<p>"I will agree that the majority of students cant afford to go to college tours to every college they desire to get into. Howver there are many alternative ways to identifying with a college. "</p>
<p>Not reallly. Many people think they love big campuses but then tour USC and hate it, many people think they love rural campuses but tour Williams and lament how it is in the middle of nowhere. So people might as well base their top choices on how prestigious they are.
You do realize that that this is what PRACTICALLY EVERY SINGLE STUDENT DOES. That’s why people do ed to their reach schools, because they want to get into their reach schools to get the prestigious diploma. Are you saying that all those kids are wrong and should ed to one of their safeties or matches because the prestige of the university doesn’t matter? Also, I know it sounds shallow but people judge you by the prestige of a degree; it does wonders for someone’s self-esteem to have someone be in awe of your Harvard degree, and it feels terrible to have people look at you and think, “OH, he is a stupid community college graduate.” It sounds shallow, but this is the way the world works.</p>
<p>"And no, the degree does not matter, you make your education, the school doesnt, a degree from harvard is no different than a degree from Wisconsin, both prove to be helpful. "</p>
<p>That’s just wrong. That’s why Ivy league grads have such astronomically high starting salaries.</p>
<p>“You act as if the only outlet to success depends on the prestige of the university your attending, I feel bad for you when you make the wrong decision, if you havent already. Theres so much more to a university than prestige or if its in the top 15.”</p>
<p>Yes, that is true. But all the basic components and activites of a college are present at basically all schools, classes, student bodies, intramurals, club and varsity sports, girls, guys, parties. There is NOTHING wrong with choosing a college based on its prestige (even the Fiske Guide to Colleges says this!) because chances are that you’ll be happy there and have doors opened for you.</p>
<p>Of course you can still be successful without a big-name diploma, but the big-name diploma sure helps. That’s why all the big companies recruit at MIT, Harvard, Yale, etc.</p>