Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Whoa whoa whoa, why do you think I'm being obnoxious?

Sorry -- should have quoted. This was the post I thought was obnoxious:

"Once again. Her kid can only attend ONE college. So if she's interested in SEVERAL different job markets, she needs a NATIONAL perspective."

May or may not have been yours.

It was mine. I was merely trying to cut through all the confusion, by using the simplest possible words, to clarify what OP seems to want and might needs. Not sure how that's obnoxious.

Condescension, repetition, the assumption that someone who disagrees with you must be confused/missing something obvious....

DCUM is one of the biggest boards of this kind. That's why you get people from the midwest and even the west coast coming on here.

Anonymous wrote:The UVA love on this board is hilarious. Outside VA, UVA is just another state school, but DCUM thinks it's Harvard.

That is not true. Years ago when I was in college many didn't know it was state supported unless they or friends applied. People in PA, NJ, NY, etc apply there along with the NESCACS, GW, Georgetown etc. Plus it is cheaper for those out of staters than the privates. Stupid of VA legislators.

There are two types of info to get from a place like DCUM. One of these things is how to apply. These are the application strategies like ED vs. regular, and don't write the Common App essay about your grandmother or your $5k trip to Senegal to see poor people. Like 10:29, for DC#1 we got all the stuff about how to apply from school counselors, several books, College Confidential, and yes, occasionally DCUM. We didn't need a private counselor and DC got into a top college.

The other type of info here is on where to apply, the individual schools that DC#2 might be considering. Yes, you have to take with a grain of salt all the alumni who have been out of school for 20 years, and you have to totally ignore the knee-jerk UVA hater. But there is an occasional gem of up-to-date info, and DCUM is much easier to navigate than CC.

I think the value of DCUM for college advice is extremely limited. Same would go for the equivalent in other regions. For every booster there is another poster attacking a particular college. Many posters base their insights on reputations from 10, 20 or 30 years ago when they went to college.

I've got one in college and a senior applying this year, and I don't think I've learned anything particularly useful on DCUM regarding colleges.

There are professionals who understand colleges. School based college counselor a are a good start. Private counselors are abundant in this area. If you are fixed on a particular region and looking for a regional college then maybe consult with a counselor from that region.

Anonymous wrote:

She didn't exactly ask in a way that was likely to elicit helpfulness in response, but her question isn't inherently stupid. And you're just as obnoxious as she is.

Oddly enough, both of you seem to think that there could be a meaningful discussion about job markets without any reference to field/industry.

Whoa whoa whoa, why do you think I'm being obnoxious? I know of a lot of different people in a lot of different job markets. If you get a good education and are smart, and know how to network, I think people can be competitive in a lot of different markets. I think the regional biases are becoming less and less important, because people move more and the internet is a thing. Most people I know in their 30s have had a job no longer than 5 years, and have changed cities several times. I went to college at a LAC in the Northwest, and my friends from college are scattered all across the country now. I think this whole "regional bias" thing is somewhat antiquated, and people should go to selective schools where they get a good education, period.

This is true. I think people need to have a national perspective. I have spent time in the NE, MidAtlantic, Midwest, and California. I don't know of other forums. There are so many different paths to a good career and family life. You can get your undergraduate degree in Wisconsin, your graduate degree in California, marry someone from Ohio, and end up living in Boston. I think students need to just pick a decent school (many will do), pick one that will not break the bank and have parents and students taking out lots of loans or stealing from their retirement, work hard and present yourself well. People are zig zagging across this country all the time, making connections in many states and fields of work. Life is competitive but there are good people and good schools all over.

Anonymous wrote:College Confidential was mentioned in the original post. That site has changed, for the worse, since purchased by Hobsons. Now a strong conservative presence, anti-intellectual bias, homeschooling and christian college focused. I loved it before.

CC is far from perfect. But actually, you have to look pretty hard to find anything on Homeschooling or Christian Colleges on CC. Here's the index of forums: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ . Homeschooling gets much less space, in terms of the number of forums, subforums and total posts, than Prep School Admissions, and even then it's only "Home Schooling and College Admissions" which seems a reasonable enough topic for a college chat board. Christian Colleges only get a subforum under College Search and Section, where they're in good company with State Schools, Community Colleges, and Women's Colleges, so I'm surprised you'd take such great offense at that. Well, this is DCUM, so I'm not all that surprised, but still your outrage that Christian colleges get their own subforum seems a little, I dunno, like an overreaction.

Anonymous wrote:^^ just it was SO much better before, IMO

In what way? I'm not challenging your opinion, I'm just curious. My feeling is, if you don't like or need the Christian colleges discussions, don't go to those forums, for the exact same reason that I don't bother with the Nanny and preschool forums on DCUM. As for the rest of the forums - majors, application essays, college life, transfer students, colleges, ivies -- how was it better before?

^^ just it was SO much better before, IMO

Anonymous wrote:College Confidential was mentioned in the original post. That site has changed, for the worse, since purchased by Hobsons. Now a strong conservative presence, anti-intellectual bias, homeschooling and christian college focused. I loved it before.

Really? I haven't seen any of that. I have never entered the forums for homeschooling or christian colleges. The forums for the other colleges, which dominate CC by a wide margin, are just fine. There's no anti-intellectual bias on the Ivy sites, including the Ivy my kid attends. And I'm not sure how the owners could control what people post anyway.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Whoa whoa whoa, why do you think I'm being obnoxious?

Sorry -- should have quoted. This was the post I thought was obnoxious:

"Once again. Her kid can only attend ONE college. So if she's interested in SEVERAL different job markets, she needs a NATIONAL perspective."

May or may not have been yours.

It was mine. I was merely trying to cut through all the confusion, by using the simplest possible words, to clarify what OP seems to want and might needs. Not sure how that's obnoxious.

Anonymous wrote: Whoa whoa whoa, why do you think I'm being obnoxious?

Sorry -- should have quoted. This was the post I thought was obnoxious:

"Once again. Her kid can only attend ONE college. So if she's interested in SEVERAL different job markets, she needs a NATIONAL perspective."

May or may not have been yours.

College Confidential was mentioned in the original post. That site has changed, for the worse, since purchased by Hobsons. Now a strong conservative presence, anti-intellectual bias, homeschooling and christian college focused. I loved it before.

She didn't exactly ask in a way that was likely to elicit helpfulness in response, but her question isn't inherently stupid. And you're just as obnoxious as she is.

Oddly enough, both of you seem to think that there could be a meaningful discussion about job markets without any reference to field/industry.

Whoa whoa whoa, why do you think I'm being obnoxious? I know of a lot of different people in a lot of different job markets. If you get a good education and are smart, and know how to network, I think people can be competitive in a lot of different markets. I think the regional biases are becoming less and less important, because people move more and the internet is a thing. Most people I know in their 30s have had a job no longer than 5 years, and have changed cities several times. I went to college at a LAC in the Northwest, and my friends from college are scattered all across the country now. I think this whole "regional bias" thing is somewhat antiquated, and people should go to selective schools where they get a good education, period.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but perhaps she believes (a) that her kid is likely to end up employed in the region where s/he goes to college and/or (b) local knowledge is a useful (and different) thing from vague impressions drawn from a random selection of posters from all over the US.

She didn't exactly ask in a way that was likely to elicit helpfulness in response, but her question isn't inherently stupid. And you're just as obnoxious as she is.

Oddly enough, both of you seem to think that there could be a meaningful discussion about job markets without any reference to field/industry.

Good point about needing to know the field/industry. But there are several of us who think OP could get the information she needs, and be better helped, if she has a clear idea what she's looking for and why.