Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking back, one of my biggest regrets/missteps as a parent was putting way too much pressure on my kids to excel in school with the goal of getting into top colleges. The pressure worked, and they did do well and go "name brand," but fast forward a few years and it really didn't make much of a difference. They're all happy and successful, but so are their friends who didn't do as well as they did and didn't end up at top schools. Time is proving to be the great equalizer.

Just something for parents to keep in mind when they're still in the midst of things. I realize I'm probably preaching to the wrong crowd.

time is an equalizer to an extent. Do you want to compare careers or salaries from students a decade out from a t25 or t50 to a Radford or Salisbury graduate?

How do YOU stack up compared to this Radford alum?

https://www.forbes.com/profile/randal-j-kirk/?sh=7308331b794c

are you saying that is the average outcome?

Also, he is reputed to be a terrible person.

Anonymous wrote:OP, unless DCUM readers' kids' are your kids/grandkids - or you are paying their tuition - MYOB. Unless you've decided to come here to tell us you'll send your grandkids to the local community colleges because you've gotten "over name brand / prestige obsession," your ranting is important only to you and your grandma.

Looks like OP struck a nerve with you, huh? And by your logic doesn't virtually any opinion offered on DCUM fall into the MYOB category?

OP, unless DCUM readers' kids' are your kids/grandkids - or you are paying their tuition - MYOB. Unless you've decided to come here to tell us you'll send your grandkids to the local community colleges because you've gotten "over name brand / prestige obsession," your ranting is important only to you and your grandma.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course attending a prestige college matters in one's life outcome. UK prime ministers mostly came from Oxford or Cambridge. Many Ivy graduates/dropouts went on to become business leaders, government leaders, supreme court justices, and etc. Has there ever been a SC justice or President from Longwood? Not I am aware of. Your anecdotes don't change the overall statistics. You also can't detach the name brand from the people who attend the top schools. Statistically those are people more driven, hard working, and intelligent.

Obviously the choice of attending an average school is fine too. If you are a hardworking and intelligent person, you will be successful regardless. But there is no point of forcing your lifestyle to everyone else.

I hate this argument. 0.00001% of people are prime ministers or Supreme Court justices. It’s an irrelevant standard. Millions of us will be regular people with regular jobs, trying to be happy and supporting our families. What is the best preparation for that? It’s not just a high SAT score.

Yea, it's a ridiculous argument. Not to mention that the UK's greatest PM didn't go to Oxford or Cambridge and the current US president went to Delaware.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait... what happened to the flex discussion about sweatshirts and note taking swag?!

Oh sorry I’ll continue it. How dare that person touts about their Harvard and Columbia merchandise. I don’t think it was sarcasm just pure elitism. I only flexed my MIT sweatshirt to one up the person.

I have a sweatshirt from University of Michigan. It’s definitely much warmer and fluffier than yours. I win.

Imagine getting blown out by Ohio State every year, feels bad for you man.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait... what happened to the flex discussion about sweatshirts and note taking swag?!

Oh sorry I’ll continue it. How dare that person touts about their Harvard and Columbia merchandise. I don’t think it was sarcasm just pure elitism. I only flexed my MIT sweatshirt to one up the person.

I have a sweatshirt from University of Michigan. It’s definitely much warmer and fluffier than yours. I win.

Anonymous wrote:Of course attending a prestige college matters in one's life outcome. UK prime ministers mostly came from Oxford or Cambridge. Many Ivy graduates/dropouts went on to become business leaders, government leaders, supreme court justices, and etc. Has there ever been a SC justice or President from Longwood? Not I am aware of. Your anecdotes don't change the overall statistics. You also can't detach the name brand from the people who attend the top schools. Statistically those are people more driven, hard working, and intelligent.

Obviously the choice of attending an average school is fine too. If you are a hardworking and intelligent person, you will be successful regardless. But there is no point of forcing your lifestyle to everyone else.

The UK has an actual hierarchy of colleges. The US doesn't. It's a fake ranking made up by magazines.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some fields prioritize status, wealth, and rubbing elbows with the socially connected.

I don't know if most people who go into Investment Banking share my values or prioritize their families like many of us do.

I just know that you have one, narrow world view if that is your field and you should not assume it applies to how tomorrow's teachers, social workers, professors, physicians, ecologists, accountants, real estate agents, shopkeepers, chefs, writers, etc etc etc choose their colleges.

lol, good luck getting a tenured job coming out of anywhere by a dozen (and that may be pushing it) schools

I am a professor you dimwit.

PP meant somewhere good.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking back, one of my biggest regrets/missteps as a parent was putting way too much pressure on my kids to excel in school with the goal of getting into top colleges. The pressure worked, and they did do well and go "name brand," but fast forward a few years and it really didn't make much of a difference. They're all happy and successful, but so are their friends who didn't do as well as they did and didn't end up at top schools. Time is proving to be the great equalizer.

