<p>“Why are so many old threads being bumped up?”</p>
<p>Dare I ask is there a statute a limitations on old posts or does the CC hierarchy object?</p>
<p>It is understandable that a high achieving student in high school is going to want a college that is at their level for acceptance, as opposed to being a smart kid at the broader school. (public or private). The catch 22 of this is most of the high level, most selective universities are also the most expensive.</p>
<p>Jym626, at least it’s not four years old. </p>
<p>IMO expensive schools aren’t worth full pay. Studies show the outcomes for the same type of student at expensive private institutions and less expensive public Us are the same. Why pay more for the same result? Especially if your child would be happy at another school. And not all high achieving students want to attend an Ivy (neither of mine wanted to apply to that level despite being competitive).</p>
<p>There is a thread about this very topic at LEAST once a year…probably more. In my opinion, the info in 17 previous pages might or might not be relevant for a current poster seeking information. Better to start your own new thread (but yes…at least this one isn’t 4-5 years old!).</p>
<p>There seem to have been a lot of old posts bumped up lately. Some are several years old. One was over 5 years old!! It can be confusing to posters when old discussions are resurrected, as if they were current, sometimes the information and responses in older threads can be outdated, and sometimes the issue currently is no longer relevant to the initial post. In this particular case the thread is “only” 5 months old, and may be less confusing than others, but it may be better, when a thread is old and has posts and discussions from long ago, to start a new thread.</p>
<p>There seem to have been a lot of old threads resurfacing lately. Some seem to get bumped up accidentally by spam or ads (the underwire bra one kinda looked like that). Someone commented in one of the old, resurrected threads, that they saw they had posted in it many moons ago and still agreed with themselves. LOL. While it is fun at times to see old posters names pop up as if they were still posting, but it then becomes the ghost of posters past when it becomes apparent that the discussion was from several years ago.</p>
<p>(**crossposted with ErinsDad and thumper)</p>
<p>I think it’s fine to offer caveats that a thread is old and may be out of date, but judging by the topics that come up again and again on this site, I don’t see the point of starting new threads. Anyway, if we do that we will get a list of links to previous threads saying “this has been covered ad nauseum.”</p>
<p>Agree with Erin’s Dad about student outcomes. But if people have the money and want to spend it, that’s their choice. There are many “premium” products that people are willing to pay for even when there are more affordable alternatives available. It’s only the insistence that a more prestigious institution is categorically “better” that annoys me.</p>
<p>Golly, I missed the underwire bra ad. ;)</p>
<p>Audiophile said the underwire bra post that bumped the thread should have been moved to the bragging thread! LOL!</p>
<p>With all due respect to these threads, jym, not only do the same threads recur in spirit if not in fact, but in some cases, the same people write the same stuff X years later. I found CC to be very helpful when helping my kids apply to college (especially kid number one) and got good advice from folks in various choice points later on. Although I’m not a big participant in online sites generally, but one observation is that there seems be very little learning among some of the regular posters. They seem to keep saying the same things over and over, impervious to input from others or logic or data generally. So, maybe it is better to just recycle the threads than to restart them. [Or, maybe it is somehow cathartic to state the same deeply felt emotional thing – e.g., no point in paying for expensive school or Ivies are not good or Ivies provide the key to success in life or AA is bad or AA is good and those who oppose it are bad, to caricature a number of oft-repeated post]. Usually reality is more nuanced. My own preference is for statements that are conditional or reasoning that is probabilistic, e.g., for which kinds of people is going to an expensive school worth it.]</p>
<p>As a regular poster, I am willing to learn from others. I have learned more about what life experiences, life objectives, personal philosophies, and geographical realities tend to produce which viewpoints about topics like this. For example, I know now that my view on this subject would likely be different if I lived in CA or Texas, or if the child in question were pre-med. However, given that my personal philosophy, my geographic location, and the objectives for my children have remained constant since 2006 when I started posting, I haven’t changed my mind on this one. Furthermore, I can now speak from greater experience in that two of my children have attended elite schools. All that said, I never cited hooliganism as a reason before, but could have. Recent events simply played into that this time.</p>
<p>In sum, my ideas may not be more valuable than they were years ago, but they aren’t necessary less valuable either.</p>
<p>My oldest graduated from a full pay elite university two years ago and could easily pay us the full price in a few years if he had had loans. Might he be where he is now if he’d attended a SUNY? - I think it’s unlikely. </p>
<p>I know my younger son has learned more Arabic at Tufts than students at other univeristies because he’s commented on how much better prepared he is than any of the other students - and he’s been to three overseas programs and met students from lots of schools. (Many higher ranked than his.)</p>
