I also think every time I read about someone’s fantastic experience at a school that they’re forgetting the point that there are likely multiple schools they could have also had a fantastic experience at.
One post before said they picked UND over Northwestern and are glad they did.
But I suspect that had they picked NU over UND, they may have made the same comment in reverse.
Yep. The fantastic experience I had at a state directional cost about 1/2 the price of the “dream school” I didn’t get into. It was a blessing in disguise, and I loved my 4 years at my unimpressive public school. I cried when I moved away, and have been gainfully employed in the field in which I got my BA for 25 straight years, zero gaps. CC parents sometimes forget that there are hundreds of fantastic experiences available to their kids.
appreciate this thread cuz really struggling with S23’s choice, down to honors at in state highly rated flagship (public ivy) or his 80K+ prestigous dreamschool on gorgeous campus w/smaller student pop. I do so get the value proposition, but he’s worked so hard & longs to dive into a smaller community of learners. Our flagship is urban setting he doesn’t like even with small honors community. we’re leaving it his choice but making it clear there’ll be nothing in his 529 for grad school. Not an unrealistic cc parent, just a parent struggling to do what’s best in important decision…our S20’s first choice was our flagship & we’re so proud of how he’s grown there (and has $ left in his 529 for grad school), but S23 seems to have a different first choice and ready for OOS adventure
@rvrgrl it sounds like you have a healthy 529 for undergrad school.
In the Thumper family…we funded four years of undergrad school…and our kids knew that was IT. Please don’t feel guilty about not finding grad school.
Good luck as your kid makes their decision. If it makes you feel any better, neither of our kids took the less expensive option. And we didn’t have a 529 at all.
I am not sure kids are equipped to make these decisions without advice. They have no visibility on all the paths they may or may not have access to 4-6 years down the road, and what the consequences are of going down different paths.
Parents also might not be well equipped to advise on decisions. They may be most familiar with their own educational paths and professions, but less familiar with other professions. They may not realize that how their educational path and profession was 30 years ago is not the same as it is now (in many cases, the educational path is much more competitive and much more expensive).
If the parents are in the industry into which the kids wants to go, then they are well informed. Alternately if they have friends/family who are in the industry/s the kid wants to go into, then that advice should be taken seriously. As a parent I know the industries where I am informed, and industries where I’ll need help. And I’ll find people in those industries for the kid to talk to.
I’d be more concerned now with financial markets.
Stroking a check for $85 to $90K a year is tough - especially if you think you’re worth X today and X minus tomorrow.
Of course markets could go up - but the banking thing is getting messy on the regionals.
No one can plan for that - but if markets tank, you’ll be glad you’re not in the more expensive school.
That is certainly a factor. yes.
ND engineering is fantastic with classes being taught by professors not GAs. Professors with no language barriers is a plus at ND. Also, most ND engineering students get a degree in 4 years versus 5. You should always ask what the average number of years it takes to get an engineering degree.
As far a cost, ND is worth every penny. In fact the way ND handled Covid in 2020 -2021,
I would have paid extra. ND is one of the only elite universities where you can experience a true college experience outside of the classroom (big time college sports). I’ve been to Duke, Northwestern, Georgetown,W&L, Purdue, Georgia Tech, UVA, UNC chapel hill and my kids got into all of these schools. Notre Dame was their choice because it was “special”. You have to go visit ND to understand. If you can afford it and your child wants to go, then pay the price. There is more to college than books. ND is a place that gives you the best opportunity to become a better human. I didn’t see that as much in the other schools we visited. Full disclosure, I’m Baptist not Catholic and didn’t attend ND. No doubt, Notre Dame is a phenomenal university with a unique environment that personally I haven’t seen at other universities.
You just have to understand that the “special” nature of the experience (something that many posters attribute to many schools, me included) won’t end up in higher pay or more job opportunities. It’s an intangible gift of a very specific experience. If that is important to a family, AND they can do it without leverage AND the understand opportunity cost and are sufficiently convinced that the gift is worth that opportunity cost, they should go for it.
I guess we all look at this through the lens of our own experience. From what I have seen, your statement is 100% inaccurate. The networks you can build from your personal relationships at top universities can definitely result in better pay and superior job opportunities.
Also, from what I have seen, the people who argue against this either didn’t attend one of these schools and/or have a child that didn’t attend one of these schools.
From reading all the posts above , I figured Max Headroom would be the first response.
Plenty of tangibles.
Email a professor and get an immediate response even on weekends at ND. This is not the case at a lot of schools.
Professors know students names. Also, easy to build a relationship with your professors. This makes for an excellent opportunity for professor recommendations for grad school.
Graduate in 4 years.
Professors with no language barriers.
No graduate assistants teaching because a professor is too busy in a lab which ironically boosts a university’s ranking. Professors teach at ND and aren’t hiding out in a lab.
Big one here. Little to no online classes at ND. Many state schools are going online and the parents don’t even know it. Universities giving A’s out like candy to keep paying parents happy. Students learning very little. This isn’t the case at ND
Amazing advising in premed as well as engineering opportunities.
If you are one of the 11.9 percent of students that were accepted to Notre Dame this year do all you can to attend. You will not regret it.
Bottom line you get what you pay for at ND.
My daughter could say the same about every one of your points for Purdue engineering.
IMO, this isn’t a no brainer decision unless the OP’s student decides to pursue another major.
@zrt42 - I’d encourage you to look at salary data from first destination surveys for engineering disciplines. Students are not getting a bump because of where they went to school. And honestly, we were incredibly underwhelmed with ND’s engineering program from the course progression of their 4 year plan of study and also with their facilities. And for the record, I’m a Cornell grad and Purdue mom. My kid’s experience at Purdue engineering has been nothing short of amazing.
The “you get what you pay for” mentality is really not accurate.
Since you brought up salaries, the people I know with Engineering Bachelor degrees that make the most money aren’t working Engineers. There are myriad options for these people from Top 25 universities that don’t exist from most state universities.
What do they do?
Curious what careers you think aren’t available to engineering grads from Berkeley, Michigan, Georgia Tech, UIUC, Purdue, UT Austin? These are the public schools that are ranked in the T10 for engineering.
Kids who go to a private school for engineering, on the margin, can swing both ways more easily — both engineering jobs as well as jobs in consulting, finance etc, with due credit given to their engineering education as being helpful in the other jobs.
One of my kids got into the honors college at Purdue first year engineering with about 40k scholarship money. When we visited and spoke to many students, we heard some negatives. Purdue has huge classes and major language barriers with professors. Another complaint from Purdue students was that you had to compete for your certain engineering discipline after your freshman year. If you wanted to be electrical engineering at Purdue you weren’t guaranteed the spot… you had to compete with other students which made for a less collaborative environment. Every student agreed it took 5 years for most to get out of Purdue which means more money and lost wages. It appeared to me that Purdue was easy acceptance into engineering BUT hard to get out. I’m just stating my conversations with Purdue students. I’m glad your daughter had a good experience and I hope she makes alot of money which seems to be most coveted thing on this thread.
One thing the readers need to realize is that engineering is a multi disciplinary field requiring teamwork and communication skills. I think ND provides the tools to develop these skills.
I’d like to see some evidence.
Engineering is largely egalitarian right out of the gate and completely meritocratic after that.
My son has been very fortunate to have worked on not one but two elite engineering teams. There is no rhyme or reason linking where his coworkers were educated. Some went to small, random state schools. Some, Europe. A couple at big name schools. They are all world class at what they do.
There are quite a few schools that have these attributes.