<p>You can’t break an ED contract (and still be in conformance) after comparing FA from other schools. You can only break it if the FA offered is inadequate–you don’t know, because you haven’t applied/heard yet from other schools, whether their packages would be better or not. Seems an important point. I expect that some kids and their families have an unrealistic idea of what aid will look like, while some will have been motivated and informed enough to find out ahead of time. The problem is, that first group is more likely to contain kids with inadequate counseling and inexperienced parents–disadvantaged, in fact. That’s why I do buy the argument that ED is not fair to less savvy or well-prepared (and often, less well-off) students.</p>
<p>@performersmom
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<p>The QuestBridge site says there were 310 matches among its 29 partner schools in 2010. In 2011 there were 20 matches at Yale. I can’t find the number of Princeton matches in 2011, but if memory serves, there were 12 or 13. Harvard is not a Questbridge partner school.</p>
<p>Overall, for both the early match and RD, according to [Quest</a> Scholars Network - Home](<a href=“http://questscholarsnetwork.org/]Quest”>http://questscholarsnetwork.org/) Yale has accepted 160 Questbridge applicants since 2007, and Princeton has accepted 76 since 2006.</p>
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<p>Nobody who has a clue about what is actually important in college selection pays attention to rankings.
They consider the “upper” Ivies, plus M and S and Caltech, to be the only schools worth bothering with. Chicago and Northwestern are second rate (in their opinions), and UIUC is beneath contempt. Of course, not all their kids live up to those expectations.</p>
<p>^ then you need to be more careful when you use the word “nobody”, annasdad. In the English language, “nobody” is a word that can refer to a lot more people than just a few at your D’s school.</p>
<p>The “nobody” referred to the comment about rankings, which I stand behind. The second sentence referred specifically to a subset of the parents at my daughter’s school.</p>
<p>It doesn’t take a mind reader to understand that rankings are nonsense and that people who put faith in them are operating without a clue.</p>
<p>^So you think a school ranked 200 is just as good in every way as one in the top 10? Of course the ranking system(s) are seriously flawed, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be used as a rough guide for an initial sort.</p>
<p>A school ranked 200 may be better than a school in the top 10 for a particular student. And there is no way, IMO, to rank schools “just as good in every way;” and certainly not based on the meaningless criteria and arbitrary weightings used by USNWR.</p>
<p>Well, I have to say that most rankings are pretty flawed. Except, of course, for the ranking scheme I created:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/978040-ranking-colleges-prestigiosity.html?highlight=prestigiosity[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/978040-ranking-colleges-prestigiosity.html?highlight=prestigiosity</a></p>
<p>Hunt, I just read through the 2010 thread on your “PRESTIGIOSITY” rankings linked above.
ROTFL so hard my dogs came running over to see what was wrong…
Made my day- thanks!
(laughter at absurdity, and self-deprecation are such wonderful medicine- smile)</p>
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<p>Really? I seem to recall a post or two over the last six months where an attempt to discuss substantive matters is met with a “well USNWR ranks University A higher than University B, so end of discussion.”</p>
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<p>Not stupid, just sadly misinformed.</p>
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<p>I’m open to having my opinion changed. Can you (or anyone else) cite a peer-reviewed study (or any other objective data) that correlates USNWR ranking with educational quality? Do so, and I’ll eat whatever quantity of crow you choose to serve me.</p>
<p>For goodness sake, annasdad. Maybe you should demand a peer reviewed study on the Michelin restaurant ratings. Or the Oscars. Or People’s most handsome man!</p>
<p>You seem to take it all far too seriously.</p>
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<p>I plead guilty - I do take seriously bogus information that will influence people on where to spend four years of their life and ask their parents to spend tens of thousands of dollars.</p>
<p>I think the better question is why we need rankings at all.
Why not give out the data and let us come up with our own, based on what we consider important to us, and what date we consider honest/accurate?
It is all subjective in the end.</p>
<p>Not to bug you too much, annasdad, but do you think you are offended by the USNWR rankings because they are WRONG, because they should be CORRECTED? Or INACCURATELY COMPUTED?
If so, you may be taking rankings quite seriously, relying on them to present to others, validate your experience and impressions.
