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<p>That’s a myth… we’ve been paying the sticker price for the last 2 years…</p>
<p>padad, cannot resist adding that the radiologist to whom I paid by credit card took one hour and twenty minutes for my ultrasound. I emerged exhausted. There was much pushing and shoving of the “wand” up under the ribcage and other places that will go unmentioned. It was grim. It was silent. I was convinced that to go on so long could only be something very, very bad. At the conclusion, the gentleman MD (and he was certainly that) thanked me for my cooperation and told me that it in his considered opinion surgery (complete hysterectomy) was unwarranted and that, indeed, like my mom and aunts before me I was experiencing endometriosis and that menopause would bring relief. </p>
<p>This was uttered with the voice “of one who knows” and I felt instantly better in my physical and emotional symptoms. And it is saving me from about a $20,000 hysterectomy, let alone the down time.</p>
<p>Yes. I’m a fan of the full freight docs. So long as my insurance will reimburse at a reasonable rate.</p>
<p>I dunno. I’m confused.</p>
<p>Realizing we will be broke forever because we will pay forever in one direction or another. Son hates PE (private equity) and eagerly awaits his med school application results. DD will probably get into some insanely expensive (for us) and wonderful school. On and on it goes.</p>
<p>FWIW, son didn’t enjoy Harvard. Graduated in three years, was ready to finish there the moment he started. No idea why. It left me disillusioned.</p>
<p>If your S didn’t like Harvard (which he’s certainly entitled not to), then it’s even more puzzling why you’d stick with the criterion of “does it have broadscale name recognition” versus looking at the Amhersts and Middleburys and Swarthmores as excellent alternatives. Obviously broadscale name recognition did not give him happiness, so why would you limit your D to only broadscale name recognition?</p>
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<p>I don’t inhabit that world as seamlessly or as effortlessly as JHS does, but if there are choices about worlds to inhabit, that world is certainly more worth aspiring to than the rather cloddish knee jerk “Ivies are the only top schools, end of subject” mentality.</p>
<p>Put another way: People are trying to get into the Ivies because they perceive that in doing so, they will gain entry to a elite, private, suave, knowledgeable privileged group of people who are just so fashionably in-the-know on what’s worth it and what’s not. But that’s the very group of people who will also value the Amhersts and Williams and Swats of the world!</p>
<p>Sewhappy, at where I am, we tell Medicaid pts the same thing as these growths are estrogen dependent. I have utter confidence that my colleagues are also gentlemanly. That said, i am glad that you dont have to undergo surgery but you do want to watch out for your iron store.</p>
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<p>Sounds like you are a fan of “full freight” as long as YOU don’t have to pay full freight yourself.</p>
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Or not in our case. USAA prices are hard to beat. They even give us rebates some years.</p>
<p>I don’t think Harvard is all it’s cracked up to be, having gone there, but its name recognition did definitely get me a job at least twice (once overseas). I just find most LACs feel too small to me, but a number of them have consortium arrangements to mitigate that issue. I think the Amherst caliber LACs are well worth the money.</p>
<p>Liberal Arts Colleges are a luxury.</p>
<p>If money is not an issue, they are lovely and the best of them are a magnet to very intellectual kids. The scope and educational philosophy can make the college experience at a LAC a real heart-opener for some people and a wonderful entry to the academic world.
If money is an issue- LACs, unless they offer stupendous grant money, are not the best way to go. Aid means grants, not loans. Your kid may ‘prefer’ a LAC, but it is the total family financial picture that should seriously enter into consideration.
