Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So are the public universities stepping up their game? I went to a Top-10 private university, but also took some extra classes at a top-10 public near my home. It was like night and day; the private school's classes were so much more rigorous, while the public university didn't seem that much different than my public high school -- but hey, at least I got to be the smartest one in class again! Example: intro physics at my private was calculus-based while the intro physics at the public was not. Also, the tests were so different. The public uni had easy multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank where we just had to parrot back the info from the book or lecture, while at the private uni the tests were mostly short answer/essay or really difficult MC involving actual calculations &/or critical thinking.

I really would love my kids to be able to take advantage of the state universities, but I know that if I had chosen our state's public, I wouldn't have developed the critical thinking skills that I did, and I definitely became more worldly meeting so many different types of people. So now that more and more of the top-scoring students are choosing public for college, are those universities able to challenge these students?

Just wondering - what curriculum you were in? I went to a public university (not top 10), but the 2 semesters of physics that I had were calc based.

DS just finished Physics at an out of state state school. The university offers several types of intro physics. I know of physics Calc based, physics for business majors and physics for Arts. Also summer courses are notoriously lax. So I don't think you can color your opinion too much on non-Calc based physics.

Unlike many private school families, who have been shelling out $30-35K/year for years now, many MoCo families find private college tuition to be a real stretch. I think this point sometimes gets lost over on the private school board when they compare their excellent exmissions to public school results.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I definitely see it at my DC's big MoCo high school. I know 3-4 kids who got into Ivies (top Ivies! Go get 'em, troll!) who have committed to state schools or private universities that offered better FA instead.

Really! Wow! I find this to be incredible. Money talks. I must say, that if my kid got into a "top" Ivy League school, that would be the one circumstance under which I would let my kid go to a private university.

That was my post. I know a little about the families, although not a ton. I do know this much. In a couple of the cases, it's not a question of "let my kid go" because there really isn't a choice given the family's finances. This begs the question, why were the kids were allowed to apply at all? Perhaps they were hoping for more generous FA, but I don't know them well enough to say.

Anonymous wrote:I went to an ivy league school and so did my spouse and so did our parents. But I am already encouraging my kids (both in private school) to apply to the VA state schools. I would be happy to see them to go to a top private college if they can get in (Which is now a complete crapshoot), but I would prefer to see them to go UVA or Tech or W & M over any of the second tier private colleges. I agree with the NYT article: just not worth it. Minimal "prestige" boost more than cancelled out by insane pricetag, and I believe the quality of the education at a good state school is every bit as good. If your kid goes to Harvard you are buying a network and a credential. If your kid goes to BU instead of UVa you are just getting ripped off.

I completely agree with this. Completely!

Anonymous wrote:I definitely see it at my DC's big MoCo high school. I know 3-4 kids who got into Ivies (top Ivies! Go get 'em, troll!) who have committed to state schools or private universities that offered better FA instead.

Really! Wow! I find this to be incredible. Money talks. I must say, that if my kid got into a "top" Ivy League school, that would be the one circumstance under which I would let my kid go to a private university.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have encountered a lot of families, recently, who have encouraged their kids to attend state schools to keep down college costs. I don't recall this being the case when I was applying back in the 80's. Has anyone else noticed this, too?

What state are you from? I'm from Virginia and graduated in 90. Everyone I knew went to a state college. I've met very few Virginians who have gone to private.

I'm from Maryland.

I'm from VA and graduated from Langley HS in '91. I went to a private college. And so did my 5 siblings.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have encountered a lot of families, recently, who have encouraged their kids to attend state schools to keep down college costs. I don't recall this being the case when I was applying back in the 80's. Has anyone else noticed this, too?

What state are you from? I'm from Virginia and graduated in 90. Everyone I knew went to a state college. I've met very few Virginians who have gone to private.

I'm from Maryland.

The cost of private universities has risen to the point where a two-govt worker family (in this area, a typical upper middle class family earning $200-250k combined from two workers) can't afford private college very easily. It's possible, but you need to start saving very early, get help from the grandparents, get merit aid, and/or take out significant student loans. Back in the day, my mid-level management dad sent us both to private colleges, but with tuition at $60K/year, that's no longer feasible for much of the middle class.

Plus, it's hard to get FA with household income much overv$100-150K except in special circumstances, like multiple kids in college.

