2 ms·

I think it also comes down to the "quality" of the college, good schools and great teachers can make a massive difference. College allows you to explore your in

I think it also comes down to the "quality" of the college, good schools and great teachers can make a massive difference. College allows you to explore your interests, make friends with a wide variety of people, which you may not be able to do later in life. I got a good education - but besides that, I made great friends who introduced me to interests which am still pursuing. Unfortunately, a lot of the American college experience centers on binge drinking, getting laid, frats and sororities and college sports. Find a school that is not about the above BS and you'll get a first-class experience.

porknubbins 7y ago
Its not just the college but a program. #1 thing no one told 18 year old me that I wish they had- a mathematics degree (for example) from generic state university will pretty much get you the same job interviews as a fancy school degree will. Because employers respect the fact that Mathematics is hard wherever you do it. An Economics degree from nowhere gets you pretty much nothing while a Ivy Econ degree will get you into consulting or banking, and even more so for pure humanities. The less technical the material the more work the reputation of the school has to do.
- sharadov 7y ago
  Makes sense, but an Economics degree from Harvard teaches you a lot more ( the course and projects are way harder, the people teaching it are top-notch in their field). In engineering, as well, I've seen the same computer science degree and courses being a joke at another university compared to where I went.
bumby 7y ago
There has been some study that shows the school itself correlated with post school achievement with a large caveat: those who were accepted to “higher” quality schools but ended up attending a lower regarded institution did just as well. The implication being it has less to do with the school and more to do with the students who can get accepted to those schools.[1] There was a comparatively larger impact on those coming from lower level income families. There’s also been some follow on studies that look for differences in the effect depending on race and gender [1]https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C32&q=Krueger+estimating+the+payoff+of+more+elite+college&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p%3Dl8qDNf3LIwMJ https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C32&q=Kru...

porknubbins 7y ago

Its not just the college but a program. #1 thing no one told 18 year old me that I wish they had- a mathematics degree (for example) from generic state university will pretty much get you the same job interviews as a fancy school degree will. Because employers respect the fact that Mathematics is hard wherever you do it. An Economics degree from nowhere gets you pretty much nothing while a Ivy Econ degree will get you into consulting or banking, and even more so for pure humanities. The less technical the material the more work the reputation of the school has to do.

sharadov 7y ago
Makes sense, but an Economics degree from Harvard teaches you a lot more ( the course and projects are way harder, the people teaching it are top-notch in their field). In engineering, as well, I've seen the same computer science degree and courses being a joke at another university compared to where I went.

bumby 7y ago

There has been some study that shows the school itself correlated with post school achievement with a large caveat: those who were accepted to “higher” quality schools but ended up attending a lower regarded institution did just as well. The implication being it has less to do with the school and more to do with the students who can get accepted to those schools.[1] There was a comparatively larger impact on those coming from lower level income families. There’s also been some follow on studies that look for differences in the effect depending on race and gender [1]https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C32&q=Krueger+estimating+the+payoff+of+more+elite+college&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p%3Dl8qDNf3LIwMJ https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C32&q=Kru...