<p>What is the difference between four yrs of UVA and four years of 7 sister school? About 120K? 30K more a year?</p>
<p>Can your husband take a second job to defray the 30K? And D can get a part time job during the school year? Can you sell jewelry at those home parties? I am sure that the three of you can make some extra money so the LAC will be less painful financially. Downsize home? You may not need as large a home if your child is at college. The equity might make a dent in the extra tuition money.</p>
<p>Large preppie party schools are not for everyone.</p>
<p>"Regarding Oberlin’s career services, I’ve heard from more recent alums that they’ve increased the numbers of companies recruiting on campus and internship opportunities. "</p>
<p>Internship opportunities, perhaps. They had a good program to help selected students try to find internships and jobs in finance, for example. On campus recruiting, on the other hand… Let’s just say none that helped D1 any. Seemed like Peace Corps et all did the healthiest business there. I recall that when I looked at the list of who came there on campus to recruit, before she matriculated, it was not impressive. There actually seemed to be a large variation among LACs with similar academic profiles in this regard, pretty much as oldfort indicated previously. Some attracted a very decent amount of on campus recruiters, particularly given their relatively small pool of potential job candidates, and for some others it was terrible.</p>
<p>cobrat - my post wasn’t about choosing 7 sisters vs UVA, it was more about in general term about college after life. Pomona and Oberlin were brought up by me as possible examples of schools which may not as focused on career placement, and if that’s what an applicant is looking for, then maybe they wouldn’t be such good choices. What I know about Pomona are just few posts here from last year, but cbreeze seem to know more about the school. I aslo mentioned grad schools in my post. It appears more Oberlin students go on to graduate schools, therefore it is not as pre-professional. Again, each school has its strength, and it really depends on what you want from your college.</p>
<p>If finance is a big concern, then 100+k difference in price is a very big spread, especially when UVa is such a top notch school (probably better than most privates).</p>
<p>Even in most of the schools where a higher % winds up going to grad schools immediately, for the most part the differences in the %s between the colleges with similar student bodies are not that huge in the big picture of things. The vast majority of students from the somewhat higher % schools do not go to grad schools immediately either, and most of those people will benefit from having jobs right after college, if they can get them. So it would be nice if they have a strong option to be able to get them, if they want them. Some people are probably essentially forced into going to grad schools simply because they can’t get good jobs.</p>
<p>When you are selecting colleges you do not know for sure what you will wind up being, wanting, or being capable of getting when you get out four years later. You may come in thinking that you will want to get a Phd down the road, or go to med school, or law school,or whatever. But along the way you could get some internship, or take some course, that turns your interests in a completely different direction; maybe one you’d never even thought about before you matricuated. Or you could wind up not achieving the high grades needed to get into a top program, with funding, and the prospects from a weaker program in this economy are not good. Whatever. A lot can happen, your interests and prospects may change, and the fact is most graduates need jobs. Even at most of these schools with relatively high grad school rates that is the case.</p>
<p>Given all these uncertainties at time of entry, IMO there is significant value to a school that seems able to expedite a variety of future paths, not just a few.</p>
<p>However, there are differences in the prevailing campus cultures that can materially impact the nature of the social situation at these small schools, and in some cases this can be an overriding consideration IMO. If you are likely to be miserable someplace for four years, that will affect your life, and possibly your performance there, which may dampen your ability to access the most appealing destinations after graduation.</p>
<p>I’m a big fan of UVA. It is one of the few big state schools in which I believe even the most introverted of students will be able to find their way and have a great educational experience. </p>
<p>That said, UVA aside, I do agree with Oldfort that a college’s ability to assist in the career placement arena is important. In fact, one of the reasons my D chose her safety school had a lot to do with the fact that in the area where she plans to live when she graduates, they are THE go to college for local research labs and businesses. She unambivalently wanted to settle in this area since a small girl.</p>
<p>Either way, though, the OP’s daughter will get a terrific education. I just can’t imagine how it will serve her future desire to go into the field of publishing with significant debt, when she can go to one of the most well-respected public universities in the country, and leave with none. YMMV</p>
