<p>mtngoat1, I think your worries are misguided somewhat. Obviously, a quality program that will nurture your talent is important. However, where that program resides is much less important. You are entering a talent related field, and that’s what you will be judged by - your talent. Thus, your concern should be attending where your talents are best served. If that is at a prestifious school and you can get in, pay for it, etc. then great. However, if it’s somplace else, then you belong there. </p>
<p>What especially hurts is that I was accepted to a school with one of the best creative writing programs in the country, and we can’t pay for it. So here I am, settling for less.</p>
<p>mtngoat1 I completely understand. Plenty of people here in similar circumstances. However, there’s the best (as generally accepted), and then there’s the best for you. Not always the same thing. The best for you is not a place where you have to live in financial misery to attend. What fun would that be? None in my book. So in that sense, you are not settling at all. You are being smart by choosing the option that makes the most sense. If you pay attention, work hard, and take advantage of every opportunity, maybe create some if necessary, you’ll do just fine.</p>
<p>It’s certainly going to be a struggle against the current (although it would be either way). I kind of look forward to the challenge, I guess. Thanks for all the help.</p>
<p>mtngoat1: you didn’t settle for <em>less</em>, as you write. You did settle for <em>different</em>. The cream always rises. Focus on yourself, and spend your time experiencing things that are interesting to write about.</p>
<p>But, will you be happy to be an employee instead of starting your own business? I think this is the most tragic aspect for choosing a brand name college versus a place where you can receive a better education. </p>
<p>For me, finding the one that suits me the best is more important than prestige.</p>
<p>Typically a prestigious school will offer students & recent graduates better & more internship & job opportunities. Students from no name schools have to make their own opportunities.</p>
<p>It could be presuasively argued that the very process of the no-name school student having to create those opportunities forces a focus and discipline that will enable that student to later outperform the catered-to (spoiled) student from prestigious U. When the going gets tough in the real career world, the no-name school alum may be better prepared to prevail.</p>
<p>I am realizing more lately, in reading the threads here on CC, that high school students tend to think of elite universities in a way similar to how young women in the 1950s - 1970s thought about their futures – that they needed to be rescued by the right <a href=“college”>man</a>, <a href=“get%20a%20great%20Corporate%20job%20out%20of%20college/get%20into%20a%20great%20grad%20school”>whom they would marry</a> and live happiliy ever after <a href=“doing%20whatever%20professionals%20do”>eating bon bons and chatting on the phone with their similarly stress free rescued suburban friends</a>.</p>
<p>I want to work for 3-4 years to gain a solid skill set, and have something on my resume that will attract investment, and then I hope to venture on my own in the business world.</p>
<p>It is not just about a “name” brand. Look at the “name” schools and look at their endowments. Alumni donations, funding for research, financial aid, classroom technology are things that some universities have more than others. Also, the opportunity to see world leaders in every field in the world are simply more plentiful at Harvard than at the University of Illinois-Springfield. That is just reality. Personally, it sucks but it is reality. I think some of the cynicism is well justified, but the point is to enter these places and try to change them. I wish UCLA and Berkeley had the kind of financial aid initiatives that Stanford and Yale have, but they don’t.</p>
<p>Well, the University of Washington receives more in research funding than any Ivy, it has more distinguished faculty (as measured by members of the national academies of science, etc.) than many so called top schools, as well. The SAT distribution in its honors program ranges between 1400 and 1600 (not the mid 50 percent), higher than most top schools’ scores. It has the #1 medical school for primary care and #7 for research right there on campus. The programs, opportunities, and career options are nearly endless. I’m not sure one could do better unless one is entirely focused on an entry job in the Wall Street IB salt mines.</p>