Thank you! Yes, correct.
Agree. I went to an Ivy for undergrad and graduated as a double major in English and American Studies. All the top consulting firms came to recruit on campus and were interested in humanities majors because of our skill set. We also had larger companies like Coca Cola and P&G that came to campus at least twice a year to recruit students for summer internships and full-time jobs. I had a summer internship at a top consulting firm in Boston after my junior year, and I received full-time offers from two consulting firms in NY and Boston during my senior year. I ended up going directly into a Ph.D. program at another Ivy upon graduation but had amazing job offers if I decided on a different path. I cannot imagine an English major from a state school or low-ranked private college would have had so many opportunities to interview with different companies dropped in their lap. I didnāt have to hustle at all. Companies contacted our career services asking them to alert students about opportunities with them. My sister graduated as an English and IR major from a different Ivy and had a similar experience.
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And from what Iāve read about law school, if youāre not aiming for Big Law, the thing to do is go to law school in the state you wanna practice in, so ranking is not the most important thing at all. My kid is all about the social justice/non-profit end of the industry, so top-tier schools donāt matter to him (at least not now), and keeping COA low would be hugely important, since heās aware he wonāt be making much money, if he continues to make that his goal.
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Here in NC, working as a public defender can get your student loans paid off. Not sure how much is paid off but my coworkerās SO is one and she is getting her loans from UNC paid off after 5 years of service. Also, talk about job security!! There are so many vacant positions here and all over the country.
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I am one of the most stridently anti-prestigiosity posters here on CCābut even I will readily note that the calculus is different for investment banking. The tendency of IB companies to hire from a narrow slice of universities seems to have been lessening of late, but it still exists in a way that has effectively disappeared in most other industrial sectors.
And so given that that field is what youāre looking for, Iāll temper my previous post by heartily seconding all of @1dadinNCās advice to you above.
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Just wanted to add that ābitter despotic menacesā is my new favorite epithet.
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Not to pick a fight at all but I can tell you a 170+ LSAT and a 4.0 GPA from any state flagship or decent lac gets you into a T14 law school. You donāt need Ivy League if you have those type of stats. I will also tell you that it you are top of your class and law review at a T20-30 law school will get you big law offers.
No doubt if you know you want to live and practice in South Dakota by all means go to University of South Dakota Law School
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Good to know; hopefully the kid will have the option to pick a freebie undergrad so he can concentrate on those two things without worrying about paying off student loans! 
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Financially, my family can afford one of these top schools but it would no doubt be a stretch. I would likely have to take out around 50-60k in student loans to pay for undergrad. But then, I suppose the pay-off from IB/PE jobs is also quite good.
As an Undergrad student, you are limited to $27K/4 years in student loans. Above that amount, you will need your parents to help with Parent plus loans (their loans).
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Also worth remembering: College dropout+student loans is the worst possible outcome, worse than no college at all.
And the college dropout rate for ātraditionalā college students is lower than the general college-going population, but it is still (depending on exactly how you define your parameters) between one in four and one in three. And yeah, thatās less than 50%, but it still should be sobering if you and your family are considering loans in the non-low five digits range to finance this. (And sometimes such outcomes are out of oneās controlāe.g., unanticipated severe health issues.)
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It would matter at my finance-related company. Where you go to school has a huge impact on whether you get an internship and that determines if you get an offer for anything front office. Iām sure there must be exceptions where someone didnāt go to any of those schools, made a name the hard way somewhere else then was recruited in mid-career based on already established success. But thatās rare.
To be clear, Iām not advocating people turn down great scholarships to go to a top school. In the vast majority of fields and graduate programs, it wouldnāt be worth it. But there definitely are some jobs where it matters.
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Agree.
One of the issues is that the majority of students end up changing their major at least once in college. Many others plan on grad school, but then they change their minds. Itās difficult for an entering college student to know exactly what they want to do in college and beyond. So much can change once they start taking classes and exploring internships. This sometimes makes the calculus difficult.
Iām hoping S23 sticks with engineering. Itās making the college choice much easier than if he followed my path as an English major!
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LOL. Son got a college email today offering a āCYBER MONDAYā application waiver.
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Was it for an online degree program? 
Weāve been having a lot of discussions about the full ride vs higher ranked full pay. S23 is eligible for an automatic full tuition scholarship at Alabama and we submitted that app today. I donāt think heāll go there, but it seemed unwise to pass up the opportunity to apply.
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There are recent graduates on the desks at all of the top IB and BB firms from big State Schools through the mid-Atlantic, midwest, and south. I personally know graduates at Barclays, JPM, BofA, Citi, Vanguard, and Goldman Sachs. I know these young adults personally and know that they are sitting across from graduates from (the) Ohio State, Michigan, Indiana University, and UNC. Another close relative works in finance at a well known company. Their division has had interns from Auburn, Duke, OSU, and Penn State recently. These are those that I have personally met or work closely with friends and relatives. My own child from a big scholarship southern school had multiple high paid internships at top shops. They had 2 top offers in hand in August prior to senior year. They work with many peers from their school and worked to bring in more behind them. The networks are real and they are built on cooperation vs. competition. They are prepared, smart, skilled, and eager to show that they are worthy to be there. Their University networking events in their city are packed. My high finance child works with as many or more state school grads than Ivy grads. Friends and classmates of my child went on to law school at Yale and Columbia. Another friend is at U of Chicago law. Roommate stayed south for law school and is happily employed and practicing now. Are there MORE pedigree degree earners in those organizations? Likely. However there is an input/output model. Top students will find their way to the top. Doing so without debt makes things easier.
The internet has made the world much smaller and WFH/telecommuting has also changed the landscape. The idea of needing a pedigree degree for high finance is increasing becoming more and more outdated and costly. It might help, but it is no guarantee. Firms are recruiting all over. Superdays are filled with juniors and seniors from all different schools. If you take the scholarship route get in the honors colleges, network, get to know your professors, join the investment academies and business fraternities at your school and keep that GPA sky high. Work on your social skills. Meet different people and explore experiences that make you interesting and socially skilled. This is so much easier to accomplish at a school where you feel that you āfitā. You will stand out at superdays if your confidence comes from who you are not where you go to school. And if you change your mind, pivot your priorities, or just fall short of the golden ring jobs (like 90% of graduates from all levels of schools) you will be so much better off by being debt free.
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Yeah, my kid is in at Bama (with not-quite-full tuition scholarship). I also donāt think heāll go there, but I was rather impressed that that scholarship $$ can all be used for study abroad, and Iāve read of kids whoāve done multiple semesters abroad, for pretty much no cost at all (since $24-28k covers a lot of overseas costs).
As I told him, āLook, you might hate Tuscaloosa but you might only have to spend a year there, when allās said and done.ā
I was exaggerating, but still, itās a mighty tempting offer.
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Itās worth a look. My son would have four years tuition, $1000 a year supplemental scholarship, and first year dorm covered, as random as that is. It seemed like a bad idea to not at least apply.
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Sounds pretty good @Gatormama ! My D would murder me in my sleep if I suggested Alabama otherwise I would be there with you especially if your child is interested in grad school.
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