Anonymous wrote: she and her friends are receiving multiple consulting offers in the DMV area

Anonymous wrote:UMD is highly respected.

Say if your DC ended up at JMU, would they fare the same?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there’s a lot of hyper-focus here on rankings and prestige. What really matters is what your child does once they’re in college. My DD went to UMD, and she and her friends are receiving multiple consulting offers in the DMV area. The offer my DD accepted includes incoming hires from UVA, Duke, UNC–Chapel Hill, and Carnegie Mellon as well. In the end, it clearly didn’t matter that she didn’t attend Duke or UVA.

Some perspective is helpful here. College is just four years, and where you go matters far less than how you use those four years.

Nice post, but I think that your perspective might be a bit off as the University of Maryland is a well respected state flagship university.

It is. But many posters here, in our neighborhood as well as our public high school consider it a safety, look down at UMD and prefer out of state publics like Ohio, Georgia etc over it. I am saying this from experience after going through the admissions cycle with 2 kids. Some of my DD’s friends were unhappy when they ended up at UMD and made remarks as ‘i did all the work just to end up at UMD’.
So even though some people seem to agree on the surface that its a highly respected flagship, they are usually thinking and feeling sorry that your child ended up there while they are convinced that their child will end up somewhere much better.. saying this from first hand experience.

Anonymous wrote:If you kid was accepted to both Harvard and UMD, cost of attendance was the same, maybe the path selected would be different.. Harvard then investment banker at Goldman.

Anonymous wrote:I think you need to recognize that for high stat kids who have spent their entire adolescence trying to never make a mistake, ace the most rigorous courses, stick with a sport even though they would rather be doing something else, AND who come from families with parents and older cousins arguably less brilliant or hard working that went to high ranking schools, it’s a huge blow to their identity and confidence when they don’t get in.

You also need to recognize that it isn’t like losing a game in sports. You get one shot for undergrad admissions. It’s often very unfair and arbitrary. It’s painful.

Some kids recover and make the most of their situation but for others it has lasting impacts. It’s not healthy to
pretend everything they worked for was silly and doesn’t matter. They need to work through the grief, anger and pain not hide it to come out the other end.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:and even at shit tier firms like Accidenture and Deloitte, they don't recruit for strategy consulting positions at UMD and similar publics. Only federal practice systems integration roles not true management consulting.

Consulting for geriatric mouths.

Anonymous wrote:and even at shit tier firms like Accidenture and Deloitte, they don't recruit for strategy consulting positions at UMD and similar publics. Only federal practice systems integration roles not true management consulting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UMD is highly respected.

Say if your DC ended up at JMU, would they fare the same?

I have experience teaching in higher ed as well as attending myself and having kids who do. Those who are at lower ranked schools can do well, but opportunities are fewer and depend more on being at the top of the class. No one knows going in where they will be in a class. Employers flock to the higher ranked schools and nearly all in the class get good jobs. Not the case at lower ranked schools.

The only kids getting jobs at GS or McKinsey from the Ivies are top of the class too. My kid is at an Ivy and they all know that they need a 4.0 or close to it in a hard major (math, etc) by fall of sophomore year to have a chance at interning at GS, etc. It's become very, very competitive.

Anonymous wrote:I think there’s a lot of hyper-focus here on rankings and prestige. What really matters is what your child does once they’re in college. My DD went to UMD, and she and her friends are receiving multiple consulting offers in the DMV area. The offer my DD accepted includes incoming hires from UVA, Duke, UNC–Chapel Hill, and Carnegie Mellon as well. In the end, it clearly didn’t matter that she didn’t attend Duke or UVA.

Some perspective is helpful here. College is just four years, and where you go matters far less than how you use those four years.

Anonymous wrote:I think you need to recognize that for high stat kids who have spent their entire adolescence trying to never make a mistake, ace the most rigorous courses, stick with a sport even though they would rather be doing something else, AND who come from families with parents and older cousins arguably less brilliant or hard working that went to high ranking schools, it’s a huge blow to their identity and confidence when they don’t get in.

You also need to recognize that it isn’t like losing a game in sports. You get one shot for undergrad admissions. It’s often very unfair and arbitrary. It’s painful.

Some kids recover and make the most of their situation but for others it has lasting impacts. It’s not healthy to pretend everything they worked for was silly and doesn’t matter. They need to work through the grief, anger and pain not hide it to come out the other end.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If by ‘consulting’ you mean Deloitte, EY, Oliver White, PWC or any other mid tier firm, I am not that impressed. They also recruit at UGA Pitt and a ton of other states schools. And they hire thousands and thousands every year. They are simply filling a recruiting class. If you mean McKinsey, Bain, or BCG then kudos because regardless of myriad opinions about consulting industry - those are the elites and they are selective

My DD never aimed for McKinsey or Bain. Not everyone wants to go there or to Harvard, but you can still have a great job and a great life without all that. We didn’t want a stressful college or a stressful job for our kids. There are some people who won’t be happy unless they end up at Harvard and McKinsey but all I am trying to say is that there are great options for those who are not interested in the rat race.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If by ‘consulting’ you mean Deloitte, EY, Oliver White, PWC or any other mid tier firm, I am not that impressed. They also recruit at UGA Pitt and a ton of other states schools. And they hire thousands and thousands every year. They are simply filling a recruiting class. If you mean McKinsey, Bain, or BCG then kudos because regardless of myriad opinions about consulting industry - those are the elites and they are selective

My DD never aimed for McKinsey or Bain. Not everyone wants to go there or to Harvard, but you can still have a great job and a great life without all that. We didn’t want a stressful college or a stressful job for our kids. There are some people who won’t be happy unless they end up at Harvard and McKinsey but all I am trying to say is that there are great options for those who are not interested in the rat race.

Anonymous wrote:If by ‘consulting’ you mean Deloitte, EY, Oliver White, PWC or any other mid tier firm, I am not that impressed. They also recruit at UGA Pitt and a ton of other states schools. And they hire thousands and thousands every year. They are simply filling a recruiting class. If you mean McKinsey, Bain, or BCG then kudos because regardless of myriad opinions about consulting industry - those are the elites and they are selective