Anonymous wrote:There's a river of power that flows through this country. ... And that river flows from the Ivy League." -Joe Biden

Anonymous wrote:There's a river of power that flows through this country. ... And that river flows from the Ivy League." -Joe Biden

Anonymous wrote:For those that don't care about your child getting into an elite, how do you motive your kids to get As, study for SAT, be really involved?

"Dad why do I need to do any of that when slacking off and plane ole Bs will get me into any Tailgate State?"

Anonymous wrote:Dh and I both went to elite schools and I would pay extra to send my kids if they are admitted. In my field-- law, some firms and judges (for clerkship) won't even interview if you haven't gone to an elite school.

Yes, you can do very well coming from a state school, but there is much less margin of error with respect to grades/test scores for both grad schools and jobs.

Anonymous wrote:I have two Ivy degrees.

My take is that an elite education is like high-end car with all the bells and whistles. It's a wonderful luxury and you'll love the experience of driving it. It has heated seats and the engine purrs along like a dream, but of course there is no guarantee that it will never break down or that you won't run it into a tree.

Some bystanders will admire it and read something into it about your status in the world, and others will roll their eyes at you and say "look at that asshole in the Mercedes." Some people are oblivious and won't notice one way or the other what you are driving.

It's really nice to drive such a vehicle and most people would take the keys if they were handed to them, but if you can't afford the sticker price, well the Honda Accord is a darn good car and will get you to your destination just fine.

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Graduates of elite colleges DO make more money over time than their counterparts at less elite schools. By itself, this statistic would lead you to believe that it was the college that gave them the earnings boost. But if you control for the colleges students apply to and were accepted to, the differences in compensation disappear. For example, a student who attends Penn State, but who also had applied and been accepted to the more prestigious University of Pennsylvania earns as much over time, on average, as a student who attended U Penn.

Nobody that gets into Penn ends up at Penn State. These absurd hypotheticals you anti-elite folks try to pitch are absurd.

Not Penn State, but my sister got into U of Penn and ended up going to one of our state colleges because she wanted to be a nurse and my parents said no way they would pay for a Penn degree for a nursing career. She's done very well, ultimately got a masters in nursing and is now managing all training for the nursing staff for a large hospital while also teaching a nursing program. U of Penn would have given her a lot of debt but likely not impacted her career. Going to the affordable in-state college was a good choice.

I have an intern right now who turned down Yale to go to U. of Alabama for free. He's great and I'm sure will have a great career.

There are a lot of reasons people would choose a public university over an Ivy but for the most part it will come down to the cost.

Too bad about your sister! University of Pennsylvania has the #1 nursing program in the country! I think it well could have impacted her career - you can't know one way or the other.

Hey - congrats - you were trying to sound like an asshole and you succeeded. Way to go schmuck...

LOL. My sister now hires and trains nurses. She should know if any ivy degree matters in her field. It doesn't if you want to work in patient care. Maybe if you want to move into policy and administration? But a state U program didn't hurt her ability to get into the masters' program she wanted to go to. She's gotten any job she's wanted. A floor nurse isn't going to be paid more because she went to Penn. That's now how it works. If we were low-income and it was free, then sure, she'd have gone there but no way is any marginal, possible benefit worth the debt that it would have required.

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Anonymous wrote:I went to a state university for undergrad and an elite school for my PhD.

My take is the graduates of the state school are every bit as good as those who graduate from the elite school.

There's no way you really believe this.

PP here. I absolutely believe this. There is nothing inherently superior to a Harvard Education compared with A good state school. Except, you are exposed to more people with more resources.

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Anonymous wrote:For those that don't care about your child getting into an elite, how do you motive your kids to get As, study for SAT, be really involved?

"Dad why do I need to do any of that when slacking off and plane ole Bs will get me into any Tailgate State?"

That's ridiculous on its face. Some people, I suspect the majority of high achieving high school students, have intrinsic motivation. Land the helicopter.

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Anonymous wrote:Ah look, the anti-elites have shown up with their "$300K in debt" talking point. So stale.

Elites have the best financial aid and no loan policies. Please stop spewing your insecure ignorance.

I'm a nurse practitioner with 25+ years of experience in the field, I've worked with, hired, and trained nurses who graduated from schools ranging from University of Pennsylvania to nurses who have AA degrees from trade schools, and I can say with confidence that unless money is not really a barrier (i.e. no major sacrifices like putting off retirement or taking out a second mortgage) or you get significant financial aid, it is NOT, under any circumstances, worth it to spend upwards of $250K for a nursing degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

And that makes me stale, insecure, and ignorant? Whatever.

Straw man. How many nurses at Penn are 100% full pay? Probably none.

Anonymous wrote:For those that don't care about your child getting into an elite, how do you motive your kids to get As, study for SAT, be really involved?

"Dad why do I need to do any of that when slacking off and plane ole Bs will get me into any Tailgate State?"