<p>I don’t see how anyone can say that kids whose colleges are in the top 100 aren’t getting a quality education.(Which includes many “mediocre” state schools)</p>
<p>There are definitely people - some in a position to make hiring decisions - who look down on HYPSM… I imagine a lot of CC regulars would be surprised at how widespread anti-academic sentiment is in America.</p>
<p>People in the South… yes, I think that’s a good place to start looking for some of the most egregious examples.</p>
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Again, I’d contend that at any university where STEM fields get funding and doctoral degrees are awarded in a wide range of academic disciplines… a motivated student can get literally as much as he/she wants out of the education… and there might be some advantages to shooting a little lower than an academic match.</p>
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<p>I agree that the architecture example is kind of silly, but there are many valid reasons why someone may decide not to go to MIT. Maybe they aren’t interested in math and science as much anymore, or want to be open to more options, maybe MIT was never their first choice, maybe there were family issues that caused them to want to be closer to home, maybe they didn’t care for the intense workload or the greek life, etc. etc.</p>
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<p>You’re very ignorant.</p>
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<p>I was using that as a silly example, such as all the reasons by students on this thread.<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/705291-stupidest-reason-child-wont-look-college.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/705291-stupidest-reason-child-wont-look-college.html</a></p>
<p>17/18 year old students aren’t always known to be the most rational.</p>
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<p>LOL. What an ignorant comment.</p>
<p>You know what? People here in Minnesota believe in quality education, too. We have some of the best K-12 education in the country, usually ranking right up there with Massachusetts (and well ahead of New York and California) in the ways these things get measured. Our kids’ SAT and ACT scores are among the highest in the nation. A high percentage of our kids go on to college, and a very high percentage of them graduate. Here in the Twin Cities we’ve got one of the highest percentages of population with bachelor’s degrees, and we’re right up there in percentage with advanced degrees as well. Both Minneapolis and St. Paul perennially rank among the top 2 or 3 “most literate cities in America” (along with Seattle) as measured by library usage and bookstore sales. We’ve got some of the best LACs in the nation in Carleton and Macalester, along with nearby Grinnell which is in Iowa but heavily populated with Minnesota kids; and St. Olaf is no slouch, either. We’ve got one of the nation’s better public flagships in the University of Minnesota—not as good, we’re embarrassed to say, as Big Ten rivals Michigan and Wisconsin, but far better than most, and outstanding in some programs; and for those who want a little better, we’ve got a reciprocity agreement with neighboring Wisconsin that allows our kids to go there at in-state rates, and many thousands do—I believe Minnesota kids comprise something like 19% of the Wisconsin student body.</p>
<p>We also do send a fair number of kids to elite out-of-state privates; Minnesota is perennially once of the largest net exporters of college students, many to Northwestern or Chicago, quite a few to Stanford, many to Ivies or top Northeastern LACs. </p>
<p>But you know what? Not everyone here makes those choices. Some of the very smartest and most ambitious kids I know in the Twin Cities have elected to stay local and attend either our own public flagship, or Wisconsin’s, or a top local LAC. Why? Not because they had no other options. Not necessarily because they couldn’t afford it (though sometimes that’s a factor). But because they LIKE it here, for one thing. Because their families and friends and social networks are already here and in many cases it’s where they eventually want to end up, and they know with a good education they have very bright career prospects here, better than most places in the country; and the alumni networks of local schools are actually going to be more helpful to them if they stay here than some distant Northeastern school that has few alums locally and that most people here have never heard of. Because they may have family loyalties to “the U” (or to Wisconsin), in some cases going back generations, that mean more to them than a few points on some silly flippin’ US News ranking. Because they can quickly rise to the top at the local flagship and accelerate into graduate-level coursework as undergrads and do cutting-edge research with outstanding professors highly esteemed in their respective fields, who will provide golden grad school recommendations—all the while getting an outstanding education at a fraction of the cost of some fancy-nameplate Northeastern school. Because they can save money now for med school later and they know the name of your undergrad institution doesn’t mean beans when it comes to getting into med school, so long as you’ve got a great GPA and top-tier MCATs. Tons of reasons. </p>
<p>These people aren’t fools, they’re not rubes, and it’s not that they don’t value educational quality. It’s just that they have enough brains and common sense to know there are many ways to get a quality education in this country, and it’s not confined to the US News top-10 list.</p>
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Having lived and studied in the South for several years, I feel justified in pointing out that there are some very poorly-educated, impoverished, anti-academic people living there. Certainly not everybody from the South fits this bill, and I only brought it up because one of the posters mentioned Georgia as not valuing HYPSM education. Are there other places where you can find equally anti-academic sentiment? Sure, and I think one poster said it well… 200 miles from the East Cost, until the California state line are good places to start looking. I’d throw Georgia in there as well, and much of Florida (aside from the tourist destinations). Does that mean everybody living in NYC values academics? Certainly not. It’s a generalization that is necessarily wrong in certain specific instances.</p>
<p>Didn’t read the whole thread, but I’ll throw in my experience from way back when. I went to Ithaca College on nearly full scholarship back in the 80’s. I was the only student on my floor who had workstudy and was constantly put down when I was going to/coming from my cafeteria job wearing the uniform. There were girls on my floor who offered to pay me to put their sheets on the bed and do their laundry (“because my maid always does this at home”).
Conversations around campus were often about investment portfolios (students were taking government loans at low interest and investing them at higher rates), and whose daddy owned what companies. Everything was about who owned what/went where on breaks, etc. I remember counting my roommate’s 37 sweaters.
