<p>Re: whether a Dartmouth degree would be more helpful than a Rhodes one…</p>
<p>I can’t remember the fellow’s name, but a reputable researcher recently did a couple of studies which showed that an Ivy League education didn’t equate to higher lifetime earnings. However, being accepted by an Ivy League school did correlate with a small but statistically significant increase in lifetime earnings. The study basically concluded that the competency of the person mattered much more to one’s economic success than the prestige of a university’s name.</p>
<p>With my son (who’s now a junior in college), I told him to choose wherever he felt most comfortable and left it at that. He chose Hampshire over several more highly ranked options and has excelled there. He’s currently working as a research assistant for a full professor who has said, “I’ll be damned if the department won’t fully fund your Ph.D. as my grad assistant!” He probably wouldn’t have benefited that kind of attention at Duke (for example) which was one of his options.</p>