Name recognition is not the issue: the most selective LACs have prestige, even if it is not international. When it is time to go beyond college, (graduate studies or the professional world) a selective LAC is fine for the most part.</p>
<p>Thank you, Mathmom. You are always a refreshing breath of good sense and aplomb.</p>
<p>Son was okay with Harvard. He just was ready to be done the moment he started, basically. It helped him, no doubt about that. He is managing to actually save quite a lot from his first job out of college, which didn’t happen for his parents until their 40s. </p>
<p>Interestingly, it is our son who is urging DD to look carefully at LACs. </p>
<p>Padad – you sound like a great doctor, your patients are fortunate. Have no idea really about who is a good or bad doc. The one who wanted to rush me into surgery had a pedigree! Columbia med school and yes, I did note that in picking her from our network lineup. But she just seemed very hasty. So i sent up inquiry balloons and ended up with the RADIOLOGIST from whom you emerge exhausted and sore. Whatever, I do think we have amazingly good healthcare in this country, no matter what anyone says.</p>
<p>Re: name recognition.</p>
<p>I think it is worth considering in this economy. Where any given frosh student will end up is completely unknown, no matter how “sure” s/he is about the future. In my experience, HYPSM are “known quantities” on both coasts, and can make a difference in the first round culling for interviews in just about every field.</p>
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<p>Interesting…D loved Harvard and didn’t want to do a semester abroad because it would have meant a semester away from campus. She and her roommates get together at least once a year in a different city (this year was Chicago) to reconnect. I’m sure that the Harvard name was a big factor in her getting a paid corporate engineering fellowship that led to her current job and career.</p>
<p>So, in my mind, Harvard lived up to its hype. </p>
<p>Same school, different experiences…but neither experience really changes the “worth” of Harvard.</p>
<p>ellemenope,
Ditto (to a “T”) for our D’s experience at H.</p>
<p>I wonder if it is a male/female thing, Bay. I met a woman this weekend who told me that her S also didn’t enjoy his time at Harvard…</p>
<p>^My son turned down H because he had the sense that H males were somewhat flattened by their experience, especially the social piece.</p>
<p>The majority of students at Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, etc. pay full freight, can “afford” full freight, and the majority of those families could actually afford more if called upon. </p>
<p>Williams claims that the cost per student is about $100,000, so in reality, they offer HUGE “financial aid” to those paying full freight. In fact, the aid to those wealthy enough to pay the list price in total is much greater than that offered to those who don’t. My measly alumni contributions go to support the millionaires’ kids.</p>
<p>No, the schools are NOT well-known outside of certain circles. Williams has the advantage of sharing a name with William and Mary. Amherst is the name of a British general who gave smallpox to the Indians (one of the first planned acts of genocide in western history). Middlebury is the name of a summer camp. I found that even when I was living in the northeast (well, Philadelphia, to be precise), very few people had heard of Williams.</p>
<p>Quality of education is great. No question about that.</p>
<p>Is it worth it? Well, if you are wealthy enough to pay the list price, what alternative uses do you have for the dough? Obviously, most folks think it is worth it, or they wouldn’t pay it, and the number of list-price applicants goes up every year.</p>
<p>(Full disclosure: my older D. went to Smith, having turned down Williams. But it was less expensive by half than the state school. So I have no idea what I would do if I could afford list price. I imagine it’s a nice position to be in.)</p>
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<p>No matter how one looks at is, few people are indifferent to Harvard. No matter if it is deserved, for many, Harvard IS the yardstick everyone uses for comparison purposes. How many Harvard of the West are there? How many Harvard of the South? No other college comes close to its name recognition! </p>
<p>Ross Douthat “built” his name on chipping a bit at the pedestal of Harvard. Does anyone believe his story would have found an editor if had written about “the truth about Cornell” or “the truth about UMass-Amherst?”</p>
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<p>Fwiw, I am not sure why we would expect everyone to enjoy four (or three) years at Harvard any more than at any other school. If we believe the MO of selective school admisssion, the class is designed to be … made up of very different individuals. This must mean that any class must have its number of gregarious people and quite a few loners. There must the a number of geniuses who could teach a few classes and others that were admitted because of their hard work and tenacity in high school. There must be a number of students who spend every second dreaming about the possible riches of Wall Street and others who cannot wait to join TFA or the Peace Corps. And, finally, there is the weather and … the East Coast atmosphere!</p>
<p>Not everyone who walks through Cambridge falls on his or her knees. But many do, and that is just the way it should be!</p>
<p>"30.000 kids applied to Boston University too. Just saying as the proud parent of a BU alum. "</p>
<p>80,000 people (I think) applied to the University of Phoenix.</p>
<p>UCLA has between 55 and 60 thousand applicants I believe.</p>
<p>OP,
West coast perspective here: the upshot is I suggest looking at and applying to more schools beyond the 3 LACs mentioned. Just sayin’</p>