<p>Parents expect and dream of their children going to top tier schools. This expectation often turns out to become a headache for most students. Is going to a top school really that important? Isnt the whole concept of top schools over rated?</p>
<p>There are dozens or hundreds of threads on this issue. Browse around and have fun! :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No, and yes.</p>
<p>There is no evidence (in spite of many studies looking for same) that the prestige or selectivity (or any of the other factors that make up the USNWR rankings, save possibly one) make ANY difference in the quality of education delivered.</p>
<p>There is some evidence that attending a school at the very top of the selectivity distribution confers a small advantage in future earnings and in certain (not all) career paths, although the studies that have shown this have by-and-large not included controls for student initiative; the one reported study that did include such a control showed no statistically significant advantage to attending an elite institution. And when you move down the selectivity scale (like below the top 2%), the huge weight of the evidence from reported studies is that there is no advantage to attending more prestigious institutions.</p>
<p>So to repeat - no, going to a so-called “top school” is not that important, and yes, the whole concept of “top schools” is very overrated.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes. No. 10char</p>
<p>You will have to do research when you get to college…so start searching. Lots and lots of threads with the same questions as your OP.</p>
<p>I don’t think you need to go to a top school to figure out there are better uses of your time than debating this subject one more time.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Annasdad, I have seen your antiprestige campaign everywhere. I kindly agree to you, but here are few questions:</p>
<ol>
<li>there are 5000 UG schools in the US, 2% of it will be 100 schools. So do you mean all those 100 schools are equal?</li>
<li>Where did you send your kids to school? Based on your theory all kids should go to CC and thence to a local state college and it does not make any difference to those went to MIT. In other words, American High Education is equal in all schools and ppl just throw money away for Harvard or MIT or the like.</li>
<li>Why, most of the recent President of US, Senators are graduates from prestige schools? Not from a CC or the like?</li>
</ol>
<p>A lot depends on your definition of top tier. Include your public flagship U and, yes, it matters. These schools don’t always make the top rankings but have many of the smartest students who choose them for financial reasons. Therefore top students can have a reasonable peer group with name recognition and preparation for grad schools not found at the rest of the schools as well as the regional job market, especially away from the east coast. If you mean the group of elite schools and want the job/lifestyle generated by those, then yes. But the vast majority of the top/elite HS students in this country don’t want/need those to be intellectually satisfied the rest of their lives. For the majority of bright studetns who attend college it doesn’t matter. So what if you attend Harvard but only get a bachelor’s degree- you are not as well educated as the student with advanced degrees who went elsewhere. The elite schools are not the only ones who generate top people with advanced degrees, either. Politicians and Wall Street are not the epitome of life for most intellectuals.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Please. Attending a top school is good because of the* intrinsic experience itself,* not because it might position you better to become a president, senator, investment banker, whatever. That’s entirely the wrong question to ask.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Here’s what the research shows; your interpretation is as good as mine:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It’s really not relevant to the question where any individual chooses to send a kid to college. I’m reporting what the research shows.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That’s your interpretation, not mine. Mine is that any student can get a high-quality education at almost any accredited, nonprofit institution of higher learning in the United States (there may be a few isolated exceptions). `</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Harvard, certainly (unless you can go for free). MIT, maybe not.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>What Pizzagirl said.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Except that the research shows that none of that matters.</p>
<p>Would it be more beneficial for a student to attend Yale for pre-med or a State Flagship? And let’s say at graduation from college, the mcat score is the same, but the GPA from Yale is 3.5 and State Flagship is 3.8. How will that impact medical school admission? Thank you! :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>^^yes it is relevant…since you believe in the anti-prestige theory, you should act upon it yourself. Be the leader of the pack, send your kids to a cc with a stafferd loan or with a full ride thoughout the 4 years college. We shall follow.^^</p>
<p>Prudent, what exactly do you want to know? As noted, there are many threads already discussing the topic you chose here.</p>
<p>Top tier is in the mind of the beholder. </p>
<p>My kids applied to and graduated from college without ever reading an edition of USNews…they didn’t know (and we didn’t either) what their school rankings were…and really we didn’t care. The schools were terrific for our kids. In my eyes, that’s all that matters.</p>
<p>Annasdad, til you put your money where your mouth is and send your daughter to your local high school instead of an elite math-and-science, what you have to say is hypocritical. Of course things matter - that’s why you send your bright, talented daughter to a place that offers better opportunities and better students than your local high school. Well, we all do the same when it comes to college. You seem to believe any place you personally can’t afford can’t be all that good.</p>
<p>As much as you folks want to make this about me - which allows you to conveniently ignore the voluminous research that contradicts your position - I’m not going to play that game. </p>
<p>You want to call me a hypocrite, go right ahead. I’ve been called far worse (most recently a narcissist). But once again - if you have evidence that contradicts what I’ve reported, what is it?</p>
<p>Ever student family needs to study the options… and then after pick the best combo of fit/finance for their particular situation.</p>
<p>You can look at research on the topic. But I think that is more telling of the average caliber and drive of students on that campus, not predicted outcome for a particular student. That will depend more on specific fit attributes.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>– Ernest T. Pascarella and Patrick T. Terenzini, “How College Affects Students, Volume 2: A Third Decade of Research.” San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2005, pp. 590-591</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I could not agree more. What a student does when he or she gets to college is way more important than where he or she goes.</p>
<p>I think the benefits of attending an elite college go beyond salary-differentials. In fact, salary is not even important to me personally as long as I end up making a comfortable salary. You can certainly carve out financially successful paths at hundreds/thousands of colleges throughout the country. I know I could have attended my state flagship and still wind up with a top-level position somewhere.</p>
<p>The TRUE benefit of an elite education, however, are the CONNECTIONS (powerful alumni networks), the INTRINSIC EXPERIENCE (being surrounded by so many amazing people), and the SOCIAL CURRENCY. Like it or not, people DO look up to or envy those who attended elite schools. This is especially true of those who spend so much of their lives decrying these elite schools. While great people can certainly be found in most places, elite colleges have such a large concentration of these super talented and amazing people that there really is no comparison to non-elite colleges.</p>
<p>When I say elite, I mean all the well-respected colleges/liberal arts universities but most especially the Ivy Plus colleges: </p>
<p>[The</a> Ivy Plus Society](<a href=“http://www.ivyplussociety.org/about.html]The”>http://www.ivyplussociety.org/about.html)</p>
<p>
</p>