<p>Gtb, but aren’t a lot of the top engineering programs state schools, not private? Berkeley, U of Illinois, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Purdue…</p>
<p>This link shows earnings potential based on where someone got their engineering degree. Again, lots of unheard-of schools on the list.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2013/engineering-schools”>http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2013/engineering-schools</a></p>
<p>Pay has a lot to do with location. Many of these schools on the Payscale list are located in metropolitan areas with a high cost of living.</p>
<p>I would add another observation to the argument. There is a belief by some that the schools matter and that top employers hire from the best schools. There is a problem with that. We would expect the top companies outside of the NE and West Coast to be lined with leadership from the top schools (Ivies, etc.). Well, they are not. In the plains, Midwest, and SW the top employers are overwhelmingly staffed by regional graduates. The top lawyers and law firms in my state contain regional graduates. The Ivy graduates only recently entered our market after the jobs were scarce on the coasts. Top doctors here are regional graduates. Top engineers are overwhelmingly local. I just took care of a chemical engineer yesterday who couldn’t recall a single coworker from a traditional prestigious institution working at her petroleum company. I would concede that there might be a regional difference in our side argument that the school matters.</p>
<p>Going back to law school admission…I found this in my previous posts when law schools still shared how many students they admitted from each UG schools.</p>
<p>Harvard Law School
2006-2007
Harvard 241
Yale 113
Stanford 79
Penn 57
Princeton 54
Brown 48
Cal-Berkeley 48
Columbia 46
Cornell 45
DUKE 41
Ucla 39
Dartmouth 35
Georgetown 32 </p>
<p>Yale Law School
2005-2006
Harvard 89
Yale 86
Stanford 42
Princeton 34
Columbia 18
Brown 17
Cal-Berkeley 16
DUKE 13
Dartmouth 13
Williams College 12
U of Virginia 10
Amherst 9 </p>
<p>I think we can say Harvard has a certain bias towards its own UG. It is pretty obvious why they no longer show how many students they admit from each UG. One can say students at those top tier schools tend to get higher LSAT scores, but I am sure there are a lot of high scorers at other schools too.</p>
<p>I think you are drawing an incorrect conclusion, oldfort. </p>
<p>I am sure you are familiar with bclintonk’s excellent analyses on this site. Here is an excerpt from one on this very subject:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Because stats–LSAT and GPA–count SO much in law school rankings (the rest of his post explains this) there is no benefit to HLS to admit its own (or undergrads from comparable institutions) for “bragging rights” or whatever. It’s all about the numbers.</p>
<p><a href=“"Where Harvard Law Students Went For Undergrad" - #16 by sally305 - College Search & Selection - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1444658-where-harvard-law-students-went-for-undergrad-p2.html</a></p>
<p>So in the case of a hypothetical high-scoring student who had the stats for Harvard but went to a “lesser” school, that student is likely to have just as good a chance of getting into HLS as he or she would have otherwise. AND this student would still have all the money that wasn’t spent on UG to pay for the premium law school. </p>
<p>Are you saying students from Cornell are not just as capable of getting high LSAT as students from Harvard? What about Yale or Princeton or Stanford? Never mind about HLS, what about Yale? Yale admitted a lot fewer Stanford/Princeton students than Harvard/Yale students. Sorry, my conclusion is fairly correct - those top tier law schools do care where one went to UG.</p>
<p>Sally - I think you are trying to hard to defend it doesn’t matter where one goes to UG.</p>
<p>Paloalto…and that is because of either their generous need based aid to those who qualify (loans limited or not included in financial aid packages) OR because families can pay the costs of attending without taking out loans.</p>
<p>But back to the OP’s question. How does one pay for these schools?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Parents can pay the price through savings or current earnings, or by taking out loans.</p></li>
<li><p>Family qualifies for need based aid and parents can pay their family contribution annually.</p></li>
<li><p>At some privates…students receive significant merit aid, and family can pay the difference.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>There is NO magic here. Someone has to pay. And this is how.</p>
<p>If the family has a contribution, they can pay out of past earnings (savings), current earnings (income), and/or future earnings (loans).</p>
<p>oldfort, did you read anything from the thread I linked? The top law schools are competing almost exclusively on GPA and LSAT scores (as are med schools with GPA and MCAT). Every point makes a difference. I wasn’t implying anything about other schools. It’s the same rationale. If stats are most important, law schools will take the best scorers from whatever source.</p>
<p>You and paloalto are missing the point, which in fact EXPLAINS why there might be more admits from top undergraduate institutions. If your child is a top scorer who chooses to attend a lesser school, he or she is not likely to become less smart or a less-good test taker as a result. And in many cases, it will be easier for him/her to have a higher GPA.</p>
<p>gbtguy, I sent you a PM. Thanks</p>
<p>sally305 - I did click on the link, but it is just whole bunch of people opining on whether UG matters when it comes to law school. There is no question GPA & LSAT matter when it comes to applying to top law schools. At the same time, there are so many students who want to to go to HYS laws that those schools can afford to select students with high GPA&LSAT, AND still be choosy about where they went to UG. If you have two students who have same GPA&LSA,t one went to U. of No Name vs one went to HYPS, then the one who went to HYPS would have higher chance of getting into HYS law schools. Law school application is down in recent years, top tier laws are going to have to cast a wider net in order to keep up its GPA and LSAT numbers.</p>
<p>I stand up for the parents who choose to sacrifice to pay for the dream school. For some families this is an achievement worth paying for. I think many on here are trying to make the best of not being able/ willing to pay. So be it, but don’t need to characterize those who do pay as stupid or gutless. I personally said no to my kids many times; that in fact is how he got 15 acceptances, years of careful guidance that included plenty of nos.</p>
<p>Sigh. NO ONE is debating the value of a first-class undergraduate education. I had one. I was admitted to two Ivies back in the dark ages but chose to go elsewhere (another expensive private at full pay). I have had family members attend Harvard, Yale and Cornell. Many of my friends also attended top undergraduate and graduate programs including HLS. They are all wonderful, smart and successful people. </p>
<p>But they are not the only wonderful, smart and successful people I know. I know just as many who went to their state schools (and not just the best ones) or mid-range privates. Some didn’t go to grad school, or got their terminal degrees from less prestigious programs. Yet somehow they are just as accomplished in life as those with “better” all-around pedigrees.</p>
<p>I don’t understand why it is so hard for some to concede that there is more than one way to become successful or that it’s the student, not the school, that matters in most cases. paloalto, the value of your Stanford degree is not diminished one bit by the student from UC-Riverside who might end up being your lab partner at Harvard Medical School, or the kid with a BA in philosophy from Beloit College who has the cube next to you in GE’s corporate marketing department. It is not a zero-sum proposition. You are all earning the right to be wherever you end up.</p>
<p>Moderator Note: Closing thread as it has gone OT from the OPs question of how to pay for college.</p>