<p>I don’t quite agree that where you go to college makes only 2-3% difference in your initial job OR that it never matters after that. I am very sure that my degrees (from two “CC top universities”) have definitely opened doors for me (and similarly my husband’s for him) for the last 30 years. We are spending large $$ to send our kids to “highly ranked” schools for the same reason. (Frankly, if there was no likely ROI to spend the money, we would have sent them to the schools that offered them significant scholarships.) Granted, you can totally screw up your career after a great education; similarly, you can make it big (as many people have demonstrated) without big credentials. </p>
<p>That being said, I agree that there is absolutely no difference (as far as my comments above go) between Dartmouth and UChicago! But they are very different environments, so you need to go where you fit… and that might surprise you! My daughter will be going to UChicago next year - which she fell in love with on our first visit. I would have sworn that she’d like Dartmouth more (where she would have been a legacy and had visited several times)… and she wouldn’t even apply there!</p>
<p>Visit if you can… and go where you feel right. They are both FABULOUS schools!</p>