The cost of an Ivy League undergrad degree next year….

[scaredyclassic]

Women money and gigs that’s what life’s about.

That’s what Harvey Pekar has on his tombstone I think—

Harvey actually has all the answers…or at least pretty much all the questions.

Guys a genius artist….worked for the VA as a file clerk his whole life

[an]

[quote=spdrun]They can now, if they meet appropriate standards. Unless you propose to water down the standards for a degree. In that case, NO THANKS![/quote]No, I mean allowing JC to offer BSN, BA in Medical IT Management, etc. JC in CA just started allowing some BS/BA degree this year. It’s limited to degrees where you can start working right away but can’t do it w/ just an AS degree.

[spdrun]

As long as they meet the same standards as existing institutions offering the same or similar degrees, I’m OK with it.

[an]

[quote=flu][quote=flyer][quote=flu][quote=AN]flu, UPenn is #1 Undergrad biz specialize in Finance. So, it’s obvious that it would carry some weight when you’re apply wall street. However, #3 is University of Michigan–Ann Arbor. Harvard is not even in the top 10. Do you think wall street would prefer Harvard over UMich?[/quote]

Actually, yes. Because there are a lot of people that go to Harvard on wall street. And wall street works like a fraternity. Hey, I don’t like it either, but that’s how the game works.[/quote]

Exactly to my point about how connections trump education in many, many cases.[/quote]

I won’t disagree with you there. there is definitely that angle to it too.[/quote]I totally agree with you both. Connection trump education. Luck trumps all.

[Coronita]

I already told my kid that she owes me a porsche whe she grows up. I guess now I can tell her, after she’s done with college, she’ll owe me one every other year for 6 years.

And she had the balls to say “what’s the big deal with a porsche if you have a miata”? The nerve of kids these days!

[spdrun]

She’s a millennial — she’d probably rather have a self-driving Google transportation pod.

[flyer]

[quote=flu][quote=scaredyclassic]My fancy ivy league pedigree paid for by my folks made my mom very angry that I was sending my kid to SDSU. Hell I wouldn’t even let him apply anywhere expensive. She felt like I was being a cheapskate and not paying forward what I got.

The kid was cool with that. Kids are OK with some direction.

Prestige. Held me back in some ways. I should’ve been in a state school.[/quote]

I’m not quite sure why I went in hindsight. I guess I just wanted to get out of CA and try something different. In hindsight, probably not the smartest move for engineering.

Anyway, my kid decided she wanted to be a fashion designer and at one point wanted to be a professional cheerleader. I think we settled on fiction novelist for the time being.

So why I’m talking or worried about Ivy League school is beyond me…..

I guess karma is circling back around and paying me a visit despite all the things I say about how great STEMs should be for kids…lol….

Ai-Yah![/quote]

Your daughter’s aspirations (even though I realize she’s still very young) remind me of the conversations many parents today are having, even with older kids.

Many of the kids today don’t really want to get “real jobs,” and they don’t realize the competition for “dream jobs” is extreme.

My wife runs into the heirs of tech moguls in Hollywood all the time who are immersed in the business–developing/bidding on projects, etc.–and want to be as far away from tech or the way their parents made their money as they can possibly get.

Again, connections prevail, that completely shut out many other very capable individuals. This seems to be holding true in many professions, other than entertainment.

Then, of course, professions that may be “hot” today may not be when kids graduate from college. Again, variables so numerous, that choosing a profession has almost become like throwing darts at a dartboard.

Hopefully, as their kids get older, parents will level with them concerning the realities they will be facing in life.

[joec]

[quote=flyer]
Your daughter’s aspirations (even though I realize she’s still very young) remind me of the conversations many parents today are having, even with older kids.

Many of the kids today don’t really want to get “real jobs,” and they don’t realize the competition for “dream jobs” is extreme.

My wife runs into the heirs of tech moguls in Hollywood all the time who are immersed in the business–developing/bidding on projects, etc.–and want to be as far away from tech or the way their parents made their money as they can possibly get.

Again, connections prevail, that completely shut out many other very capable individuals. This seems to be holding true in many professions, other than entertainment.

Then, of course, professions that may be “hot” today may not be when kids graduate from college. Again, variables so numerous, that choosing a profession has almost become like throwing darts at a dartboard.

Hopefully, as their kids get older, parents will level with them concerning the realities they will be facing in life.[/quote]

As someone who got accepted at both UCB and UCLA (I went to one of them), I’m actually sad I never had or even tried to go to an ivy. In an economical asian household, UC was considered good enough so that was what I was left with.

I think one point that is mentioned and I agree that it’s the most important is connections. When you go to ivy or Stanford (which I feel is the west coast ivy), you go to school with kids who will probably run their own companies one day. Would’ve Priscilla Chan met Zuck if she didn’t study at Harvard? No…All these college classmates you have will probably be your last friends after school and a lot of these people coming out of these ivys come from families with money (some, not all)…who will start companies and hire you like all those early facebook people. Think Yahoo, Google, you name it and that’s only tech…

If you look around, you can see where the bulk of the fortune 500 CEOs come from. Look on Bloomberg TV and see where all the main reporters come from (IVYs, all). Also, look who runs the government now (ex-Goldman people coming from ivys)…Look at the past presidents…see any UC people there?

