<p>ppl are always telling me that i shouldn't worry too much about the huge sums of money that universities cost b/c they believe that the education will "pay for itself" can anyone assess the validity of this statement. thanx</p>
<p>It's all relative. What is "huge" sums of $? However, it's been well studied the long term earning difference of college grads vs. non-college grads. Remember the boardgame "Life"? It's true! Always go to college -- don't go for the short term cash! LOL (propaganda at a young age!)</p>
<p>That being said, the amount of debt you incur will definitely affect items such as when you can afford your first home -- or how much more debt you might have to take on in order to do graduate work. </p>
<p>A real story: at my Ivy league school (which I loved), I had one friend who lamented not taking the free ride to her state university. She was going to med school and was looking ahead to many $100,000s of more loans. Although she loved the school we were attending, she knew it was a huge strain on her family. </p>
<p>Good luck</p>
<p>Would An education I receive at my local university be equal to some LACs I've been accepted to? I honestly don't think so, but we'll see after I amass a huge amount of debt (I don't know about my fa yet, so we'll see).</p>
<p>my parents have also emphasized to me that the college i go to is not as imporant as the grad school i go to (business, law and medical careers). my mom went to the university of oregon, but then went to the nyu school of business (stern school?) and claims that is how she has gotten all her jobs. this applies to a lot of her colleagues and other acquaintances of mine. a harvard mba starting salary is soo high despite the fact they may not have gone to an ivy level undergrad school</p>
<p>Depends if you get a masters. If you go to law school, lets say, and an excellent one, and then get a good big firm job, your entire expense of education for all 7 years (4 undergrad and 3 law) will be payed off in just over a year, assuming 0 financial aid.</p>
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my parents have also emphasized to me that the college i go to is not as imporant as the grad school i go to (business, law and medical careers).
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<p>Of course that presumes that you'll actually go to grad school. Plenty of people do not, either because they find success without it, or they can't get into a good one. For example, if you get your bachelor's from Harvard or Wharton and then become a highly successful investment banker, you may find that you never need a graduate degree at all. That's what Steven Cohen did - went to Wall Street right after getting his Wharton BS, and was so successful that he never needed a graduate degree. But of course that was all predicated on his getting a Wall Street job right after undergrad in the first place. Let's face it. If he had gone to some no-name school, he most likely would never have even gotten a Wall Street offer. </p>
<p>That also presumes that you will even get into a (decent) grad school. Not everybody does well in college, you know. Somebody has to graduate in the bottom of the class at Harvard, just like somebody has to graduate at the bottom of the class no-name school. Either way, you're probably not going to get into any decent grad school (although you might get into a mediocre grad school). But graduating in the bottom of your class at Harvard is still better than graduating in the bottom of your class at a no-name school, because if nothing else, you will still have the Harvard brand name in your favor. {A lot of employers don't even bother to check your grades, especially as you accumulate work experience, so if you mention your alma mater on your transcript but don't mention your grades, many employers won't notice}.</p>
<p>That also presumes that you'll graduate at all. The truth of the matter is that many of the top private schools are grade inflated such that it's almost impossible to flunk out. You may end up graduating at the bottom of your class, but you'll still graduate. Again, speaking of Harvard, the truth is, as long as you do the bare minimum of work, you're going to pass and you're going to graduate. You may only get a C, but you'll still pass. The only people who don't graduate are the people who just don't want to graduate, i.e. people like Bill Gates or Matt Damon who find better things to do with their time. In contrast, many no-name schools will not hesitate to flunk out people who are doing poorly. It's obviously worlds-away better to graduate with mediocre grades at Harvard than to flunk out of a no-name school. </p>
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a harvard mba starting salary is soo high despite the fact they may not have gone to an ivy level undergrad school
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<p>Again, that presumes that you will even get into Harvard Business School. Trust me, plenty of people with absolutely sterling credentials apply to HBS, and don't even get an interview. By far the largest contingent of HBS students were former Harvard undergrads. Obviously nothing guarantees that you will get into HBS, and even most former Harvard undergrads who apply to HBS will get rejected. But it's about improving your odds. Sure, you can get into HBS from a no-name school. But what are the odds? </p>
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A real story: at my Ivy league school (which I loved), I had one friend who lamented not taking the free ride to her state university. She was going to med school and was looking ahead to many $100,000s of more loans. Although she loved the school we were attending, she knew it was a huge strain on her family.
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<p>Yet a simple counterfactual haunts this story. Simply put, if she had taken that free ride at her state university, she might not have even gotten admitted to any medical school at all. Keep in mind that about 50% of all med-school applicants get rejected from * every single med-school they apply to *. That's right - every single one. She might not like the debt that she has accumulated, but hey, at least she got into med-school. Plenty of other people don't even get that, and they would love to trade places with her. </p>
<p>Look, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that everybody should go to the best branded school they get into. Not at all. What I am saying is that we should recognize that you are giving something up. Whether you're giving up more than you are getting is a personal calculation. But we have to be honest with ourselves and concede that something is being given up. Brand does have value.</p>
<p>its not really the school but how you do at it. if you get a summa cum laude at say Indiana, it will probably look better than a 3.0 at most Ivies. This is really only relevant in a) your first job applications and b) if you plan on applying to grad school</p>
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its not really the school but how you do at it. if you get a summa cum laude at say Indiana, it will probably look better than a 3.0 at most Ivies.
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<p>But again, this presumes that you will actually get higher grades if you go to a lower-ranked school. That is, frankly, unclear to me. I think a strong argument could be made that if you go to a lower-ranked school, you would actually end up with * lower * grades. That's because of the lack of the Ivy grade inflation. </p>
<p>You'd also be losing the Ivy 'honors inflation'. For example, while Harvard has cut back on the honors it gives out, the truth is, it's still not that hard to graduate from Harvard with * some * form of honors. 50% of the class at Harvard will graduate with some sort of Latin honors within the field, and then you also have those who graduate with honors in general studies. While I don't know the specifics of how honors are conferred at IU, I would say that it is arguably easier to graduate with honors from Harvard than it is from a lower-ranked school.</p>
<p>Ivys definitely have grade inflation. I know a student who left Yale because she needed to be in Maine to help with a sick parent who transferred to the University of Maine and she said that it was clearly harder to get good grades at Maine.</p>
<p>How would this effect someone if they went to an IVY such as Cornell where it is said that grade DEFLATION takes place. Would I still be able to benefit from going there over my state school if i eventually want to go to grad school.</p>
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How would this effect someone if they went to an IVY such as Cornell where it is said that grade DEFLATION takes place. Would I still be able to benefit from going there over my state school if i eventually want to go to grad school.
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<p>Personally, I think the reputation for Cornell grade deflation is greatly exaggerated. It may have been true at one point in time, but it doens't seem to be so any longer.</p>
<p>But more to your point, the real question is how much * relative * grade inflation/deflation there is between your 2 choices. Even if Cornell is grade deflated (which I don't think is true), then as long as it is * not as deflated as * the state school in question, you may be still better off in choosing Cornell.</p>