<p>OP - thanks for your post. It is a story that needs to be told more often these days.</p>
<p>Great post, OP. People should not go into debt big time in 99.9% of all cases, IMO.</p>
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<p>Sorry to digress the thread a bit, but it wasnât a subgroup analysis but more straightforwardly that income moderated the main effect (using I believe moderated regression on the entire sample). From my experience, not an easy thing to find.</p>
<p>^ thanks for the correction</p>
<p>Another thank-you from a parent whose son has chosen a Tier 3 school with excellent merit aid over the three Tier 1 schools he was also admitted to.</p>
<p>And again, from the same parent, who himself went to a Tier 3 school and was subsequently admitted to two of the top graduate programs in his chosen field.</p>
<p>Itâs definitely not where you go, but what you do when you get there. :)</p>
<p>Sorry if anyone tried to PM me and couldnât get through. Iâve cleared my inbox now, so please try again. Thanks. :)</p>
<p>Very well said OP. well said and as a High School senior who has finished his application process with the same stats as you. I got into a top 20 school but I decided to go to a state school with a full scholarship. Your post has confirmed me that I have made a good decision. And i cannot thank you enough for that!
I decided to save my money ($200k if i went to that top 20 school) for medical school if I get in. </p>
<p>Thanks again and have a good grad experience!</p>
<p>Another parent of a D who went to tiny â3 tierâ LAC for a lot of reason - funding, lack of confidence, health issues. She had great stats 4.0, SAT 800,v,720m, National Merit Scholar etc. She graduates with 8000 in student loans even though she traveled to different parts of the country for classes and South Africa. I spent nothing.
She was a TA, student supervisor of math and science learning center, treasurer/president of various organizations, did research at her college. She also did internships at both Baylor Medical College and Harvard Medical School. She attended a national conference and received an award for her poster. She is going to Harvard Medical school with full finding for a PhD in microbiology. ( and was accepted by all the PHD she applied to) She also just received a National Science Foundation Fellowship.
This truly was a college that changed her life. For her, it would not have happened in a larger or more competitive environment. Both emotionally and physically, she needed a smaller college.
Janie</p>
<p>janieâgreat success story!</p>
<p>Thank you so much for this encouraging postâŠ</p>
<p>what a positive and valuable thread. itâs really wonderful to hear such wonderful insights about the process and great outcomes for all of you.</p>
<p>Congrats to your D, janie!</p>
<p>Thanks so much for all of these success storiesâŠI NEEDED this today!</p>
<p>Best of luck to you all !!!</p>
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<p>Yep. But for students not from low-income backgrounds accepted to both a higher and lower ranked institution, the school attended had no significant impact on future earnings.</p>
<p>RE: Top students will do well at whatever school they choose. . .its a matter of fit and choice and money available for college. Donât be afraid to choose the lower tiered school with scholarships if that is a good fit for you. </p>
<p>This is only part of the college story. You will forever and ever be âbrandedâ by the name of the college you attend. Believe me, she may have had a great time at Baylor, but she will forever be âBaylorâ (to most people read: âsome wacko Christian school in Texasâ) and will forever miss being âDukeâ and that appreciative nod, even when she is a grandmother. To each their own, of course, but fools ye be if you think people donât ask and donât care where you went to college. You will struggle the rest of your professional life to overcome the âfehâ brand of a third-tier college, whereas if you went to a top college no one will ever question your bonafides, and that goes a very long way professionally for very very many years.</p>
<p>Your undergraduate college only matters until you get into grad school anyway.</p>
<p>And you overestimate the value of Duke beyond the Southeast.</p>
<p>As a friend of mine who graduated from grad school from Syracuse said âIs Duke any good or is it just a basketball school?â</p>
<p>No offense kellybkk - but total bull. For those who go on to graduate school no way. Does it ever matter - no doubt. Your terminal degree matters. I do think grad school can âbrandâ you but it depends on your field and goals. Sorry -no one cares where you got your undergrad when you go to a top tier grad program. Believe me when D got a recommendation from one of the top scientist in her field (who said she was the best undergrad student he has had at Harvard), no one cared
Actually, a 3rd tier undergrad program can open doors to some of the top research summer internships in the country. Why - âsmall schoolsâ are an underrepresented group!! Boy, that can help. </p>
<p>Janie</p>
<p>Oh and regarding âBaylorâ. One one my Dâs friends( that she met a summer internship) will graduate from Baylor with full funding to all the PhD programs he applied to -including Stanford, Caltech. U Berkley and JHU.</p>
<p>RE: âFor those who go on to graduate school no wayâ</p>
<p>You made my point, thank you. If third tier colleges were so glorious, why not go ahead and go to a third tier graduate program? Same logic, right? You made my point: the kids at third tier colleges eventually HAVE to get into the majors (like Stanford, Harvard, etc.) to eliminate the stigma of where they went to undergrad. Itâs like, âok, you blew it when you were 18, but you figured it out finally â brand DOES matter!â</p>
<p>Congratulations, Psych_, I know your parents are so proud of you!</p>
<p>I have a top HSer who is dazzled with the big names. He could get into some of them, but unfortunately for him, we make too much money for any need-based aid, but not enough to pay for an expensive private or OOS school. We keep talking to him about the 2nd and 3rd tier schools. Just when I think heâs starting to listen, he gets another shiny brochure from one of those glamorous, unaffordable places!</p>
<p>My H and I are both very well educated, but we were poor kids and got most of it paid for by need-based aid. However, we had to pay for law schoolâI still have one law school loan! We are in high-level positions, and there is no doubt our big-name undergrad and law schools helped us get there, but we have some colleagues that went to 3rd tier undergrad and law schools, and are doing the same job we are! Sometimes its just as good to be lucky, or just plain good at what you do, as it is to have a top-tier, very expensive education.</p>
<p>Another thing young people donât understand is that a huge student loan debt severely limits your choices in life. In the law context, if you have $200K in school debt from undergrad and law school, your only hope is to get a job at one of the high-paying sweatshop law firms. Too bad if you would rather do something that doesnât pay so well, like public interest law or prosecuting. Many young lawyers end up at jobs they hate, but theyâre trapped because they canât afford to quit and still pay the student loans. Sadâbecause life is just too short to do a job you hate. Education is supposed to make your life better and give you more choices.</p>