<p>^^ Good example of ROI from elite program. There is no guarantee, but this is the desired result. This post also brings up another side benefit of attending an elite school… It not only opens one up to the network of students/alumni within that school, but also, to a lesser extent, the network of students who attend other similar status schools, who you may meet though variety of school or work experiences and connections.</p>
<p>What if instead of SUNY it was UMich instate for a STEM major?</p>
<p>Grandparents chimed in on that the other day at dinner and said we should definitely send our kids away…</p>
<p>Actually, TheGFG, your ideas are likely more valuable if you are adding conditionality to your beliefs. You are absorbing the nuance that I was talking about. </p>
<p>But, take a look at the thread about the Op-Ed piece written by a young woman writing, with a fair degree of humor (I thought), in the WSJ about not getting in to the Ivies. As it goes on (and on and on), you’ll see the same posters posting the same things over and over again, somewhat more snidely (though the moderators got involved to cut out certain untoward behavior). Simplistic thinking. No probabilistic reasoning about statements that can only be probabilistic. No learning. Rather disappointing. That’s the kind of thread that will be recycled in spirit or in fact a few year from now.</p>
<p>I think a lot may hinge on overall family resources and how well retirement and other essentials are funded. Our S got significant merit aid at private U. He was happy to have 3 solid job offers in hand by Feb of SR year, from recruiters who visited his campus. </p>
<p>D transferred to S’s U and is full freight. Hers is the TOP program in the US and possibly world for her field. She has made amazing contacts there. </p>
<p>Neither child nor we have any loans and we have more than adequate retirement assets. We have no regrets and are still able to help our kids with any wedding, home, and/or desired grad school. </p>
<p>Of course everyone’s situation is very different, and I would think sacrificing retirement savings could a very dicey strategy.</p>
<p>Living well below our means has given us many options. We are happy and grateful. One unexpected bonus of kids at top U is they have a good med school and a top MD who has taken a special interest in D and her health issues. He’s made improving her health his project for the year and will be working with all resources to make this happen. It would not have happened at instate flagship U, as we’ve already exhausted instate options.</p>
<p>mathmom, that is interesting about your son. But again, for the benefit of others who are feeling pressure to attend “elite” colleges because of perceived advantages that may not actually exist, there are success stories everywhere. I know a young woman who studied Arabic at University of Kentucky and landed a job at the AP bureau in Beirut. UW-Madison and Indiana U are well-known for their foreign language programs, as are some smaller schools like Earlham, Wittenberg and Lawrence. I guess I’d just be careful to generalize from the experience of one student.</p>
<p>gman11: I am not sure what you are trying to say–that students at “elite” schools are more likely to rub elbows with, and benefit from the connection to, students from other, similar schools? Except for the rare field like investment banking, I don’t know anyone who lives in an Elite School Bubble that protects them from the common folk at state flagships and other “lesser” schools. My apologies if that is not what you were suggesting.</p>
<p>Personally, I think anyone studying Arabic is a shoo in for CIA. :D</p>
<p>^Well we hope speaking Arabic will make him employable because IR degrees are a dime a dozen! If it’s just being employable, Arabic anywhere may do, but my son will likely be more fluent. :)</p>
<p>If we lived in a different state we might have made different decisions. For example if we lived in CA S1 would certainly have applied to Berkeley, but it didn’t seem worth it for us.</p>
<p>I am sure your child will have a tremendous advantage over IR graduates without fluency in a second language. I just don’t know how you would demonstrate that your son is “more fluent” than others with similar training at other schools simply because he went to Tufts. Plenty of people acquire proficiency or fluency in languages through a combination of classroom training, immersion programs, and so on. Pretty much every college and university these days offers study-abroad programs, either its own or through a consortium. And, obviously, not all institutions are equally strong in every language (or offer the same range of languages).</p>
<p>Here’s a thread from a few years ago on the subject of foreign language programs. I didn’t see Tufts mentioned but I don’t doubt that the program is outstanding. The point is, many are.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/other-college-majors/888678-best-foreign-language-undergraduate.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/other-college-majors/888678-best-foreign-language-undergraduate.html</a></p>
<p>ETA: Also, for many foreign service-type positions I am not sure a college degree is absolutely necessary. A classmate of my son’s is at an elite 18-month Arabic immersion program for the Army somewhere in California.</p>
<p>Actually, Sally, my son has the same story as mathmom’s. same school, same field, high paying job that could pay off loans quickly, if he had them. This school, this field, has a high ROA. Though that wasn’t a major factor when he chose it. But if return on investment had been a priority, it would have been a good choice.</p>