Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Forget rankings and prestige, which college do you think is best overall that a normal super smart kid could have a shot at? Assume full pay.

UVA, UCB, UMich, UNC are the top academic “attainable” schools that are not difficult to get into if you are a state resident AND are super smart(ie 1500+ and top 5-10% of your high school while taking the hard classes)

UVA doesn't belong in that group. It belongs in the next tier.

Says you.

Vanderbilt

Emory

Anonymous wrote:Duke
Northwestern
Rice
Williams
Amherst
Pomona
Bowdoin
Midd
Wake
Davidson

+1

Bucknell is wonderful!

Wake Forest by a large margin.

Duke
Northwestern
Rice
Williams
Amherst
Pomona
Bowdoin
Midd
Wake
Davidson

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:State flagships

This is probably right.

You can make an argument for any of the other IVY+ but unless there is something compelling about a full pay private school that resonates with your kid. Saving $50k/year and putting it in an S&P fund will likely beat inflation by 7% over the next 40 years so they will have something like $3 million in inflation adjusted dollars by the time they are 62. Whatever difference there is between a UVA degree and a Cornell degree, that $3 million come close to covering the gap and relieves your child from having to worry about being destitute in retirement. There are very few schools where an equally smart kid will do better financially than a state school. HYPSM is probably most of them.

Where they will do better by enough to cover that $3 million

PP. If my kid really wanted to go to Duke or Brown, I would still pay for it over UVA but I wouldn't want him to go there just because USNWR says Duke or Brown are better, not if he could also work his entire life knowing that there is $3 million waiting for him when he retires.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:State flagships

This is probably right.

You can make an argument for any of the other IVY+ but unless there is something compelling about a full pay private school that resonates with your kid. Saving $50k/year and putting it in an S&P fund will likely beat inflation by 7% over the next 40 years so they will have something like $3 million in inflation adjusted dollars by the time they are 62. Whatever difference there is between a UVA degree and a Cornell degree, that $3 million come close to covering the gap and relieves your child from having to worry about being destitute in retirement. There are very few schools where an equally smart kid will do better financially than a state school. HYPSM is probably most of them.

Where they will do better by enough to cover that $3 million

Anonymous wrote:State flagships

This is probably right.

You can make an argument for any of the other IVY+ but unless there is something compelling about a full pay private school that resonates with your kid. Saving $50k/year and putting it in an S&P fund will likely beat inflation by 7% over the next 40 years so they will have something like $3 million in inflation adjusted dollars by the time they are 62. Whatever difference there is between a UVA degree and a Cornell degree, that $3 million come close to covering the gap and relieves your child from having to worry about being destitute in retirement. There are very few schools where an equally smart kid will do better financially than a state school. HYPSM is probably most of them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Forget rankings and prestige, which college do you think is best overall that a normal super smart kid could have a shot at? Assume full pay.

UVA, UCB, UMich, UNC are the top academic “attainable” schools that are not difficult to get into if you are a state resident AND are super smart(ie 1500+ and top 5-10% of your high school while taking the hard classes)

UVA doesn't belong in that group. It belongs in the next tier.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Forget rankings and prestige, which college do you think is best overall that a normal super smart kid could have a shot at? Assume full pay.

University of Iowa at Ames.

Perhaps this is a bit, but this is not a place that exists. Iowa State is in Ames. The University of Iowa is in Iowa City.

Anonymous wrote:Forget rankings and prestige, which college do you think is best overall that a normal super smart kid could have a shot at? Assume full pay.

University of Iowa at Ames.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Best overall"? For a philosopher or a business major? Someone who likes snow or heat? Someone who's preppy or hippy (or whatever the current terms are)? Someone who wants to talk about ideas, or someone who wants to spend Saturday at the Big Game, or someone who wants both?

People like you are so annoying and unhelpful. Which do YOU think is best overall? just pick one. When someone asks what's your favorite movie, do you give them a rapid fire list of comedy or drama? full length or short film? Foreign or domestic?? It's exhausting

DP, but bugger off. I actually DON’T have a “favorite movie”; it depends on the context and what I’m the mood for. And if someone asks me my favorite anything, I usually give them a list of my favorites, not a singular one, because a rank ordering is stupid. Nor do I think it’s a knowable thing to decide the “best movie”. It’s subjective. Some are certainly stronger than others, but then again they likely had different audiences. In defense of the poster you are being obnoxious to, colleges are multifaceted things. What makes one “good” for someone might be undesirable to someone else. I don’t understand this almost pathological desire to create a consensus pecking order among universities. It’s an impossible goal. Just weight the criteria that are most important to you, and apply to colleges that tick the most boxes. Of course, this is DCUM, where the single most important factor seems to universally be “what does everyone else think is good”.

Anonymous wrote:Forget rankings and prestige, which college do you think is best overall that a normal super smart kid could have a shot at? Assume full pay.

I would recommend BU.
My smart, independent child is having a very positive experience so far. The school has also helped me realize the importance of certain factors I hadn’t fully considered before.
However, I’m not sure Boston University is for everyone, as it has a distinctive campus atmosphere.
You know your kid best, and the ideal school is one that fits your child’s unique needs.