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I would have to disagree. If there was no difference than you wouldn’t have 20k+ applicants for some schools, and you wouldn’t have companies recruiting only on certain campus.</p>
<p>Where the companies recruit does not make a big dent in many college kids’ desires. If it did, there would be more of a rush on IT type school. Case is a school well regarded in industry and its location makes it much easier for companies to come take a visit. That is an advantage that Case has over LACs in far away places.</p>
<p>They are both good schools with good academic reputations. Please don’t be swayed by “rankings”. If he is equally happy with both choices (assuming he doesnt go to the NA) and if the monies are better allocated elsewhere, then pick CW.</p>
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Maybe they should. It is not just for IT, many different firms recruit on campus. If a kid is interested in working at silicone valley, CMU and MIT maybe better options than Harvard or Yale. If a kid wants to go into hospitality industry, Cornell Hotel school maybe a better choice than Stanford. If a kid wants to work at a large manufacturing company, then maybe going to a large local U would be more useful. Of course, if graduate school is in the plan then other choices maybe better. I think it is important to consider Day 2 when considering which school to attend. Graduating from LAC with a religion degree and 80K debt is crazy.</p>
<p>If he goes on to graduate or professional school, the undergrad school does not remain that important. With the exception of a few schools and a few careers, undergrad schools there don’t even make that much difference after the first few years after graduation. Corporate recruiters tell me that after a very few years, it’s what one does at their first job(s) that matters, and that first job’s prestige isn’t necessarily even that important, it’s what one accomplishes there. </p>
<p>I counsel kids who are interested in med school all the time-- save money now. You’ll need it later.</p>
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<p>Really? you don’t think the “Common App” has the most to do with this phenomena? You know that it does. Applicant counts mean nothing, and are driven by the stats and rankings that mean even less.</p>
<p>I agree, Oldfort, but I also know that kids change their minds all of the time. And there are things that should be more important to them at that age. My son turned down two instate publics that have better programs in his field than the more expensive school he is attending because he really feels his quality of college life will be better where he chose to go. And I knowingly let him have his choice because the costs were within the parameters we gave him.</p>
<p>Those schools with 20k+ applicants had proprotionally more applicants than other schools before there were common app. </p>
<p>Assuming common app made it easier for students to apply to any school, why some schools have 20k+ applicants and some schools have a lot less.</p>
<p>Kids change their minds, that’s why I am not a supporter of going to a school because of its one single excellent program. I am a believer of plan B, and having a kid sit at home after graduation is not my idea of plan B.</p>
<p>I agree that earning potential makes a difference. That is why we think that CWRU may be a better choice for him than Hamilton. While I think that Hamilton has a slightly higher academic reputation as an overall proposition, the business school at CWRU is highly rated. </p>
<p>I think that his friends are very swayed by rankings and the like. He is not. If he can’t go to USNA he wants (not in order):</p>
<ol>
<li>Small-medium school</li>
<li>Good economics program</li>
<li>Intellectual peers</li>
<li>High quality professors</li>
<li>Opportunity to play college football</li>
<li>High enough academic prestige to get into grad school</li>
</ol>
<p>I think he can get these things from either school (so does he). He is not more in love with Hamilton than CWRU so I think he will choose the less expensive option. I was trying to see if anyone thought that Hamilton was so much better that he just had to choose it. I guess not.</p>
<p>I don’t think looking simply at application numbers tells you the whole story. Yes, those schools are excellent. That’s why they have great reputations. Yet their reputations are the main reason the numbers are high. They also stroke kids into applying, since high application numbers+low acceptance numbers=low yield numbers, which in turn increases their reputations. It’s all an insanely circular process, engineered by the schools, the media/rankings, and fueled by sixteen-year old kids who may or may not know the real workings of the machine, and their parents, who are sucked in whether they’re aware of the machine or not. </p>
<p>Those schools are good. But not necessarily as good as the numbers show. There are plenty of Andy Bernards a la “The Office” in the world, talking incessantly about going to Cornell while working in Scranton, lol!</p>
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<p>This isn’t an assumption. It’s a fact. The “Common App” sells itself (partially) by representing affiliation will increase applications 3 fold in 2 years.</p>
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<p>You know why.</p>
<p>I don’t remember saying number of applicants is THE only indicator, no different than just looking at ranking. If you are paying 50k+ a year for education, and those are the only things you look at then you are being very sophisticated.</p>
<p>I do know a Harvard grad who is a truck driver because that’s what he enjoys and he really doesn’t need to work for a living.</p>
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<p>this is only partially right. High application numbers do lower acceptance. But coincidentally, “yield” has been largely unaffected as class sizes remain the same. Most of the Big 10 schools “yield” has been stable whether part of the common app or not. The acceptance rate has been what’s been affected, ala UMich.</p>
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Because you think most people are stupid, and are just misguided by the media as stated by jaylynn? I give people more credit than that.</p>
<p>I doubt it that people think HYPS are excellent schools because of their marketing effort or ease of application.</p>
<p>^ no. Because with the common app and 50 or 75 bucks? they can apply with the click of a mouse - and what better filter, in that context, than a fresh copy of the USNWR rankings.</p>
<p>The atmosphere is very different, Proudpatriot, and frankly, I love the LACs like Hamilton. Wish I could have gone to one. A school like Case is not going to be as nurturing, more diversity in types of kids, more commuter kids, less contained environment, more big city feel. When you go to a school like Hamilton, you are stuck with the people and campus pretty much. Not at all so with a city school like Case. So there will be more of a clubby , secure feel to Hamilton.</p>
<p>Two good friends of mine went to Case at the same time but did not have any awareness of each other. For that size school, I thought it was unusual. That would never happen at a Hamilton. But one was a commuter, the other was in some city internship for a large part of the time and they were in different parts of Case. There is more of a “business” feel to a school like Case, and more of a boarding school atmosphere at Hamilton.</p>
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I do remember my kids having to write a lot of essays for those top tier schools. The only school that was with the click of a mouse was Dartmouth.</p>
<p>Yes, you’re right, giterdone, I meant acceptance rate, not yield. And oldfort, I know you meant that application numbers were not the only criteria that is important. I don’t think so either; I was just talking about that one number. You seem kind of angry. </p>
<p>There are schools which will always be at the top of the pyramid. There’s a reason for that. No argument there. But there also some reasons for that that are weaker than the numbers would suggest, that’s all I’m saying.</p>
<p>school supplements are necessary inclusions, but (according to Notre Dame), not heavily weighted. Because, by shear number/volume of applications produced by the common app? they can’t be read thoroughly enough.</p>
<p>And they are pretty “light” IMO. Not going to discourage many applicants</p>