Private school families, who have managed to pay tuition for years, seem more likely to be in a position to go the private college route.

Anonymous wrote:I went to an ivy league school and so did my spouse and so did our parents. But I am already encouraging my kids (both in private school) to apply to the VA state schools. I would be happy to see them to go to a top private college if they can get in (Which is now a complete crapshoot), but I would prefer to see them to go UVA or Tech or W & M over any of the second tier private colleges. I agree with the NYT article: just not worth it. Minimal "prestige" boost more than cancelled out by insane pricetag, and I believe the quality of the education at a good state school is every bit as good. If your kid goes to Harvard you are buying a network and a credential. If your kid goes to BU instead of UVa you are just getting ripped off.

+1. Also Ivy, and unless DC is admitted to a true top-dozen private, the upper-group of VA state schools buys at least the same brand-value and substantive education, if not better, than a BU or GWU or Lehigh or someplace similar. There is no brand-boost from a private college that effectively costs $62k p.a. and isn't in the top rank; the reaction is customarily "that kid couldn't get into W&M" or the like. And the capital that remains available for grad school is useful.

I went to an ivy league school and so did my spouse and so did our parents. But I am already encouraging my kids (both in private school) to apply to the VA state schools. I would be happy to see them to go to a top private college if they can get in (Which is now a complete crapshoot), but I would prefer to see them to go UVA or Tech or W & M over any of the second tier private colleges. I agree with the NYT article: just not worth it. Minimal "prestige" boost more than cancelled out by insane pricetag, and I believe the quality of the education at a good state school is every bit as good. If your kid goes to Harvard you are buying a network and a credential. If your kid goes to BU instead of UVa you are just getting ripped off.

I think that as the cost of education has increased and the state of the economy has decreased, more people are doing a cost to benefit analysis to determine if private university education yields benefits commiserate with the cost and are finding that the answer is no. Unless you are getting a lot of financial aid or can pay full tuition, it isn't worth going into massive debt over.

"what curriculum you were in? "

It was the Intro to Physics class. I don't remember much beyond that. It was a long time ago, so maybe, hopefully, things have changed.

Anonymous wrote:So are the public universities stepping up their game? I went to a Top-10 private university, but also took some extra classes at a top-10 public near my home. It was like night and day; the private school's classes were so much more rigorous, while the public university didn't seem that much different than my public high school -- but hey, at least I got to be the smartest one in class again! Example: intro physics at my private was calculus-based while the intro physics at the public was not. Also, the tests were so different. The public uni had easy multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank where we just had to parrot back the info from the book or lecture, while at the private uni the tests were mostly short answer/essay or really difficult MC involving actual calculations &/or critical thinking.

I really would love my kids to be able to take advantage of the state universities, but I know that if I had chosen our state's public, I wouldn't have developed the critical thinking skills that I did, and I definitely became more worldly meeting so many different types of people. So now that more and more of the top-scoring students are choosing public for college, are those universities able to challenge these students?

Just wondering - what curriculum you were in? I went to a public university (not top 10), but the 2 semesters of physics that I had were calc based.

So are the public universities stepping up their game? I went to a Top-10 private university, but also took some extra classes at a top-10 public near my home. It was like night and day; the private school's classes were so much more rigorous, while the public university didn't seem that much different than my public high school -- but hey, at least I got to be the smartest one in class again! Example: intro physics at my private was calculus-based while the intro physics at the public was not. Also, the tests were so different. The public uni had easy multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank where we just had to parrot back the info from the book or lecture, while at the private uni the tests were mostly short answer/essay or really difficult MC involving actual calculations &/or critical thinking.

I really would love my kids to be able to take advantage of the state universities, but I know that if I had chosen our state's public, I wouldn't have developed the critical thinking skills that I did, and I definitely became more worldly meeting so many different types of people. So now that more and more of the top-scoring students are choosing public for college, are those universities able to challenge these students?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I definitely see it at my DC's big MoCo high school. I know 3-4 kids who got into Ivies (top Ivies! Go get 'em, troll!) who have committed to state schools or private universities that offered better FA instead.

genuine question...are they STEM/premed?

I know some better than others. Without grilling DC, I think I can say that none of them is STEM although one or two might (I just don't know) go Pre-med and one is definitely going into the arts.

ah ok...wow, interesting.