Just something for parents to keep in mind when they're still in the midst of things. I realize I'm probably preaching to the wrong crowd.

You are preaching to the wrong crowd because there are plenty of folks here who DID attend the top schools and know first hand the myriad advantages to having done so.

Also as you have clearly not attended a top school yourself, your children are also less likely to do so because the apple does not fall far from the tree. Despite the occasional genius outlier, it ain't happening for you regardless of the pressure you did or did not put on your kids.

Now stop wasting everyone's time and go away.

But, you are wrong.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some fields prioritize status, wealth, and rubbing elbows with the socially connected.

I don't know if most people who go into Investment Banking share my values or prioritize their families like many of us do.

I just know that you have one, narrow world view if that is your field and you should not assume it applies to how tomorrow's teachers, social workers, professors, physicians, ecologists, accountants, real estate agents, shopkeepers, chefs, writers, etc etc etc choose their colleges.

lol, good luck getting a tenured job coming out of anywhere by a dozen (and that may be pushing it) schools

I am a professor you dimwit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course attending a prestige college matters in one's life outcome. UK prime ministers mostly came from Oxford or Cambridge. Many Ivy graduates/dropouts went on to become business leaders, government leaders, supreme court justices, and etc. Has there ever been a SC justice or President from Longwood? Not I am aware of. Your anecdotes don't change the overall statistics. You also can't detach the name brand from the people who attend the top schools. Statistically those are people more driven, hard working, and intelligent.

Obviously the choice of attending an average school is fine too. If you are a hardworking and intelligent person, you will be successful regardless. But there is no point of forcing your lifestyle to everyone else.

I hate this argument. 0.00001% of people are prime ministers or Supreme Court justices. It’s an irrelevant standard. Millions of us will be regular people with regular jobs, trying to be happy and supporting our families. What is the best preparation for that? It’s not just a high SAT score.

+1 And I think this and OP's post are both part of the same shift in thinking: Stop putting pressure on kids to become president or Sup Ct justices. It's not going to happen, for almost all of them, and then they live their lives having pursued an essentially unattainable dream and feeling as if they are letting down their parents and themselves.

You can be anything - but probably what you'll be is someone who does a job, that hopefully is something you like doing well enough and pays well enough, and that also gives you the time and resources to do the other things you like. Whatever that is - spending time with family, traveling, reading, whatever you value in life.

I think it's a much happier recipe for success, to approach college and life with this sort of reasonable, sober, but optimistic stance. Sure, if you really want to be a Sup Ct justice go for it - but talk to kids about life as most of us live it, and help guide them to making THAT life good. You don't need Harvard for that.

Anonymous wrote:Of course attending a prestige college matters in one's life outcome. UK prime ministers mostly came from Oxford or Cambridge. Many Ivy graduates/dropouts went on to become business leaders, government leaders, supreme court justices, and etc. Has there ever been a SC justice or President from Longwood? Not I am aware of. Your anecdotes don't change the overall statistics. You also can't detach the name brand from the people who attend the top schools. Statistically those are people more driven, hard working, and intelligent.

Obviously the choice of attending an average school is fine too. If you are a hardworking and intelligent person, you will be successful regardless. But there is no point of forcing your lifestyle to everyone else.

I hate this argument. 0.00001% of people are prime ministers or Supreme Court justices. It’s an irrelevant standard. Millions of us will be regular people with regular jobs, trying to be happy and supporting our families. What is the best preparation for that? It’s not just a high SAT score.

Anonymous wrote:Wait... what happened to the flex discussion about sweatshirts and note taking swag?!

Oh sorry I’ll continue it. How dare that person touts about their Harvard and Columbia merchandise. I don’t think it was sarcasm just pure elitism. I only flexed my MIT sweatshirt to one up the person.

Anonymous wrote:Of course attending a prestige college matters in one's life outcome. UK prime ministers mostly came from Oxford or Cambridge. Many Ivy graduates/dropouts went on to become business leaders, government leaders, supreme court justices, and etc. Has there ever been a SC justice or President from Longwood? Not I am aware of. Your anecdotes don't change the overall statistics. You also can't detach the name brand from the people who attend the top schools. Statistically those are people more driven, hard working, and intelligent.

Obviously the choice of attending an average school is fine too. If you are a hardworking and intelligent person, you will be successful regardless. But there is no point of forcing your lifestyle to everyone else.

So smart and yet so confused about correlation and causation. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Of course attending a prestige college matters in one's life outcome. UK prime ministers mostly came from Oxford or Cambridge. Many Ivy graduates/dropouts went on to become business leaders, government leaders, supreme court justices, and etc. Has there ever been a SC justice or President from Longwood? Not I am aware of. Your anecdotes don't change the overall statistics. You also can't detach the name brand from the people who attend the top schools. Statistically those are people more driven, hard working, and intelligent.

Obviously the choice of attending an average school is fine too. If you are a hardworking and intelligent person, you will be successful regardless. But there is no point of forcing your lifestyle to everyone else.