts cuts. Only <10% will make the cut! What a place to live.

Well, if you make the <10% in podunk high school, flyover country, it still may not cut it either for an elite college.

This isn’t 100% accurate. Elite schools also care about geographic diversity so it can actually be easier to get in from a state where there are less applicants.

I was the shining star of a podunk high school, and got into elite Ivy. And barely survived freshman year bc I was in way over my head. I would rather my kids go to excellent high school, be middle of the pack, and then do stellar at VT or JMU.

+10000000

So you'd rather your kids have VT/JMU degrees over an Ivy degree?

Mildly curious.

Interesting. I went to a women's college and am doing better than most of my ivy league friends. My classmates did everything that ivy grads did - wall street, law and medical school, etc. Silicone Valley didn't exist. I am a lawyer and worked in big law along with ivy graduates. I seriously wonder whether it's really worth it unless you want to be a Supreme Court Justice.

PP here - not Silicone, those are in my boobs

That is a better name since they no longer make chips but instead fake news and addictive apps.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t leave pre-kids, wait until your kids are in one of the 2000 student cut-throat schools*50 of them in the dmv.
Stressful and total crapshoot applying to colleges around here.

But have fun with all the sports and arts cuts. Only <10% will make the cut! What a place to live.

Well, if you make the <10% in podunk high school, flyover country, it still may not cut it either for an elite college.

This isn’t 100% accurate. Elite schools also care about geographic diversity so it can actually be easier to get in from a state where there are less applicants.

I was the shining star of a podunk high school, and got into elite Ivy. And barely survived freshman year bc I was in way over my head. I would rather my kids go to excellent high school, be middle of the pack, and then do stellar at VT or JMU.

+10000000

So you'd rather your kids have VT/JMU degrees over an Ivy degree?

Mildly curious.

Interesting. I went to a women's college and am doing better than most of my ivy league friends. My classmates did everything that ivy grads did - wall street, law and medical school, etc. Silicone Valley didn't exist. I am a lawyer and worked in big law along with ivy graduates. I seriously wonder whether it's really worth it unless you want to be a Supreme Court Justice.

PP here - not Silicone, those are in my boobs

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t leave pre-kids, wait until your kids are in one of the 2000 student cut-throat schools*50 of them in the dmv.
Stressful and total crapshoot applying to colleges around here.

But have fun with all the sports and arts cuts. Only <10% will make the cut! What a place to live.

Well, if you make the <10% in podunk high school, flyover country, it still may not cut it either for an elite college.

This isn’t 100% accurate. Elite schools also care about geographic diversity so it can actually be easier to get in from a state where there are less applicants.

I was the shining star of a podunk high school, and got into elite Ivy. And barely survived freshman year bc I was in way over my head. I would rather my kids go to excellent high school, be middle of the pack, and then do stellar at VT or JMU.

+10000000

So you'd rather your kids have VT/JMU degrees over an Ivy degree?

Mildly curious.

Interesting. I went to a women's college and am doing better than most of my ivy league friends. My classmates did everything that ivy grads did - wall street, law and medical school, etc. Silicone Valley didn't exist. I am a lawyer and worked in big law along with ivy graduates. I seriously wonder whether it's really worth it unless you want to be a Supreme Court Justice.

Anonymous wrote:dmv: more millennials out, more unskilled illegal immigrants in.

You clearly have never been here. How could we be the richest in the nation and have unskilled illegal immigrants. Man you are a one issue person. Did someone take a job from you or something?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t leave pre-kids, wait until your kids are in one of the 2000 student cut-throat schools*50 of them in the dmv.
Stressful and total crapshoot applying to colleges around here.

But have fun with all the sports and arts cuts. Only <10% will make the cut! What a place to live.

Well, if you make the <10% in podunk high school, flyover country, it still may not cut it either for an elite college.

This isn’t 100% accurate. Elite schools also care about geographic diversity so it can actually be easier to get in from a state where there are less applicants.

I was the shining star of a podunk high school, and got into elite Ivy. And barely survived freshman year bc I was in way over my head. I would rather my kids go to excellent high school, be middle of the pack, and then do stellar at VT or JMU.

+10000000

So you'd rather your kids have VT/JMU degrees over an Ivy degree?

Mildly curious.

I grew up here. I went to Brown. My DH went to UVA. He has done much better that me. He has a huge alumni network and that has benefited him very well. I would 100% rather my kids go to UVA or VT than an Ivy. I see no ROI there, other than the fact that you can impress douchebags at cocktail parties.

Well, Brown is the hippy graonola Ivy, so you are probably less of an outlier there! Big fan, but not someplace you go for ROI!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There aren't "Mrs." degrees at Ivys anymore.

Uh, lots of young women go there, marry the IB bound son of a BigLaw partner, and major in art history, then SAHM. Just have to be attractive and smart enough to get in.

I look at my alumni magazine and it’s filled with couples who met at college...

So is mine. Two highly accomplished people marrying each other.....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t leave pre-kids, wait until your kids are in one of the 2000 student cut-throat schools*50 of them in the dmv.
Stressful and total crapshoot applying to colleges around here.