So yeah, I have a chip on my shoulder after that experience.<br>
My oldest daughter walked out of a pretty good college on a tour because while we were waiting for her interview the other student in the waiting room said that she would not consider the school seriously until she saw the cheerleading uniforms.
Younger daughter attends a small, lesser reputation private school and couldn’t be happier. There are people who can’t understand why she doesn’t go out with them for meals or take the bus into NYC on weekends, but there are other down-to-earth people who don’t judge her by her spending habits.</p>
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<p>bc…Excellent post! Many of the things you mention hold true down here in Texas as well – TONS of very, very high stat kids from elite private preps and affluent public high schools (Kincaid, St. John, Highland Park, St. Marks, Hockaday, FWCD, Trinity Valley, St. Mary’s Hall, Alamo Heights, Colleyville, Southlake, etc.) do indeed choose to go to U.T. honors, A&M honors, SMU, or TCU over higher-ranked schools for the very reasons you noted. Furthermore, like GA2012MOM has stated, in Texas, a degree from U.T. or A&M often will go much further than one from HYPSM. The “good ole’ boy” network resonates here as well, and no…it’s not composed of a bunch of dumb, redneck hicks but rather highly intelligent people who simply don’t measure the quality of the applicant or his education based exclusively on what USNWR deems “best”.</p>
<p>Deciding to leave a tour and not attened a college because some knucklehead made a stupid comment is more ridiculous then the comment that was made…Please don’t tell me, as a parent, you let this be the deciding factor… :(</p>
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<p>I’m not going to dictate to my daughter where she can and can’t go to school, other than that it’s got to be somewhere we can afford. Within that parameter, it’s up to her. I may advise, urge, cajole, etc., but ultimately, her decision is her decision. After all, it’s her life and she is the one who will spend the next 60 years or so living with the consequences, not me. Yes, I’m the one who will sign the checks, and I suppose that gives me the RIGHT to dictate to whom those checks are made out. But my main objective in childrearing was and is to prepare my kids for lives as independent adults, and to take a major decision such as this one out of their hands is counterproductive to that end. I do realize that other parents may have other objectives and philosophies, of course.</p>
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<p>On one tour we were on, one student kept asking the world’s most stupid questions. Finally, the tour guide had enough, and replied: “If you’re really going to make a decision about where to go to college on whether you can have a toaster oven in your room, then [this school] is probably not the place for you.” The rest of the parents and students on the tour broke into spontaneous applause.</p>
<p>Annasdad,the original post to which you refer is simply one stating he/she won’t let their child choose a school based on nonsensical stuff,such as weather,sports, etc…i would have to agree with that…</p>
<p>Love the second post you made. ;)</p>
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If this is truely a series question … to me MIT is the poster child of why students should visit schools … MIT is a terrific and unique place … and I’d think almost all students will have an immediate strong reaction after visting … and that reaction could be positive or negative … 3ToGo.</p>
<p>Full disclosure … my Mom did not talk to me for about a week after I finished visiting schools after my acceptences and I made my selection … the reason; I turned down MIT; how could I do such a thing? 5 minutes into my MIT visit I knew I did not want to attend.</p>
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<p>Yes, I got that. But if I felt my D was making a decision for a silly reason, I would argue, cajole, urge - but ultimately, she’s the one who will have to live with the consequences. And IMO it probably would not matter that much, because again IMO, there is very little difference in the quality of education between even marquee name privates and second-tier state schools or second-tier LACs. Difference in prestige, certainly. But I’ve known too many bright, well-educated, successful people who have graduated from our less-prestigious state schools here in Illinois to conclude that a kid’s life will be ruined if they choose Northern Illinois over the University of Chicago because they want to root for the Huskies. That’s not the decision I’d make, but it’s not my life.</p>
<p>Fortunately, my D is not a sports fan <g>.</g></p>
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This I have to very strongly disagree. Even with the secondary school, there is a big difference between top tier prep vs good private vs good public vs subpar public. My younger daughter is experiencing it now. She went to one of top private schools from K-10 then moved to a good international school. She is not challenged, type of discussions they have in class not as stimulating, even quality of teacher is not the same. She is now at a summer program, where they selected 39 students from our state to discuss/study Human Rights for 5 weeks. They hired professors from top notch colleges and high schools to give seminars. She said it is very challenging. The history professor questions every answer they give, and everyone has to be prepared for each seminar. She is enjoying it tremendously because she said discussions in class are so stimulating it makes her want to be prepared so she could participate in those discussions.</p>
<p>We’re not talking about secondary schools.</p>
<p>When D1 and I were making a college visit trips, our first stop was U Michigan. Having gone to UT-Austin, I thought U Mich was a great place that she could do really well at. I was really getting into the tour, while D1 was relatively quiet. When we got back to the car, she said very genuinely, “I don’t think I could see myself there.” I did ask her why, and she couldn’t put her finger on it, but I didn’t question her opinion. </p>
<p>I do think we need to show respect when our kid tells us that a place just doesn’t seem right for them, no matter how trivial (or obtuse) the excuse is. When D1 visited NYU, and did the tour, she also decided living in Manhattan was not her cup of tea. Kids just don’t always know if a place is going to be a fit or not until they step on campus. That being said, some kids do not visit campuses until after they are accepted, and I can totally respect that. Sometimes it just can’t work out any other way.</p>
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Why would colleges be any different? You would get a better education at a top tier school, whether it´s K, elementary, secondary, or college. You couldn´t use my secondary school example to see how it could be the same for college?</p>