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I'm sure some can learn just as well on their own as in college, but that is really not the main benefit of it. The main benefit is that the people at your coll

I'm sure some can learn just as well on their own as in college, but that is really not the main benefit of it. The main benefit is that the people at your college are self-selecting: they have similar interests as you do, they have similar ambition, they have similar abilities. If this college is a good one, you are going to meet more brilliant, fun, and engaging people in your 4 years than you would in almost any other scenario. Those people you meet will not only make a huge impact on your own development as a person, but will continue to do so long after you are no longer together. They will expose you to a million things you would never be exposed to otherwise. On top of that, the intensity of the experience (from living together, being on campus together, going to parties together, etc.) is simply not comparable to more than a handful of similar options. Yes, you could stay home, or move elsewhere, and be one of a handful of people like yourself. Or you could go and be surrounded by thousands of brilliant, amazing people for years of the most formative years of your life. The benefit of going to a good school isn't the classes, it's the people.

andrewvc 8y ago
If you go to an Ivy, everything you wrote is incredibly true. Going to any Ivy or other elite (or even semi-elite) school is a HUGE benefit if for no reason other than networking. As you move down the scale that becomes less and less true. People go, learn whatever they learn, get few if any connections, and wind up with a pile of debt. So, we've created an incredibly regressive system. One other thing to note. When people form those friend groups it's not just about who's their intellectual peer, it's also about who came from similar backgrounds etc. It's an engine of division as much as anything else. I agree that the value is there for some individuals, but I disagree that this is a good thing for society as a whole. If you get accepted to Harvard, it's almost certainly worth your while to go. College still remains a finishing school for the elites in our society. Some people bubble up from the underrepresented portions of our society, but they remain the exception, and will continue to be so until something changes. I've included a couple links below that explain the disadvantages some groups face when attending college. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/07/27/blacks-with-college-experience-more-likely-to-say-they-faced-discrimination/ http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/07/27/blacks-with-... https://www.vox.com/2017/9/11/16270316/college-mobility-culture https://www.vox.com/2017/9/11/16270316/college-mobility-cult...
- replicatorblog 8y ago
  This is a really important point. Often, elite discussions about the importance of college come from people who fondly remember their time at Harvard, and not those burnt by "schools" like the Boston Architectural College which has a 100% acceptance rate and charges $20K a year, Or Suffolk University which can barely hold onto its accreditation, but charges $37K a year to study "international business." By bucketing all these experience together as if they're the same experience does a tremendous disservice to those who can least afford to make a six-figure mistake.

andrewvc 8y ago

If you go to an Ivy, everything you wrote is incredibly true. Going to any Ivy or other elite (or even semi-elite) school is a HUGE benefit if for no reason other than networking. As you move down the scale that becomes less and less true. People go, learn whatever they learn, get few if any connections, and wind up with a pile of debt. So, we've created an incredibly regressive system. One other thing to note. When people form those friend groups it's not just about who's their intellectual peer, it's also about who came from similar backgrounds etc. It's an engine of division as much as anything else. I agree that the value is there for some individuals, but I disagree that this is a good thing for society as a whole. If you get accepted to Harvard, it's almost certainly worth your while to go. College still remains a finishing school for the elites in our society. Some people bubble up from the underrepresented portions of our society, but they remain the exception, and will continue to be so until something changes. I've included a couple links below that explain the disadvantages some groups face when attending college. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/07/27/blacks-with-college-experience-more-likely-to-say-they-faced-discrimination/ http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/07/27/blacks-with-... https://www.vox.com/2017/9/11/16270316/college-mobility-culture https://www.vox.com/2017/9/11/16270316/college-mobility-cult...

replicatorblog 8y ago
This is a really important point. Often, elite discussions about the importance of college come from people who fondly remember their time at Harvard, and not those burnt by "schools" like the Boston Architectural College which has a 100% acceptance rate and charges $20K a year, Or Suffolk University which can barely hold onto its accreditation, but charges $37K a year to study "international business." By bucketing all these experience together as if they're the same experience does a tremendous disservice to those who can least afford to make a six-figure mistake.