Something really odd that I've noticed

College Search & Lists
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<p>“Often they made this choice and think that everybody else should too.” So true!</p>

<p>OP, you are onto something with your original observation. If “everyone” believed that the full ride merit option was the best choice when deciding between it and a pricey prestigious college, then yes the merit school would be filled many times over with just full ride students. But what colleges are bursting at the seams with applicants? The pricey ones that offer no merit aid. So although there are some very vocal posters here that try really hard to convince others that it is lunacy to pay for those colleges their opinion is by no means the standard. Parents that are willing to sacrifice to pay stay under the radar because they will be accused of being “prestige hounds”, “buying into the hype”, caving into the whims of their entitled children, making catastrophic financial decisions, and basically just being ignorant. </p>

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<p>@planner03‌, you have a point, though some of them are indeed prestige hounds (not all of them lay low, either), buying in to the hype, caving in to the whims of their entitled children, making catastrophic financial decisions, or ignorant. Sometimes, 3 or 4 or even all 5, and that’s really sad.</p>

<p>I have my own list of which schools are worth a private full-pay (only a handful), 3/4th cost, or half-cost (which is how much I plan to budget for each kid and which is more than enough for any in-state school and actually some other educational options, including some really well-respected schools overseas, if you are intrepid). I went to an Ivy-equivalent (where my parents paid almost nothing as they made almost nothing) and have come to the conclusion that there are really only a handful of industries/professions where going to a certain school gives you a big leg up, and there are only a handful of those schools. For most schools, your major and, most importantly, your own motivation, skills you develop, & character matter more.</p>

<p>Plus, even for entering those professions where I think a private full-pay can be justified, there are ways to break in from a state school which most people don’t even consider. </p>

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<p>@purpletitan Which schools would those be?</p>

<p>When looking through the recruitment sites of goldman sachs and the like, I noticed that they only recruit at certain target schools. Thats not to say that they don’t take kids from non target schools but there must be a reason why they “set up shop” at certain campuses. Is the debt then justified if one wants to go to wall street? For clarification I will be doing physics and pre med so wall street really does not concern me but just out of curiosity. </p>

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<p>@spuding102:
It’s my own personal list (and yes, heavily influenced by Wall Street recruiting as well as access to opportunity in Silicon Valley and entrepreneurship as well as a strong alumni network). I’ll have a bigger post up later, but</p>

<p>Tier 0 (tippy top & full pay): Stanford, Princeton, Harvard, Wharton (UPenn), Dartmouth, MIT (in that order)</p>

<p>Tier 0.5: Chicago, Columbia, Yale, CalTech</p>

<p>Tier 1 (3/4 pay): Harvey Mudd, Northwestern, Cal, USC, Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore, Cornell, Brown, Duke, Rice, non-Wharton Penn, (McDonough) Georgetown, CS@CMU, Ross (UMich), CS@Illinois, CS@UDub, Stern (NYU), Oxbridge, Keio, Waseda</p>

<p>In terms of employment opportunity after school, Oxbridge is a half or full tier up, but I don’t believe that English or Japanese university <em>education</em> can match the best schools in the States. Likewise, in terms of opportunity after school, Chicago probably belongs in that mass in Tier 1, but it’s the only school that I raise up solely due to education. USC and Dartmouth, meanwhile, jump a half to full tier based solely on their alumni network. If there was a tier above the very top, Stanford and Princeton would jump as well due to their alumni network. Columbia is there instead of Tier 1 only because of the opportunities from being in NYC (also why Stern is in Tier 1 instead of lower).</p>

<p>In reality, I’d probably relent and do full-pay for all the Tier 1 places as well, but I’d want more say on the selection of majors (CS, stats, econ, becoming fluent in a couple foreign languages, or maybe something business-y) as I feel only some are worthwhile for that cost.</p>

<p>If they want to study whatever they want, they can always earn a full-tuition/full-ride scholarship to somewhere. The $120K or so that I’ve budgeted for them will be saved in case they can’t find a job with an anthropology degree and need to get a masters in something that allows them to support themselves.</p>

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<p>On second thought, I’d drop down Rice to Tier 1.5 (along with WashU, JHU, UVa, UNC, McCombs&CS@Texas, UCLA, Sophia, LSE (like Oxbridge, a full tier up in terms of employment opportunity after college but here because I don’t think much of the method of education there), some more LACs, and <a href=“mailto:CS@Wisconsin”>CS@Wisconsin</a>. </p>

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<p>Oh yeah. CS@GTech in Tier 1.5 as well. Forgot them.</p>

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<p>I would say that duke and dartmouth representation on wall street is pretty equal wouldnt you? </p>

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<p>Don’t underestimate local advantages; San Jose State and UC Santa Cruz may have little prestige, but are convenient to recruit at by Silicon Valley computer companies. Not sure why a small Silicon Valley computer company would recruit at Dartmouth (small, out of the way, and with few CS majors) over MIT and many of “lower tier” schools you list.</p>

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<p>@ucbalumnus‌:</p>

<p>I said Wall Street recruiting and Silicon Valley.</p>

<p>Dartmouth, Wharton, and Princeton are where they are in large part because of what they can do for you on the Street.</p>

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<p>@spuding102‌:</p>

<p>You’re right, Dartmouth and Duke shouldn’t be so far apart, so I’ll drop Dartmouth down to 0.5 (along with non-CS, non-Sloan MIT). The very top then would be schools that I would be fine with full pay regardless of major (Stanford, Princeton, Harvard, Wharton, Sloan&CS@MIT).</p>

<p>I still have Dartmouth in front of Duke because while I hear Duke’s alumni network is strong, I’ve seen Dartmouth’s in action, and it is pretty amazing.</p>

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<p>@purpletitan How have you seen it in action? I think a story or two is in order!</p>

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<p>A friend of a friend got a masters in CS from Dartmouth. My friend says he couldn’t program. But he was interviewed by another Dartmouth guy at Lehman. After reminiscing with the interviewer about how much fun partying at Dartmouth was, he got the job (no technical questions). Went on to work on trading strategies there, got an MBA from CBS, and is now at a hedge fund. He still asks my friend basic CS questions.</p>

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<p>For me (and for me alone and not based on anything that might be logical), here are the private schools that I’m willing to pay full price: Stanford, MIT, all Ivies. We’re from California, so I’m willing to pay full pay in-state to UCLA/UCB/UCSD/UCD/UCSB/UCI/SLO.</p>

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<p>@2018 what about the usual ivy equals like northwestern, uchicago, jhu, duke, caltech etc…</p>

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Which schools would those be?</p>

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<p>Yes and no. Most students accepted to the HYPMS of the world may not have applied to schools large automatic scholarships but tons of them would be eligible for them if they did … so while they did not turn them down explicitly their application strategy essentially turned them down. </p>

<p>For example, the CC favorite Bama has many levels of guaranteed scholarships based on stats that a ton of kids attending HYPMS would have been offered if they had applied.</p>