As in The United States Military Academy - West Point, I believe
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I may be dating myself. During the period when I was applying to college, I think people made up their list of schools largely based on the opinions of other people including family, friends, and friends of family. Many people had very little knowledge of schools outside of their immediate region. In addition to budgetary considerations, they applied to schools where they thought the reputation of the school would help them get a good job and AN education, in that order. For many of the kids who arrived on move-in day, that was their very first experience on campus. Despite all of these methodological shortcomings, it seems like everyone made do and somehow managed to survive and prosper. Have priorities really changed over the years?
It’s typically not “free”. It is a taxable benefit at many institutions, and it covers tuitions, not fees, room, board, etc. So the trade-off for faculty family’s is “discounted price to go to mom’s college” vs. the price elsewhere. And if the kid qualifies for merit aid elsewhere- AND it’s a better “fit”, better institution overall, etc. it’s not irrational to choose to pay when you could get “free” with asterisks.
And if we’re talking about the original set of schools- HYPSM-- the number of faculty kids who are admittable to their parents institution (which is not everyone btw… ) who get in to their parents institution, and go elsewhere? I’m betting dinner it’s a very small number. As in Samuel Bankman Fried and Caroline Ellison, whose parents were faculty at MIT who went to Stanford. And then who???
Definitely dating myself: I had only one question of the college that offered me a full tuition scholarship: Can I smoke at your school? They said yes and I said where do I sign?
(I no longer smoke but it was a deal-breaker when I was a teenager)
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Back then, it seemed like much simpler times.
I really feel that a lot of the “we never considered ‘X’ school” is like me saying I never considered being a Victoria’s Secret Model or a LA Laker.
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That would presume that those saying that didn’t have the stats to get in. Many, particularly those who post here, have kids that did or do.
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I think many don’t know who they didn’t consider - as they didn’t know of them.
How many kids who go to a big school or only considered an SEC never heard of a Kenyon or Macalester or Babson.
So not only were they not considered but perhaps they didn’t know they didn’t consider them.
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We did not consider the rankings for my son. It was not really important for his major. We chose based on program, scholarships/cost, where he felt he would thrive and get stellar grades, opportunity for experience, study abroad opportunities, and honor college.
He wanted a school with a large group of pre-vet students, preferred schools with veterinary schools, preferred early-admit options, preferred not all red brick buildings (lol), preferred school with D1 football, preferred schools with a polo team. Must be a school he felt wanted at when he visited.
The school he chose met most but not every desire. He felt it the minute he walked on the campus. This was a far easier and relaxed application cycle because everything he wanted was a safety except one financial reach, and all had rolling admissions.
Now he is a 4th year vet student looking to do internships or residency at top schools in the country for the specialty he wants! He wasn’t stressed going into professional school like some of his classmates but was just as prepared.
For us this was the right path. For others rank may be more important. We would not change his decision for anything!
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We did not consider any of the mainstream USNews like rankings but used CSRankings: Computer Science Rankings as a source for our research.
From that group I would choose Princeton because it is the most undergrad-focused.
But If I could go anywhere for free, and I could not go back to my undergraduate alma mater, I think I might choose UPenn. I have a love affair with cheesesteaks that, sadly, cannot be satisfied here in Iowa.
Second choice might be Washington U because the nearby zoo is free of charge, and the campus food is reputedly excellent.
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For CS rankings, another common go-to is Brown’s aggregated CS ranking that is based on 4 underlying rankings including CSrankings.org
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I think 99% of society would.
It’s easy to say one wouldn’t (a student) - as they’re not paying. But parents would push and rightfully so.
And it’s easy to say - I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t have interest. But if the offer were presented, i think after study, most everyone would have interest and their mind would play gymnastics til they figured out how to get there.
I think the CC crowd isn’t the regular crowd - and if you had cost free and you could list 300 colleges, I bet 80%+ of society would run to it.
But of course, we’ll never know -it’s just a question for fun.
Actually…there are some parents who would NOT push for this. I’m raising my hand. Cost wasn’t the deciding factor for college for our kids. And the name or rank of the college wouldn’t have changed this…at all.
Garbage in garbage out. The constituent scores place a high emphasis on publications. That may, in a very derivative way, translate to opportunities for undergrads, but none of them reflect undergraduate experiences and outcomes. They represent the research faculty’s output.
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But for students interested in participating in research this list could be very valuable. Typically, more research output equates to more research lab opportunities even for undergrads and more opportunities for that research to be published. Our S was a co-author in 3 published papers, the lab work expanded on his studies, and he built lasting relationship with several primary researchers.
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Without faculty output, where would CC’s collective fascination with research (HS, undergrad, doesn’t matter) be?
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To me: Greater research → wider array of opportunities for undergrads → greater depth in upper division courses → stronger industry connections → better reputation → unique career opportunities
Not saying career outcomes or other things cannot be achieved from non research institutions but I do think research focused universities have a systemic advantage.
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Not in all fields, but in some, certainly. Class work only goes so far, but in field like CS, research enables students to take what they’ve learned, add in their imagination, and develop new applications. It’s so important in artificial intelligence that hiring companies require having published research in their career listings. And, many of these companies go further by listing what conferences they prefer that research to be published in.
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In many cases, don’t parents care more about the ranking than their kids?