Plus, 500k more in earnings, over a 40 year career, is only $12.5k more, per year. Great students from good colleges, with the right drives, follow through, inspiration, savvy, etc, can acheve that.
When you “compare two colleges,” sure, part of that is to determine targets. But you need to get the admits to actually compare two or more opportunities. You choose the targets. But those adcoms chcoose the admits.
I don’t see how you say you’re approaching the finish, if there’s misunderstanding what matters, in toto. And it’s 6 months to 12/31. Many kids evolve even from Sept to December.