| Topic Name: |
A Private School Education = NOT WORTH IT |
| Message Name: |
private schools |
| Date Posted: |
01/20/2000 |
| Message: |
undergrads are so childish - i know because i was an undergrad about 8 months ago. i am now an i-banker and am still immature, but trying to "get wisdom." i went to a top 15 (USNWR) private school in the midwest (wash u). i got into dartmouth, penn, duke, michigan, northwestern and emory but the offer of a full ride to wash u was too good to pass up. if you can get a full ride at a reputable top 25 school, take it. i graduated debt-free with offers from several bulge-brackets - every dollar that i make now (which isn't so much post-tax) goes to rent, my various living expenses and my fidelity account i.e., none of it goes to paying off loans. some of my friends from school are going to be paying off $80,000 over the next several years. my analyst class was composed of the standard group or english, history, philosophy, etc. majors from the ivies and small liberal arts schools. however, there were a number of public school kids from UT-austin, michigan, cal, ucla, etc. the gap between the top public and the top private schools is closing - the choice to go public is now becoming, in some cases, the wise choice, if not just for the cost savings. knowing what i know now, i wouldn't have done anything different. i had friends at harvard and yale who got rejected from the same banks that i got offers from. however, if i had gotten a full ride from harvard, i would have definitely taken it. it's been my experience, nonetheless, that it's the quality of the student and not necessarily the quality of the school (relative to the argument that higher-quality schools, in general, have higher quality students) e.g., a great student at michigan is as marketable as a great student at harvard. also, at least in banking, personality and extracurricular achievement are as important as academic achievement. looking back, if i hadn't gotten the full ride from wash u, i would probably have gone to michigan (i had a half-scholarship out-of-state; tougher to get than the full ride!) - but in my youth, i was ignorant of the fact that michigan, not wharton, has the top undergrad business program in the US; michigan also has, all we all know, a great party scene, great sports and hot women. in short - take heart, top public school students - you are on par with any student from a quality private school. also, don't major in biochemistry if you're not committed to medicine or research - it's just too painful and requires too much thinking when your ultimate goal is money and power.
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