That said, yes, not all ivy grads will make it big and not all UC grads will suck shit, but (and this may insult a lot of people), UC people and their parents/families go to UC to just get a ‘decent’ job where they hit some ‘asian/or other’ glass ceiling while ivy league people just start the company with their friends or go to some better job since they knew someone else in that same circle.

I would definitely want my kids to go to Ivy if possible and think UC (having graduated from one), is just worker bee type thinking people.

Maybe it’s just my own limited career/work experience, but the network is worth a lot more I think at a Yale or Harvard while UC is less helpful (due to asians which actually ‘Don’t’ like to help other asians)…

Still, one downside is unless you are culturally fit with these other ivy people, it maybe hard to get into their circle as well. I have some family who did go ivy and due to cultural differences (foreign), didn’t really do much with that and went back to asia…

flyer, I assume you are Caucasian?

[flyer]

joe, good points–yes to your question–and, as mentioned before, I agree connections (and luck, as AN mentioned) do, in many cases trump education.

Most people raise their children to think life is an even playing field, and, sadly, it’s not. Even though our kids lives proved to benefit from their education and connections, we made it very clear to them at a fairly young age that it was not going to be a “walk in the park,” and that things don’t always go as planned for many reasons. I just don’t agree with raising delusional kids, and our society seems to be producing more and more of them. Possibly one reason suicides are up among young people.

[Anonymous]

[quote=FlyerInHi][quote=deadzone]
2. “I can brag to my friends that my kid went to Harvard”

The #2 reason is total douche. But that seems to be the main argument from flyerinhi.[/quote]

Next time you brag about something, remember what you said.

Isn’t bragging about money uber douchy?

Like it or not, we all need and want social recognition. Seeking that recognition in anyway at all is total douche.

I personally am sick of people bragging about their gifted kids. Gifted in what way?! I’d be more impressed if people told me their kids are going to Princeton or Harvard.[/quote]

IMO, anybody who brags about anything is a total douche. Someone who drives a certain car just for status is just as much a douche as somebody who goes to Ivy league school just for status.

[Essbee]

I attended an Ivy for undergrad. This was the mid-1990s.

You see, there is this beautiful thing called “need based financial aid.” Because my family was poor, I graduated with only about $12K in debt. I think we had to pay about $1000-2000 per year toward expenses, as well. I did have to get a job (work-study, probably about 6-8 hrs/week) and that gave me my pocket change/spending money.

If I had gone there more recently, I would have graduated with ZERO debt, as families who make under a certain amount ($50K, I think) have to contribute zero now.

I would have no hesitation about sending my kids there (although it is far too early to know if they will have the aptitude or interest in attending), but unless our financial circumstances change for the worse, I doubt they will be receiving any need-based financial aid.

[an]

joec, Paul Jacob went to UCB, Paul Allan went to Washington State University, Jerry Yang went to Standford, Larry Page went to UMich and Standford, Sergey Brin went to University of Maryland, College Park (public) and Standford, Tim Cook went to Auburn University (public) and Duke University for MBA, Steve Jobs went to Reed College and dropped out, Marissa Mayer went to Standford, etc. I can go on and on, but there are plenty who did not go to Ivy and made it big. I would rather my kid be Steve Jobs and drop out of Reed College than Zuch’s wife.

[spdrun]

If one were particularly cynical, could they adjust their income downward for a few years? Not underreport, actually make less for a few years. I don’t think it’s as simple as income, since this would be very open to abuse.

BTW – such financial aid depends on the individual school and how well their endowment is doing at the time.

[scaredyclassic]

[quote=Essbee]I attended an Ivy for undergrad. This was the mid-1990s.

You see, there is this beautiful thing called “need based financial aid.” Because my family was poor, I graduated with only about $12K in debt. I think we had to pay about $1000-2000 per year toward expenses, as well. I did have to get a job (work-study, probably about 6-8 hrs/week) and that gave me my pocket change/spending money.

If I had gone there more recently, I would have graduated with ZERO debt, as families who make under a certain amount ($50K, I think) have to contribute zero now.

I would have no hesitation about sending my kids there (although it is far too early to know if they will have the aptitude or interest in attending), but unless our financial circumstances change for the worse, I doubt they will be receiving any need-based financial aid.[/quote]

Need based aid is bullshit. Why is the family unit the source of money. In general 18 year Olds are adults. We don’t send families to prison when one member commits a crime. Why is a family’s assets and income pillaged for a degree for an adult who will get the benefits of that degree herself over many years

Why are families involved mandatorily at all???.

I honestly do not get it.

If I don’t want to pay it doesn’t matter my kid can’t get aid. But he’s not “rich”. None of my wealth, paltry as it is, Belongs to him at all…

Why involve families?

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=deadzone] IMO, anybody who brags about anything is a total douche. Someone who drives a certain car just for status is just as much a douche as somebody who goes to Ivy league school just for status.[/quote]

I agree with you… but the world is what it is.

Some people would say it’s for “quality” but who knows.

Some poster say it’s for the connections and contacts. Calculating, perhaps.

I say it’s for the “total experience.”

If the status weren’t important, they would advertise it so much on bios.

Another thing, people who brag about themselves constantly tend to make more money. They know how to sell themselves. They are raconteurs and tell good stories. They embellish to the point of lying.

Going to an Ivy League can solve the braggy/douchy problem. You just let the facts and the reputation of the schools brag for you.

[Author]

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