If we are going to make this mainly about money (and a few posters are), then I’m still not convinced that not going to an elite school “closes doors” beyond a very FEW professions.
DH graduated from Tailgate State in 1983. In 1985, his second year at a job in Dallas, he made 450K. In his industry, the elite school degree is seen very rarely. Most successful people in his industry went to the state flagship, the other two “big state Us,” or SMU. Many of his peers went to his university and came out with Finance degrees. Those with intelligence (and contrary to an obvious elitist mindset, there are plenty of people with high IQs who just would never have even thought of going to college in the NE, just not on the radar), the right personality traits, and a burning ambition are the ones who weather the ups and downs of this profession. There can be years with little success, but other years, compensation is well into 7 figures. There have probably been a total of 6 years in 30 that DH has made a big fat zero. The others he has never made less than his second year in the business, and some years has raked in big money.
Someone made the comment, “sure, someone can make a lot of money in Houston, but then they would have to live in Houston.” Besides the fact that that sentiment is more of the same snotty, better than thou nonsense people are objecting to, we aren’t suggesting that someone raised in Boston move to Houston in order to make money. Telling someone born and raised in Texas (or Indiana, or Utah, or Arkansas, or Illinois) that they would “have” to live in their own state to make a lot money doesn’t exactly inspire a lot of angst, and it doesn’t make them any more provincial than someone who thinks working in NYC is the only way to “really make it.” What that is saying to THEM is that yeah, it’s possible to “skip the elite school” and still manage to make a big salary, all while staying close to home, their families, and their support systems. I know some really wealthy lawyers who went to their state Us. They weren’t gunning for SCOTUS or to work in only a handful of firms in the NY, Boston, Philly, DC, or Chicago. They were content to make their fortunes in their home states, where clerking in the 9th appellate circuit sounds nice but is not a requirement.
I hesitated to bring up money too much here, because I believe “success” is so much more than that. What’s the point of making a lot of money if you end up divorced, a stranger to your children, don’t give back to your community, etc.? But since several people here insist upon making money the defining characteristic, I have to say that even this theory hasn’t played out in my experience and with many of DH’s college friends. There haven’t been any closed doors which happened as a result of their college choice-it would be more about major. We don’t have the net worth of Donald Trump, but so what? At a certain point, how much money does a person actually need? Other than travel and a couple of beautiful homes, I just don’t buy “things,” so most of our good fortune will probably end up going to our kids and various charities when we are gone. It’s great to have that security, but DH never would have been willing to sacrifice leaving our families, our friends, and the place he loves in order to get it. The same probably would be said by the corporate president in Kansas, or Nebraska, or Idaho, or someone at the top of their profession in Wyoming or Oregon.
The elite schools are amazing centers of learning. I think if a kid wants to go there, that is great. If he gets in, even better. But go because of the great things those places offer, not because they believe if they DON’T, they don’t still have ample opportunity to get to a very great place in life. Saying doors don’t close to any significant degree if you don’t go elite is not = to saying elite schools don’t offer some very great things. Some of the elite or bust posters are trying to twist the argument away from the OP and turn it in to an argument which is NOT being made.
There’s no arguing against GS or Big Law being a road to wealth. What many of us are arguing, however, is that there are a whole lot of people all over the US finding their own path to wealth without going that route. They are not outliers, they are around in big numbers, and it seems that some people don’t even realize that there is a huge world out there full of intelligent, educated people who are happy to “stay home” and bring in the big bucks in “non elite” companies or professions. As @PizzaGirl said, that money is just as green to them. They did it without going to an elite school.
Perhaps the doors to Big Finance were closed to DH as a result of his second tier college degree, but there were still dozens of other ways to get the golden goose, so what did he really miss out on? He is very smart and had a really high SAT score, but a lot of the extra goodies one gets intellectually at the Ivies and others would frankly have been wasted on him. I, OTOH, would have loved to have lived in that world for a while. To each his own, though. The title of this thread just doesn’t ring true for anything other than a very narrow scope.
