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I can see why someone might choose one Generic School vs. another Generic School, but versus Harvard (and other similar level schools)? Everything else aside,

I can see why someone might choose one Generic School vs. another Generic School, but versus Harvard (and other similar level schools)? Everything else aside, schools at that level open up lifelong opportunities not possible or are much more difficult at some Generic School. If my kid got into Harvard and said he/she wanted to go to some other Generic School instead, they’d get some serious talking to. And I’d move heaven and earth to make sure they’d be able to attend (financially, etc.).

jt2190 2y ago
I think the framing of Generic versus Name Brand is a useful way to think about it. There are certain industries that value a Name Brand degree: For example, big investment banks like to be able to tell their clients that they have the “best and brightest” managing their billions. People will get distracted by whether Name Brand or Generic education is “better”, which isn’t really important from a “does the employment marketplace value this” perspective: Good students do find a way to get the education they demand wherever they are but the market may not value them equally. And if you’re about to point to so-and-so who went to Generic and say “they did great” then clearly they did something else that the employment market valued more than a Name Brand degree. Try and figure out what that something else was, it’ll give you an edge.
- decafninja 2y ago
  I agree that there are cases where it’s not always clear cut. I had a friend who went to Columbia teaching school. Her family was doing well at the time and could afford the tuition. Fast forward a few years, she has graduated but making the salary of a typical American teacher - not very much. And her family fell into hard times. Nowadays she says she probably wouldn’t have gone to Columbia if she were to do it again.
dartharva 2y ago
At some point the price one has to pay exceeds the benefit one gets from being affiliated to these "luxury" brands. I guess the time has come for Harvard? $300k for an MBA is crazy in the current state of the industry when management jobs have become so scarce.
- decafninja 2y ago
  I can’t say what the threshold is, if there even is one. But a Harvard degree may still open doors that some Generic School degree may not. Case in point - newly minted lawyers from generic law schools have been struggling to land both high paying entry level job, and even any entry level jobs in general. But Ivy League grads are supposedly still being scooped up.

jt2190 2y ago

I think the framing of Generic versus Name Brand is a useful way to think about it. There are certain industries that value a Name Brand degree: For example, big investment banks like to be able to tell their clients that they have the “best and brightest” managing their billions. People will get distracted by whether Name Brand or Generic education is “better”, which isn’t really important from a “does the employment marketplace value this” perspective: Good students do find a way to get the education they demand wherever they are but the market may not value them equally. And if you’re about to point to so-and-so who went to Generic and say “they did great” then clearly they did something else that the employment market valued more than a Name Brand degree. Try and figure out what that something else was, it’ll give you an edge.

decafninja 2y ago
I agree that there are cases where it’s not always clear cut. I had a friend who went to Columbia teaching school. Her family was doing well at the time and could afford the tuition. Fast forward a few years, she has graduated but making the salary of a typical American teacher - not very much. And her family fell into hard times. Nowadays she says she probably wouldn’t have gone to Columbia if she were to do it again.

dartharva 2y ago

At some point the price one has to pay exceeds the benefit one gets from being affiliated to these "luxury" brands. I guess the time has come for Harvard? $300k for an MBA is crazy in the current state of the industry when management jobs have become so scarce.

decafninja 2y ago
I can’t say what the threshold is, if there even is one. But a Harvard degree may still open doors that some Generic School degree may not. Case in point - newly minted lawyers from generic law schools have been struggling to land both high paying entry level job, and even any entry level jobs in general. But Ivy League grads are supposedly still being scooped up.