My point is that, even if the data were complete and perfectly accurate, we will all disagree about what is important- heck, we even disagree with our kids about that!</p>
<p>I guess it is human to think that prestige matters (and thus should reflect the “truth”), and that the rankings have a strong impact on that, but I believe that it is so important for us to find the reasons we personally care about in selecting schools.</p>
<p>Hunt thanks for posting that link, brilliant! Obviously I need to wander away from the Parents area occasionally.</p>
<p>I know you’re talking about a subset, annasdad, but I know that school well, and there are lots of kids and parents there who are all about UIUC. Mostly CS/EE hopefuls, but there are a lot of them. I would just avoid the “UIUC is beneath contempt” folks.</p>
<p>FWIW, human society is awash in “rankings”. They are everywhere. 4 Star hotels. Consumer Reports. The gazillion car ratings. The stars assigned to movies by the critics. The NY Times bestseller lists. </p>
<p>Honestly. Rankings help us navigate the jungle of human society.</p>
<p>College rankings are of very little importance to the vast majority of kids and their parents. Most will simply head to the nearest CC or the nearest branch of the state U. That is certainly what my kids’ 12 cousins all did. Every single one went with the cheapest, most convenient option. None of them attended a college than even required an SAT score. Most are now employed, several are engineers and accountants. They think my nuclear family is really, really peculiar.</p>
<p>Annasdad, you really need to get out more. Most of America could really care less about college rankings. And you seem to care far too much about them.</p>
<p>And finally, this line from your last post –</p>
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<p>bespeaks a really huge lack of understanding of the game. Those who send kids to these highly ranked schools and who do not qualify for FA are spending around a quarter million now.</p>
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Isn’t a quarter million tens of thousands of dollars? Twenty-five ten thousands I think.</p>
<p>Seriously though -
Did somebody slip some magic mushrooms into your Thanksgiving Turkey? Or maybe they slipped it in mine. I swear I could find any number of posts on here where you were fretting, or rather expressing the opinion that you pretty much had to attend an elite school to secure a decent job these days. Did I entirely misconstrue your point of view on this? It certainly wouldn’t be the first time I’ve done something like that. I think your experience (as expressed in this post) with your extended fammily pretty much aligns my conception of how things are (whcih is not to say I don’t think there are advantages to attending certain schools). I must admit this apparent accordance has me a little concerned. :)</p>
<p>Bovertine,</p>
<p>My post is simply saying most people don’t care about the prestige of the college their kids attend. They just care that it leads to a good job. I’m not saying I don’t care about the ranking of the school my kids attend. I do care! For my kids and their goals and personalities it is a very good thing for them to go to schools that are extremely rigorous and full of other academically passionate kids – and that the faculty knows how to challenge them. And yes, I think for a lot of pathways in life a high ranking college degree is useful.</p>
<p>What I’m telling Annasdad is that no one holds a gun to your head and insists you buy into the rankings obsession that affects a relatively few in our society. That’s a personal choice. If he wants to reject that perspective than good for him. But he doesn’t need to insist those who do care about rankings “have no clue.” </p>
<p>Okay?</p>
<p>Bovertine, I’m not sure you appreciate the amount of general bashing elite schools, their students and those students parents can get on CC. It seems as if there’s an unwritten law that says “Bashing and criticizing HYPS, et al is OK!” You have probably seen me stick up for the choice of pursuing, attending and paying for such schools. Doesn’t mean that I’m not well aware that it is simply one of many perfectly good pathways.</p>
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If that’s the case it’s sort of silly since, at least from my persepctive it seems like most of theparents and certainly most of the kids posting on here have admission to an elite school as a goal, which I think is very reasonable.</p>
<p>What I think gets “bashed” are some parents who imply they will be bitterly angry or depressed if their kid doesn’t get into a particuilar elite school, or that there has been some sort of paradigm shift in society whereby only maybe 30,000 or so graduates of elite schools will have a reasonaable chance at any decent career. Maybe you weren’t the one posting this stuff in other posts, but I have certainly read this. I’m not going to dig it up, but trust me, this type of stuff is on here. It’s also a prevalent attitude among the kids themselves, I think. With all the stess kids are under already, I think this type of attitude is ill advised, and franklty ridiculous from a logical point of view IMO…</p>