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> if I can send my son to Berkeley, MIT, Urbana Champaign, etc. then of course I want him to go Why? Are you truly saying that for the amount of money you woul

by maratd 12y ago

> if I can send my son to Berkeley, MIT, Urbana Champaign, etc. then of course I want him to go Why? Are you truly saying that for the amount of money you would be charged to send your son there, you cannot find him a better educational opportunity? Also, we're kind of splitting things into "college" and "not college". There are infinite possibilities between the two. You can audit classes. You can be a part-time student. You can attend, but not work toward a degree, which may require you to take dozens of pointless pre-requisite classes. Those are just off the top of my head. And finally, since when did an education's worth began to be measured solely by your earning power? We used to educate people just for the sake of them being better people. There's a thought. There are so many questions to be asked and the only one being focused on is ... are you going to earn more money when you're done?

TTPrograms 12y ago
You're talking about schools with average starting salaries in the 60 to 100k range, not to mention the intangible benefits of being surrounded by smart people. I think the impetus is on you to demonstrate that an alternative path is measurably superior for a significant percentage of the people who would go there.
- maratd 12y ago
  > demonstrate that an alternative path is measurably superior for a significant percentage of the people That's really kind of my point. There is no path that is measurably superior for a significant percentage of people. We're all different. Very different. Because of that, we should have unique paths, even for our education.
  - TTPrograms 12y ago
    That's not really a demonstration - that's a statement of personal philosophy.
Jun8 12y ago
I think the main value of going to an elite college is the network you obtain. You make an excellent point about education worth points that are harder to measure.
- JoeAltmaier 12y ago
  I think that's a myth. I got several jobs (well, interviews) because of my Stanford resume. Yet I keep up with zero people from my class. The name is the thing.
  - TTPrograms 12y ago
    N=1
    - JoeAltmaier 12y ago
      No, N > 1 because I got Several job interviews from different people.
  - etler 12y ago
    Did you get internships? I did an internship every year at my school and their network helped me get them. Network doesn't just mean knowing people from the school after graduating, it also means leveraging it to get ahead while you're still in school.
- etler 12y ago
  Depending on the program, the quality of your instruction can be vastly different from college to college. While an elite college is not a guarantee of a good curriculum, or better teachers, those colleges are more likely to have better programs (but you can definitely find less prestigious colleges with great programs too if you know what to look for). I always double check a universities curriculum to get a general idea for quality, and I've seen them vary greatly.

by maratd 12y ago

TTPrograms 12y ago

You're talking about schools with average starting salaries in the 60 to 100k range, not to mention the intangible benefits of being surrounded by smart people. I think the impetus is on you to demonstrate that an alternative path is measurably superior for a significant percentage of the people who would go there.

maratd 12y ago
> demonstrate that an alternative path is measurably superior for a significant percentage of the people That's really kind of my point. There is no path that is measurably superior for a significant percentage of people. We're all different. Very different. Because of that, we should have unique paths, even for our education.
- TTPrograms 12y ago
  That's not really a demonstration - that's a statement of personal philosophy.

Jun8 12y ago

I think the main value of going to an elite college is the network you obtain. You make an excellent point about education worth points that are harder to measure.

JoeAltmaier 12y ago
I think that's a myth. I got several jobs (well, interviews) because of my Stanford resume. Yet I keep up with zero people from my class. The name is the thing.
- TTPrograms 12y ago
  N=1
  - JoeAltmaier 12y ago
    No, N > 1 because I got Several job interviews from different people.
- etler 12y ago
  Did you get internships? I did an internship every year at my school and their network helped me get them. Network doesn't just mean knowing people from the school after graduating, it also means leveraging it to get ahead while you're still in school.
etler 12y ago
Depending on the program, the quality of your instruction can be vastly different from college to college. While an elite college is not a guarantee of a good curriculum, or better teachers, those colleges are more likely to have better programs (but you can definitely find less prestigious colleges with great programs too if you know what to look for). I always double check a universities curriculum to get a general idea for quality, and I've seen them vary greatly.