<p>Ultimately where you got your undergrad degree (with very very few exceptions) makes mo difference. Your career depends on your hard work and results. </p>
<p>I’ve hired 100’s of professional people over my career. With exception of the first job I have never cared about where the applicant got their undergrad degree. It is a check box on a list. What matter is what they have done with that degree. </p>
<p>I don’t know other professionals that look at it either. Save your money.</p>
<p>Good point. Incidentally, the very campus culture which may appeal to some students may also discourage many more mainstream employers from recruiting on campus. Especially when that culture attracts students who mostly aren’t interested in those employers’ career paths for personal and/or political reasons.</p>
<p>Interestingly enough, I haven’t observed this to be nearly as much of an issue with most Seven Sisters colleges from what I’ve heard from alums and from campus visits to a few. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>While I agree self-selection is at work regarding Oberlin’s career placement, it isn’t solely because more go on to grad schools. There’s also an element that the more mainstream jobs may not appeal to most students for personal and especially political reasons. Radical left progressive politics(Green party leftwards) tends not to be compatible with the idea that employment in business/corporate/wall-street firms is morally neutral/good.</p>
<p>A campus culture which doesn’t exist to that extreme at any of the Seven Sisters I know of…and which has been fading at Oberlin itself since the 1980’s and '90s.</p>
<p>In any event, I agree with the both of you and most commenters that if finances are a serious concern, UVA is a great choice. Heck, depending on the Seven Sister school, it may even be an arguably better choice for academics and career placement. As another commenter noted, the OP’s daughter may also want to strongly consider William and Mary if a small LAC is a better fit.</p>
<p>Don’t forget convenience- colleges which are a pain to get in and out of quickly, are small, and don’t have a well oiled machine at the Career Development Center get dropped off the list pretty quickly from our recruiting calendar in years when our numbers go down. Why waste half a day getting to remote rural college to have 20 kids show up at a presentation when we can have 200 at U Chicago in the morning, and then another 200 at Northwestern in the afternoon, and have flights out of O’Hare every half hour in the evening? It’s not a knock on the kids or the college- but recruiters are human beings too, and its our job to get the biggest bang for the buck during our recruiting events. Nobody likes flying on a puddle-jumper and then renting a car to drive three hours, only to have two handfuls of kids show up, most of whom are there for the free food…</p>
<p>I’m another Wellesley grad, and an English major. There is no doubt in my mind that the kind of education one experiences at an elite LAC in such a subject is superior. There are no survey courses. There are no “textbooks.” Classes are small and discussion-oriented, and the professors are skilled at leading discussion and ensuring everyone’s participation. There are no quizzes aimed at making sure you’ve done the reading, no multiple choice exams. Instead there are papers. Lots of them. The expectations are high.</p>
<p>A school like Wellesley is a very special place, with a great tradition and a tremendous alumni network. So are the other Seven Sisters schools.</p>
<p>That said, since the flagship in question is UVa, I would find it very, very difficult to justify spending the additional money unless the financial burden was easy for the family to bear. And it sounds as if it isn’t. </p>
<p>Any chance of her being in the honors program? (Echolls scholars, or something like that, IIRC?) That might help her find a community within a community at a larger school. If not, there are other ways.</p>
<p>By the way, IronMaiden, I’ve hired a fair number of people too, and I DID care about where they went to college. I wouldn’t reject someone out of hand because they went to an inferior school, but having been admitted to an elite school was an invariable indicator that they would possess some of the characteristics and skills for which I was looking: high intelligence, intellectual curiosity, and excellent writing skill in particular.</p>
<p>Employers do use schools as their first filter, and often it is used with the first job, after that it is really up to each individual on how well they do on the job. That being said, it is always hardest to get that first job.</p>
<p>Consolation, I have no correlation between where an employee went to undergrad and their job performance. It’s simply not looked at. We care about your work background and your performance. Your individual drive and work ethic are what matters, not the source of your undergrad degree. </p>
<p>It’s what you do with your education that matters. Not the name on the diploma. </p>
<p>If someone wants to pay extra $ for a pricy school then that OS their decision. But don’t expect a $ payback on that investment. I know of several Tier 2 / 3 grads doing very well at our company. “Name” school grads are advancing more quickly but they have the large loan payments. </p>