Back in the day, I had a choice between Emory and UT Austin, Plan 2 (OOS). I wanted to go to Emory, but my parents said that they’d split the savings with me if I went to UT. So I did, and had an amazing experience & am so happy that I didn’t go to Emory in retrospect. DH went to Hamilton and loved that as well. DD is a senior and she’s applying to Hamilton but not UT. It’s just so tough to get in these days, and the low OOS% makes me pause.
I went undergrad at University of Illinois and graduate school at Miami of Ohio in journalism and mass communications. Loved both schools. My 16-year-old is wants to go into medicine and is looking at colleges now. She has no interest in elite schools and is looking primarily at state universities, with KU, MU and University of Arkansas at the top. She is interested in Miami of Ohio, but not sure if it’s in our budget.
Me: UT Austin ( BSEE, MSEE)
Spouse: NMSU (BSEE), SMU (MSEE), University of Dallas (MBA)
Son: Stanford 2020
H and I both went to Penn State (petroleum engineering for him, chemical engineering for me). We live in Texas now so our alma mater was never on S’s radar; Texas has great state schools at very reasonable prices for in-state students, so it never made sense to S to look at OOS state schools except those that offer great merit scholarships. S is going to attend UT Dallas almost for free with the National Merit scholarship package, and plans to study computer science.
H and I both really enjoyed college. It’s where we met (and married), and we were both involved in various activities and had active social lives. We also both enjoyed the academics and were happy to have good jobs lined up well before we graduated.
Me and DH: Case Western
Me: Princeton for Masters
DD1: SUNY Binghamton U, Columbia for Masters
DD2: TCNJ
Me Northwestern - opera performance
DH. Northwestern - BSEE
DS UCLA BSEE in progress
DD waiting to hear…
DH and I both (met at) graduated from the University of Michigan. We loved it. Ten years later, I went to Harvard Business School and didn’t like it at all and went back to work before graduating. Our only child is at West Point and loves it. No accounting for some kid’s tastes.
Me: UMiami- BA on a full tuition scholarship + work as RA = free college. University of Houston - MBA, employer paid all but $1,500.
DH: UMiami - BS Accounting/MIS. University of St Thomas (Houston) MBA, employer paid = free grad school
(We met at UMiami and married when I graduated and I joined him in Texas. Otherwise I had a job offer from UMIami and would have attended grad school there free as an employee.)
DS: attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Two younger DDs plan to attend college.
Me: Rutgers '88. enjoyed it. worked summers to pay for years 2-4 – tough to pull that off now.
Wife: Illinois State / U Illinois
D: Community college for Nursing ADN, will finish BSN East Carolina
S: Duke 2021
@TQfromtheU what does your DS think of Rensselaer.
Me: CUNY Brooklyn College for undergrad (English) CUNY Hunter for MS Ed (second career in teaching). Also attended Hofstra for additional credits towards Reading Certification.
Husband: Carnegie Mellon undergrad (Public Policy and Economics–started as a MT major)
Daughters: NYU for both undergrad and grad degrees. (BM Vocal performance/Full time MBA; BFA studio art/MA Art Ed)
University of Wisconsin-Madison: BA-Journalism
Belmont University: MBA (Music Business track)
No kids yet – wife and Iare enjoying ourselves for a couple more years.
So here’s where my other immediate family members went to school:
Wife:
Saint Ambrose U: BA in Theatre Education & Psych (?)
Grand Canyon U: MS in Adolescent Psych
Dad:
UW-Madison: BS Psych, MS Social Work, MS Health Care Admin
Mom:
UW-Madison: Bachelor of Music Education (?)
UW-Whitewater: Master’s in Music
Sister:
UW-Madison: Bachelor of Education (?), working on Master’s
Dad’s parents:
Grandma: UW-Madison, BA English
Grandpa: UW-Madison, BS Civil Engineering
Maternal Grandma:
UW-Madison: Bachelor of Education (?)
I don’t know what types of Education degrees my sister, mom and grandma had(ve) – mom ran choral activities in high school while grandma and sis taught/teach elementary school. So probably those…
And for some reason i cannot remember what my wife’s BA was in. And it bugs her when I ask (for the 13th time…), so my lack of certainty will persist.
I went to Spelman College for undergrad and Columbia for my PhD in public health/psychology. I loved my undergrad experience! So happy that I went to a women’s college and an HBCU. Truly an amazing, affirming experience. Columbia was quite different but it’s a great place to be a graduate student.
I was the first person in my family to go to college. My younger sister became the second when she graduated from Georgia Gwinnett College in 2014, the same year I finished my PhD. She’s currently getting an M.Ed in health and physical education from Georgia State.
No children yet 
@lovespink - DS is enjoying RPI. It is a challenging school and he likes the adventure of being away from home in the snow.
I went to UCLA for my undergraduate degree in economics. I didn’t enjoy the academic experience. I couldn’t enroll in corporate finance and investments like I was promised by a counselor before attending. It was a mistake staying there because my gpa was awful. The only finance related course I could get was international finance. I had to self-study finance and hustle my way into the financial services sector.
But, truthfully, I set the bar a little high. Most schools won’t have the courses necessary for students to achieve the highest level of success.
Overall, although ucla econ places lots of students into graduate school. They don’t place lots into the ivy league programs, that’s for sure.
Me, Cornell. I don’t like academics setting so I was glad to graduate in 4 years after changing my major 5 times. At least, it was almost free due to grants. Read a lot of books but skipped 30% of lectures, continuing my habit from HS. But bad grades from HS and Cornell never stopped me from getting into top undergrad and good grad school, where I continued skipping many lectures but this time, to work during school. Found my own business and did well.
My kid totally unlike me, diligent and going to Stanford. Went from a lazy URM getting free college education and free grad tuition to a diligent ORM full pay at Stanford, from father to son.
My mama went to Princeton and my pops went to Montana State. My university is still tbd.
I went to King College (now King University) for undergrad. It was too conservative, and I could never imagine either of our kids going there. I went to University Tennessee for grad school. I don’t think it would appeal to either of our kids either, but it would have been fine with me if they had been interested. I didn’t care for college; it was just my best ticket to being able to make a living. My wife went to FSU for undergrad and grad school. She had a good experience there, but again neither of our kids had any interest.
Our oldest went to Temple for a year and dropped out. He liked school even less than I did, even though his test scores were higher than my wife and I would have ever dreamed of for ourselves. Our youngest is TBD. He doesn’t like school much either, but I doubt he’d let himself flunk out like his brother did.
My husband and I met at SUNY Stony Brook right before we graduated in ‘91. It was not a great experience for me, but I had little to no support in researching and learning about different kinds of colleges. I have one child who is now in her freshman year at Macalester and is thriving in every way. I’m so happy she gets to have a better experience than I did!
My wife and I both graduated from Michigan State. I did the MSU → U Washington → MSU deal. First year at MSU was not great, in quiet dorm/honors dorm/boring! Back to UW for a year (hometown) and then back to MSU when a friend convinced me to try it again. The last three years were a blast! Met me wife there and the rest is history. DD1 is at UTD and loves it. DD2 is hoping for US Naval Academy appointment now or will go to TAMU or Colorado Mines. DD3 is just getting started.