4 ms·

It does come down to that, and it makes sense if you think about it. Fresh grads come in batches of thousands at a time, many of them took the same classes, si

It does come down to that, and it makes sense if you think about it. Fresh grads come in batches of thousands at a time, many of them took the same classes, similar majors, etc, even across schools. Grades sometimes matter, sometimes don't (I had a low GPA because I had a bad habit of picking and choosing what I wanted to learn about, and it didn't come in full course increments). So what's left is the network and internships - the demonstrated ability to act human enough that people will talk to you, and listen to your ideas and think enough of you to give you a shot at something. That's why I say Ivies still matter - there's access from there to a very different network, and it opens up a job market that people like me would have very little access to. This will be very New England focused, since that's where I live, but if my daughter doesn't get into an Ivy, I'd really try to talk her out of Colby or Bates as a consolation prize. They're fine schools, but very expensive, and probably not a whole lot better than some of the state options like UNH, UMaine, UMass, UVM, etc. They're not 20-30k more per year better anyway.

douche 10y ago
The one that I never figured out, is who on God's great earth would go to a state university, in a state that you don't live in? Out of state tuition at UNH, to pick one of them that's close by and I have interns from, is not very much cheaper than going to Colby or Bates or BC/BU.
- vonmoltke 10y ago
  Depends on what degree you want. Plenty of state schools like Texas, Michigan, Berkeley, and Georgia Tech are in the top-20 for one field or another. Wanting to go to one of those for one of their specialties is reasonable.
  - SmellTheGlove 10y ago
    Top 20 in a specialty is a stretch for me. I could see if something was the top school for something - otherwise, we get into the wishy-washy world of school rankings which really can be manipulated and start to mean less as you go down the list. However, let's hypothetically say that top 20 is a good cutoff - there is still the very real issue of a 17 year old kid (because that's when we apply to college) following through on that specialty. It doesn't matter how good a CS program CMU has if you decide two semesters in to pursue that BFA. Now, for your specific examples, provided that you are in-state, they actually are reasonable options for any degree. Texas (10k), Michigan (14k), Cal Berkeley (14k) and GT (10k), all excluding room and board. On the other hand, I'd really not want to send my kid to those schools from out of state unless she had some pretty specific plans and seemed reasonably likely to follow through. And if that were the case, we'd probably pay that first year out of state while figuring out residency to try and bring that down.
- SmellTheGlove 10y ago
  I could have picked better examples, I suppose. I went to a state school as an out of state student because it was still reasonable (James Madison was 10k a year). UNH is a bad example and I shouldn't have used it. It's expensive even for in-state because the state is not funding it as much as they used to. But my point was that I wouldn't spend Ivy money on Bates or Colby when going there is not clearly better than a state school as it would be with an Ivy.

douche 10y ago

The one that I never figured out, is who on God's great earth would go to a state university, in a state that you don't live in? Out of state tuition at UNH, to pick one of them that's close by and I have interns from, is not very much cheaper than going to Colby or Bates or BC/BU.

vonmoltke 10y ago
Depends on what degree you want. Plenty of state schools like Texas, Michigan, Berkeley, and Georgia Tech are in the top-20 for one field or another. Wanting to go to one of those for one of their specialties is reasonable.
- SmellTheGlove 10y ago
  Top 20 in a specialty is a stretch for me. I could see if something was the top school for something - otherwise, we get into the wishy-washy world of school rankings which really can be manipulated and start to mean less as you go down the list. However, let's hypothetically say that top 20 is a good cutoff - there is still the very real issue of a 17 year old kid (because that's when we apply to college) following through on that specialty. It doesn't matter how good a CS program CMU has if you decide two semesters in to pursue that BFA. Now, for your specific examples, provided that you are in-state, they actually are reasonable options for any degree. Texas (10k), Michigan (14k), Cal Berkeley (14k) and GT (10k), all excluding room and board. On the other hand, I'd really not want to send my kid to those schools from out of state unless she had some pretty specific plans and seemed reasonably likely to follow through. And if that were the case, we'd probably pay that first year out of state while figuring out residency to try and bring that down.
SmellTheGlove 10y ago
I could have picked better examples, I suppose. I went to a state school as an out of state student because it was still reasonable (James Madison was 10k a year). UNH is a bad example and I shouldn't have used it. It's expensive even for in-state because the state is not funding it as much as they used to. But my point was that I wouldn't spend Ivy money on Bates or Colby when going there is not clearly better than a state school as it would be with an Ivy.