Why Private schools get an automatic pass (for tuition) but OOS public schools don’t? Why one is implied “worth it” and the other “not worth it”?
Good school is good school, not every state has excellent public schools. And not all private schools are created equal.
What program were you in at UCLA? Would love to share with my daughter, who moves in Thursday!
Some privates get a pass because they have better service levels. Smaller classes. More attention. More access to faculty and resources. Less likely to fall through the cracks.
Exactly the same things can be said, but in reverse, about many public schools and private schools.
My personal rankings are based at least 50% on academic reputation, because I see teaching quality/resources as – by far – the most important factor in the quality of a university.
Outcomes are largely self-selected by major, and are affected by differences in cost of living… so I don’t put much stock in them. CS and Engineering majors are highly employable, and often relatively lucratively so. They tend to skew the numbers up (vs. most other majors), so schools heavy in STEM majors tend to have higher initial average salaries.
I do put some stock in smaller class sizes, a little bit in selectivity (because students can augment or hinder the classroom discussion, where it is allowed), student/career support, general reports on student happiness and fealty, etc. But in the main, I put it on academic rep.
So, I do mine in tiers (groups of schools more or less tied…):
The next tier would comprise Florida, SMU, Tulane, most of the rest of the Big Ten… Pepperdine, other quality state schools and high quality tech schools. So many awesome schools in this country.
There’s an assumption that opportunities will be more plentiful and better in direct proportion to prestige. The reality is that opportunities will simply be different. This is assuming we’re talking about all but the few jobs where prestige is paramount, investment banking and upper east coast law for example.
Wow, so many people unhappy to see state flagships in the (silly in my mind) T20. Go Bruins! Go Bears!
On time graduation is mostly a function of student academic strength and affordability of the college to the student (note that many of the top schools have mostly students from high money families).
So a student with strong academic record (e.g. 4.0 GPA in hard classes in a rigorous high school) is unlikely to need more than 8 semesters at any college that is affordable. The top ranked colleges have higher graduation rates because they get academically stronger students who mostly come from families with money.
Not many people. Really just one person who is quoting hearsay and is comparing UCLA and Berkeley to Princeton.
Comm Studies. Was limited to 100 students per year when I was there. Even had its own graduation separate from the main L&S one.
These are choices we made back three years ago, and this year instate public vs another well regarded OOS public. After having extensive conversations. Clearly we cannot attend UCB first and decide on UCB for our particular use case. This decision needs to be made on hearsay. But the best (passionate) case that we heard was not compelling for us.
When posters who have actual experiences at these other schools are sharing their first hand experiences, it may be time to acknowledge that hearsay may be inaccurate.
I think it depends on the major. We’ve had more hearsay confirmation after the initial decision when my son met kids from other schools at internships etc. In the case of another OOS public that we decided on this past year, I spoke to 3-4 students and current faculty (I have access). In the case 3 years ago, my son must have spoken to 20-30 kids across multiple schools to make decisions. He had extensive understanding of the curriculum, some understanding of current research being done at the departments, and who gives faculty access to undergrads etc.
Currently we have one kid at our instate public, and I can see all the feedback I got about all the OOS publics to be consistent with how things are at the instate public. The only difference is the fee.
UCB economics grads that I know are making 200k per year to start and it might be a worthwhile investment for OOS. I would not pay for OOS science majors but thats just me.
Stanford has one CS class that everyone takes as a basic CS to cover requirements (it is not a must but most try it out because tech titans like Zuckerberg show up to teach one session) and this usually has 700+ enrollment for lectures. However, they have TA classes that breaks them down into much smaller groups (25?) where they can learn more. OTOH, almost a third do CS or variations of CS at Stanford so they have other classes that might be slightly bigger. I have never actually heard complaints from students about the CS class sizes because of the TA system to teach outside of lectures so they get enough tutoring.
You have the University of Texas in your 6th tier. I don’t know if any of us can speak intelligently to the teaching quality of one university vs another, but we most certainly know that the majority of the universities you have ranked in your top 5 tiers don’t come anywhere close to Texas when it comes to “resources.”
Does the data indicate how many students or what % of students get those salaries?
I was speaking to my brother in law about this last week. He mentioned that if you’re at a top ranked school, being a slightly above average student can get you into Bain, BCG, etc.
However, if you go to a less well known school, you have to be near the top of your class to get those same type jobs.
Thank you! I think we may have chatted when my D22 was making her final choice. She may apply as a Comms double major. She’s pre-political science now. Comms is still selective but bigger than 100 
Same is true for large classes at the UC’s.
Another negative of state schools…lack of intellectual intimacy…
I am not sure I understand what that means.