At our small private outside DMV

Honors programs at in-state and other state flagships
BU
NYU
Michigan
Case
Purdue
UCLA
Georgetown
CMU
UVA

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid with these stats is only applying to state flagships.

+1. At our public HS, even the higher income families are balking at the cost of private college for kids not eligible for aid. It's getting harder and harder to justify the cost, especially for kids planning on grad school anyway.

If you don't readily have it saved/can easily cash flow it, then yes no school is worth the $90K+. But if you have saved (and most higher income families easily could have), then it's nice to have those options

This is a mentality I do not understand at all. We could pay $400k but wouldn’t because the ROI is not there. Part of our job as parents is to teach our kids to make good financial decisions. Spending $400k to get the same outcome as going somewhere free seems hard to justify.

ROI is personal. We all assign value to different things. For example, the idea of paying for private ES/MS/HS is completely alien to me; I understand what that money gets people, but I don’t value it. My kids get the things we value in public school. For college, what I value is that my kids are happy and in environments where they will thrive intellectually and socially; their salary/placement after college isn’t a factor in the value equation for us. We are lucky to be in a position where they won’t graduate with debt, so we want them to be able to make the choice that makes them happy. For one of my kids, that meant a 90K LAC; for the other, it could mean a public school.

Private HS: Chicago ED2

Public: UMD or McGill

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:T20-T25. State honors colleges.

Depends on major -- maybe a T10 if/where there's a specialty program that aligns well with student's interest and ECs.

USC, NYU, BU, BC, Tufts and Northeastern also have ton of high stat kids.

+100

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid with these stats is only applying to state flagships.

+1. At our public HS, even the higher income families are balking at the cost of private college for kids not eligible for aid. It's getting harder and harder to justify the cost, especially for kids planning on grad school anyway.

If you don't readily have it saved/can easily cash flow it, then yes no school is worth the $90K+. But if you have saved (and most higher income families easily could have), then it's nice to have those options

This is a mentality I do not understand at all. We could pay $400k but wouldn’t because the ROI is not there. Part of our job as parents is to teach our kids to make good financial decisions. Spending $400k to get the same outcome as going somewhere free seems hard to justify.

It’s tough to say no to your kid who wants to go to a $400k school when you went a similar (albeit cheaper at the time) school 25 years ago. It’s even harder to say no when you remember your own (life changing) experience and recall how different (not as life changing) it was for your old HS friends who stayed home and went to their local flagship. It’s not all about a financial ROI, or at the very least there should be a few more layers to your ROI calc than a first year starting salary.

This. My ivy changed mine and wife's life trajectory. We wanted and are happy to pay for similar.

Please explain to me how your life is better than someone your age who went to UVA. I’m genuinely curious.

Not the PP but to your point, I'm an Ivy grad and have always worked with LOTS of folks with very unprestigious degrees (like colleges NEVER heard of here...not UVA or other flagships) and most are just as talented -many are more talented - than I am. Not in law, medicine, or finance but we are doing good work that makes a difference!

Anonymous wrote:It depends on where your HS sends kids and assumes they are at the very top of their class. At our HS the very best unhooked kids like yours can get into Northwestern, Chicago, Cornell, Penn and we do okay with Yale, but not H or P. Also CMU, Michigan and Georgetown. No one ever gets into Dartmouth, Columbia, Brown or Duke, per Naviance scattergrams no matter how high stats are.

To me those stats are amazing. My DC is (currently) in the top 10 in this class and doesn't have stats anywhere near that...ANYWHERE near that, which makes me think most of those above him do not as well. (And he's a smart and hardworking kid...but its just not something that is at all common here). But I digress.

My question is why is it that those schools you named don't ever take kids from your kids' school? I know it is a lottery for the top schools but if it were a true lottery you would think some kids would have been selected over the years? Is it because those schools only look at hooked and/or because they only focus on certain schools?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of them are heading south to the SEC these days. Amazing college experience and amazing outcomes.

Amazing outcomes where? Do they have to stay in the south or can they have amazing outcomes in NYC, DC or Boston after college in the SEC?

They would probably gravitate to cities like Atlanta, Nashville, and Dallas.

Anonymous wrote:T20-T25. State honors colleges.

Depends on major -- maybe a T10 if/where there's a specialty program that aligns well with student's interest and ECs.

USC, NYU, BU, BC, Tufts and Northeastern also have ton of high stat kids.

UMD Honors College, maybe Banneker Key

Mobile???
wtf

Jacksonville, Mobile and Greenville? No thanks. Been there on travel tournaments. Hotter than Hell and depressing strip malls.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of them are heading south to the SEC these days. Amazing college experience and amazing outcomes.

Amazing outcomes where? Do they have to stay in the south or can they have amazing outcomes in NYC, DC or Boston after college in the SEC?

Most of them stay in the South by choice. They could get jobs in NYC, DC, or Boston, but why would they want to? Sure, their $250k salary in NYC might only be $170k in Jacksonville, Greenville, or Mobile, but for the same money they'd be spending each month to live in a shoebox flat in Manhattan and ride the subway to work, they can have a 3,000 square foot house with a manicured lawn and drive a Bimmer. Around the same time their NYC counterparts are starting to feel financially secure enough to upgrade to a SFH (or more realistically a townhouse/condo) in Weehawken or Westchester County, the SEC bro is looking to close on a vacation beach house on 30A. They also enjoy better weather, work/life balance, and women. The world doesn't revolve around the Acela corridor.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of them are heading south to the SEC these days. Amazing college experience and amazing outcomes.

Amazing outcomes where? Do they have to stay in the south or can they have amazing outcomes in NYC, DC or Boston after college in the SEC?

DP. I know it's mind blowing to you, but a lot of people don't want to live in NYC, DC or Boston. I certainly don't. I'm here against my will for spouse's job. I'd much rather live somewhere else. Not cold and not so crowded and expensive. Somewhere I don't have to pay 7 figures for an unrenovated 90's "transitional."

Anonymous wrote:A lot of them are heading south to the SEC these days. Amazing college experience and amazing outcomes.

Can you point to a list of real alum? What $250K+ jobs are they being recruited to in undergrad? Which top grad schools are admitting them? Law schools, med schools, MBA? Which top university departments are they being hired to? AI/tech startup founders? I know some of these might sound extreme but these are factually true for T10 students. If you can't claim these, then stick to comparing the weather and how hot the coeds are because you're just a trust fund kid looking to spouse shop. NE and MW 2nd tier schools are still better than these southern publics.

Anonymous wrote:A lot of them are heading south to the SEC these days. Amazing college experience and amazing outcomes.

Amazing outcomes where? Do they have to stay in the south or can they have amazing outcomes in NYC, DC or Boston after college in the SEC?