I haven’t claimed CU is elite.
I have been skeptical that going to an elite school is necessary to have a great career or a successful life. Most kids will never get into an Ivy League school no matter how hard they work.
That’s why Harvard was sued.
Also Harvard does admit students who buy their way in.
https://www.propublica.org/article/the-story-behind-jared-kushners-curious-acceptance-into-harvard
Can you call any public university “elite,” let alone CU Boulder?
This is an interesting article.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/31/us/harvard-freshmen-admissions.html
^Your two citations are ironic. On one hand students are claiming not to gain addmissions because URM (historically marginalized) kids are getting in at their expense. On the other end of the spectrum Jared Kushner (historically entitled) who apparently bought his way in.
Within both realities/perceptions are the vast majority of kids who worked hard, out performed, and stood out enough to be admitted. You are trying to deny the correlation between hard work and success by pointing to extremes. Fallacious and convenient logic if one seeks to avoid personal accountability.
I will avoid further debate but I am confident (based on first hand experience not cherry picked articles) that effort and intellect yields results when it comes to academic opportunities and life in general.
What I am saying is that how the student approaches life is a bigger factor than where he or she goes to school. That’s why I think going to an elite school is not as important as other factors. Therefore, I discount placing so much importance on attending an elite school.
My view, in contrast to others here, is that you can succeed without that elite school education. You don’t need that elite school degree as your validation.
One of the reasons CU has a low yield rate is that it is expensive (instate and OOS) and doesn’t give a lot of aid, so while students apply because it is a beautiful school in a great location and they really want to go there, in the end they can’t afford it. It does have 45% OOS students so SOMEONE must like it.
Not everyone can Run with Ralphie.
Actually I would be more impressed with a school that accepts everyone, has a high graduation rate, and places all of them into the jobs they want.
Rejecting a lot of applications means nothing to me.
This gives you graduation rates. If you look at 6 year rates, CU graduates 70%.
However compared to other 4 year public universities, it is still pretty far down on the list.
As I posted elsewhere, I think CU is best for those students 1. who are already living in Colorado, 2. who don’t live here but want to, and/or 3. who want a specific program that CU offers.
“I will avoid further debate but I am confident (based on first hand experience not cherry picked articles) that effort and intellect yields results when it comes to academic opportunities and life in general.”
and @coloradobased
“What I am saying is that how the student approaches life is a bigger factor than where he or she goes to school. That’s why I think going to an elite school is not as important as other factors. Therefore, I discount placing so much importance on attending an elite school.”
I think you are both right and are kind of saying the same thing in some ways.
I think the kid that works really hard to get into Harvard and deserves to be there might do equally well (or almost as well, or maybe even better coming out of CU…especially if they study engineering or business or one of the stronger majors. Or do honors.
My daughters are both in top ranked business schools and I definitely think they both have the great opportunities they have (one has a job waiting for her after she graduates, the other has a sophomore summer internship awaiting her which very well may lead to a full time offer in two years…both at big firms in NYC) in part because the recruiting is great at their schools.
However…
They work their butts off and if they were in the business school at CU, I cannot say that they wouldn’t have great opportunities there, too. They may have stood out even more at CU.
With that said, they are both at colleges that are considered “targets” for many top firms…but by the same token, the competition for the jobs and internships is quite severe in their schools which are chock full of overachievers.
Sure, some big companies may not recruit at CU…but that doesn’t mean you cannot apply (they will take applications from everyone) and if you really stand out, you may get an interview. And if you were one of those kids that had the smarts for a Harvard, you might just nail your interview and get a job offer.
I agree that the kids at the “better” schools ultimately get “better” jobs (forgive me for oversimplifying this), but there is no saying that those same kids wouldn’t have gotten great offers in a “lesser” school, but still do great because of who they are as a person. As it relates to those kids at CU that had no shot at an “elite” school (hence the 80% acceptance rate or whatever it is)…you cannot compare their career/life outcomes to the top applicants that had the stats for elite schools…it’s an apples to oranges comparison.
This is impossible to prove of course. But I agree with both sentiments…that a great school can help launch a great career, but a great person can make a great life for his or herself coming out of many different schools and at the end of the day, intellect and work ethic are the ultimate determining factors of success (and a little bit of being in the right place at the right time?).
Sorry if this doesn’t make sense!!
My son is going to be likely choosing between CU and the schools his sisters are at and this debate is very helpful for us. He has a year yet…he is still a junior. But we loved CU. I know he would be happy there. What a great place.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
The OP has long left the building, so I’m unsure why this thread was even revived if simply to become a debate. Closing thread.