<p>The one thing on CC that always shocks me- and I've seen it many times- is the absurdly careless attitude some posters have towards the cost of a college education. Come April, there will be posters who got full rides at Oberlin/Wake Forest/Rice/WUStL/etc. and also got into Harvard/Yale/Stanford/etc. Inevitably there will be many posters clamoring on their threads that the prestige will far, far outweigh the drawback of debt (probably $20-25k for the average person). :eek:</p>
<p>Not arguing, warblersrule, but I believe that Tufts is need-based only -- if one qualified for a 'full-ride' there, they'd also probably be getting significant aid at HYS etc. And while the kids may have an "absurdly careless attitude" toward the costs of college, I doubt that the parents do. The kids won't qualify for the amount of loans needed to offset a full ride to schools like Rice or WUStL, but the parents will. </p>
<p>Also, fwiw, I think the population that gets full-rides to the schools you mentioned is pretty small -- most kids that can gain admittance to the highly selective colleges would have merit aid somewhere else, but it's often the case that it's at a school several tiers lower.</p>
<p>I don't know that it is only the students who have "prestige" on the brain. I've seen lots of parents as well. I remember a particular thread where a girl was bemoaning the way her father was trying to force her to apply to HYP when she thought she would be happier elsewhere.</p>
<p>I wonder -- do any of the prestige-seeking students have parents for whom this isn't important? This isn't rhetorical, I don't really know. </p>
<p>It is hard to deal with sometimes. My daughter has a friend who applied to every Ivy plus a goodly number of top name schools. Her mother had a hierarchy of preference worked up and it seemed all to do with prestige, not any inherent difference among the schools, what her daughter wanted to study, etc. It seemed like much of this girl's life was programmed to give her a good college application. They both seemed to be disappointed when "only" Cornell admitted her. I could tell she was so jealous that my daughter got into Brown, which in her (the parent's) mind was higher in the prestige ladder. </p>
<p>So now, every time I see her she wants to know HOW my daughter got into Brown. Because, you see, she has two younger daughters who don't have the same stats as the eldest and she is so worried they won't get into a "good school," by which she means on the level of an Ivy. I don't get anywhere telling her that there are lots of good schools out there or giving her the specific reasons that Brown was the best match for my daughter (and thus why they probably admitted her). I'm sure she just can't conceive that prestige had nothing to do with my daughter's preference for that school. I try not to talk to her about colleges ...</p>
<p>It DOES feel good to finally let all this out in a safe place!</p>
<p>
[quote]
I wonder -- do any of the prestige-seeking students have parents for whom this isn't important? This isn't rhetorical, I don't really know.
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I don't think this is true for many parents. Some parents push their children, but many parents are also willing to let their kids make their own choices (and mistakes). My own parents had very little to do with the college selection process (mostly because I'm a 1st generation college student). I did all of the research, but my parents did take me to info sessions and college visits. They're proud to put a Duke sticker on the car, but I honestly think they would've been just as happy to put a NC State sticker on there. It's not apathy; they've just always pushed for me to be where I'm happy. :)</p>
<p>My question is whether there are students heavily into prestige who had parents who weren't. Where does the drive come from usually -- learned from the parents, peer pressure, something about the individuals themselves, or what?</p>