Yes, but that is why I believe the “outcomes” rank is still a bit more important here (rather than just overall rank): in order to justify paying >$320K, you need to have absolutely stellar earnings potential. Otherwise, it’s just “academic” as they say. And you will coming from MIT, less so with Vanderbilt…
Might be helpful to know the factors for consideration for OP. Is OP’s kids looking for personal fulfillment, a high salary, work in a highly ranked company, interaction with world class peers? Something else?
How important is $ to the OP. A family with a low income will have a lot of stress taking out large loans v. a family who knows they can pay, but prefers not to for undergrad/grad/Phd. Also, some parents prefer that the student take on the debt.
There’s never a single answer. But, in general, I find that high salaries correlate with hard work and highly ranked companies. STEM fields, on average pay higher in the early years, though sometimes humanities grads can catch up salary-wise. STEM graduates have made more over the last 25 years. This could change if there’s a shift back to the soft important skills not STEM graduates often possess. Graduate degrees or jobs in highly specific fields pay best. If they can’t replace you, they have to pay you. There are those who chose professions where pay is nominal and their aspirations are their rewards. Though I think that’s rare as they get older and have kids, buy a house. At least in our area, only kids with no college loans can do this and still they wouldn’t be able to afford a family.
The individual matters!! So while the individual schools are important, there are successful people from all schools whether you are counting it based on $, happiness or a combination.
Yes, Vandy is known for selecting those with very high SAT scores and pursuing them for their scholarship programs. We were told by kids GC that this has been particularly true in the last few years as Vandy is trying to increase it’s rankings. They even send Swag. Personally, I think Vandy is a great school. My kid even applied but I don’t think it’s MIT or even MIT lite. I think it’s key is strength in both STEM and humanities. For a kid who is both right and left brained, it’s a great choice. Like JHU, who I think is similar in some respects, one can combine a STEM and humanities degree. If OP wants pure STEM, then the choice by subject seems obvious. If there are other factors, then it’s a complex decision.
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According to the OP,
Hopefully I don’t get flamed for this. Vanderbilt’s offerings in the areas of OP daughter’s interest are sparce, especially when compared to what MIT can offer. Discussion of outcomes is only relevant if the opportunity for adequate academic preparation in her areas of interest exists.
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In the end isn’t it risk vs reward?
As a parent, if I could go to Vandy and save several hundred thousand, my kid is doing that.
I have no idea if long run it’s right or not.
My kids go to cheap schools. Son chose Alabama vs Purdue for engineering. Had merit at Purdue. He chose Bama but will his flies outcome be worse ? No clue. But I’m saving $80k.
My daughter is at low ranked Charleston. She chose I am paying tuition minus $3k vs let’s say she chose W&L at $80k. So let’s say I’m saving $250k. She chose. Not me.
My sons is more relevant as it’s engineering.
Truth is both are saving me a boatload. Long run is it right ? I dunno.
But I’m thankful each and every day I look at the overfunded 529.
We’ll never know if they made right choices.
Just like here. We can’t see 5,10, 20 years out. Even if we could, we wouldn’t know what to compare it to in OPs case…ie what would have been with a degree from the other school. Generally yes but this student specifically …nope.
But we know OPs parents are saving $220k or what not in tuition. It’s a personal choice. From a life outcome POV, none of us know what’s right.
For those kids with aspirations to go to grad school and stay in academia, the pure ROI might be hard to impossible to calculate.
Nor is it possible to run a controlled experiment to see which institution better helps you you become a better version of yourself.
So you have to sort of make a value judgement that is not limited to dollars and cents.
And there are, indeed, those, for whom “just academic” is exactly what they are after.
Yep. You pays your money and you takes your chance.
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I’d also consider the two schools in the context of what if the OP’s child decides engineering isn’t what they want to study after all.
OP has your child visited both campuses? Compared culture/vibe, resources, internships etc…. In my mind these 2 schools could not be more different and I find it hard to imagine that a student would be equally happy at both.
Just curious……Is it the case that most agree that studying engineering at MIT would be significantly better than at Vanderbilt overall? Does the type of engineering matter?
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These two schools are not in the same league where it comes to engineering or computer science.
#1 in the world vs bottom of the top 50 in the US.
Vandy is solid. MIT is exceptional.
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Predicting the future is pointless. Vandy or MIT, who really knows? You can weigh all the opinions on CC and still not have any certainty in your decision. Isn’t being a parent great?
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My niece got her PhD from MIT last year. Your description in accurate. The OPs student either finds this academic culture exciting beyond belief or horrifying. If the former, attend MIT, if the cost is not a concern whatsoever. If the latter definitely DO NOT attend MIT. Vandy is supposed to have solid academic rigor but also school-life balance, nice social life, campus life, etc. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if the student chooses to have a life for a few more years before committing to a job or grad school. For what its worth my niece did not land her dream job, but she does have a postdoc appointment that she is enjoying. Even MIT does’t come with a guarantee.
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For sure there are no guarantees. And you need to do exceptionally well to compete successfully in the recruiting rounds… The top firms want the best and the brightest. Not everyone at MIT can be the best and the brightest… High school is high school. The stakes are much much higher in college. 
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I don’t think there is any special magic that happens on campus in terms of recruiting.
Ultimately, everyone applies online.
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Correct. Recruiting has changed significantly. Even those from top schools must put in a lot of work networking in hopes of getting an interview. And many strike out or must settle for lower tier options.
It really depends on whether family is comfortable paying full for MIT and the college experience the stuff the wants. They can be successful from either.
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You can’t compare institution to institution. You have to compare major to major. Vandy has many more low paying majors, and MIT grads that go into finance blow up the salary averages.
And, of course most who paid for their kid to go to any full pay institution over the good deal would say they’d do it again. They have nothing else to compare it to. Plus, we all look for affirmation that we and our kids made the best choices.
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It’s a little more complicated that. While it is true that for most companies, especially the large FANG-like companies, anyone can apply online, but many of those companies hold on-campus events where you can get past the ever-difficult first technical interview. Additionally, many companies also recruit directly without the student ever applying online.
There is also the geographic effect on smaller and startup companies that recruit locally, so that may come into play.
In the case of our S, he had four internships and never applied online. He was contacted directly by recruiters ( small startup, late stage unicorn startup, and 2 large FANG-type). YMMV.
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That’s right, and alumni tend to recruit at their alma maters… It’s really self-perpetuating…
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Ditto for our son. Four internships, three that ended up with full-time job offers after graduation, all were in person. Interestingly, in the job he’s at now, he was the first from his alma mater. For a time though they had more employees from there than any other school.
Geography isn’t necessarily the limiting factor. And it isn’t limited to the high tech sector. Smaller firms in general tend to send the few recruiters they have to a few highly selected schools. They’re in finance as well as high tech, and actually offer better pay than the larger firms. They just don’t have a lot of bodies to spread around.
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For ME, the median salary at 2 years according to College Scorecard is $79K for MIT grads and $69K for Vandy grads. Some of that will certainly be related to the regionality of jobs. That difference isn’t likely to hold over a career either. The MIT grads who have replied can tell you that advancement in engineering is very meritocratic and that there isn’t a tight correlation to institution.
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In our case, DS applied to two places online as a sophomore (a FAANG and a Wall Street place) and got interviews (and subsequent offers) from both.