But have fun with all the sports and arts cuts. Only <10% will make the cut! What a place to live.

Well, if you make the <10% in podunk high school, flyover country, it still may not cut it either for an elite college.

This isn’t 100% accurate. Elite schools also care about geographic diversity so it can actually be easier to get in from a state where there are less applicants.

I was the shining star of a podunk high school, and got into elite Ivy. And barely survived freshman year bc I was in way over my head. I would rather my kids go to excellent high school, be middle of the pack, and then do stellar at VT or JMU.

+10000000

So you'd rather your kids have VT/JMU degrees over an Ivy degree?

Mildly curious.

I grew up here. I went to Brown. My DH went to UVA. He has done much better that me. He has a huge alumni network and that has benefited him very well. I would 100% rather my kids go to UVA or VT than an Ivy. I see no ROI there, other than the fact that you can impress douchebags at cocktail parties.

Anonymous wrote:We are a young decent/highish earning couple (HHI north of 200k) and never considered DC for reasons in this article. Mainly the price. DC is too expensive, not enough space, and doesnt offer a good commute at all. If our jobs werent central do the DC area we would not live here. I love visiting the city, but would never live there.

Same here, we are north of 450k. We also both have telecommute options and most all of our meeting are in Virginia or require us to get on a plane.

Ah the challenges of the very wealthy with 0-1 kids.

Part of me is jealous I’ll admit it right here.

Anonymous wrote:There aren't "Mrs." degrees at Ivys anymore.

Uh, lots of young women go there, marry the IB bound son of a BigLaw partner, and major in art history, then SAHM. Just have to be attractive and smart enough to get in.

I look at my alumni magazine and it’s filled with couples who met at college...

There aren't "Mrs." degrees at Ivys anymore.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t leave pre-kids, wait until your kids are in one of the 2000 student cut-throat schools*50 of them in the dmv.
Stressful and total crapshoot applying to colleges around here.

But have fun with all the sports and arts cuts. Only <10% will make the cut! What a place to live.

Well, if you make the <10% in podunk high school, flyover country, it still may not cut it either for an elite college.

This isn’t 100% accurate. Elite schools also care about geographic diversity so it can actually be easier to get in from a state where there are less applicants.

I was the shining star of a podunk high school, and got into elite Ivy. And barely survived freshman year bc I was in way over my head. I would rather my kids go to excellent high school, be middle of the pack, and then do stellar at VT or JMU.

+10000000

So you'd rather your kids have VT/JMU degrees over an Ivy degree?

Mildly curious.

Yes, b/c my career did not really benefit b/c I hung out with out ‘podunk’ kids who majored in ‘busytown’ jobs — doctors, engineers, teachers.

I literally had never heard of investment banking or biglaw or what an MBA meant until maybe my senior year. I had no idea how different those career paths would be nor how lucrative. Not how important summer internships were or the first jobs after college.

There is so much career guidance that comes from people you deeply trust, family, friends you grew up with, even parents of friends — taking some crazy hard classes for 4 years doesn’t necessarily change the course of your life.

Now if I had a cute DD, I guess there could be some value to the ‘MRS degree’ factor at an Ivy school if she was not career minded.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t leave pre-kids, wait until your kids are in one of the 2000 student cut-throat schools*50 of them in the dmv.
Stressful and total crapshoot applying to colleges around here.

But have fun with all the sports and arts cuts. Only <10% will make the cut! What a place to live.

Well, if you make the <10% in podunk high school, flyover country, it still may not cut it either for an elite college.

This isn’t 100% accurate. Elite schools also care about geographic diversity so it can actually be easier to get in from a state where there are less applicants.

I was the shining star of a podunk high school, and got into elite Ivy. And barely survived freshman year bc I was in way over my head. I would rather my kids go to excellent high school, be middle of the pack, and then do stellar at VT or JMU.

+10000000

So you'd rather your kids have VT/JMU degrees over an Ivy degree?

Mildly curious.

Was comparing notes with a friend who lives in suburban New England and their kids were jealous of the range of clubs/opportunities at a 2000 kid high school vs a 700 kid regional high school.

Obviously there's pros and cons to all the situations but so far we've been pretty happy with that public HS of that size. Plus I figure it's good experience for going to a college of that size or larger.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don’t leave pre-kids, wait until your kids are in one of the 2000 student cut-throat schools*50 of them in the dmv.
Stressful and total crapshoot applying to colleges around here.

But have fun with all the sports and arts cuts. Only <10% will make the cut! What a place to live.

Well, if you make the <10% in podunk high school, flyover country, it still may not cut it either for an elite college.

This isn’t 100% accurate. Elite schools also care about geographic diversity so it can actually be easier to get in from a state where there are less applicants.

I was the shining star of a podunk high school, and got into elite Ivy. And barely survived freshman year bc I was in way over my head. I would rather my kids go to excellent high school, be middle of the pack, and then do stellar at VT or JMU.

+10000000

They don't care about geographical diversity from the podunks so much anymore. Elite US schools are MUCH harder to get in now because you are competing more with international students - the cream of the crop from their respective country. Elite schools know that being valedictorian from some no where high school does not mean much compared to their overall candidate pool.