How has your private school degree helped you?

[cantdrv55]

My son is attending University of CA Santa Cruz next year. I did not have him apply at private schools because I was focused on ROI and thought a UC education is high quality and a very good value. He has a few friends going to much higher ranked schools like Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, Berkeley and UCLA. He did not get into the last two and would not have gotten into the first three. His GPA is very decent but just not high enough though his SAT scores were excellent . He could have gotten into non-Ivy League private schools but I did not think they are a good bargain. Like a lot of people on this BBS, we do not qualify for any subsidized financial aid or need-based scholarships.

Did I overestimate the value of a UC education? Should I have given more weight to name brand? In what ways has your non-Ivy League private school degree and education helped you?

[Gogar]

What is he going to study? I think it makes a difference in the answer.

[cantdrv55]

Good point. He is considering two completely unrelated majors: physics and political science. He's excellent in math and loves to debate.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by cantdrv55

My son is attending University of CA Santa Cruz next year. I did not have him apply at private schools because I was focused on ROI and thought a UC education is high quality and a very good value. He has a few friends going to much higher ranked schools like Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, Berkeley and UCLA. He did not get into the last two and would not have gotten into the first three. His GPA is very decent but just not high enough though his SAT scores were excellent . He could have gotten into non-Ivy League private schools but I did not think they are a good bargain. Like a lot of people on this BBS, we do not qualify for any subsidized financial aid or need-based scholarships.

Did I overestimate the value of a UC education? Should I have given more weight to name brand? In what ways has your non-Ivy League private school degree and education helped you?

UCB is a public school...it is where I went I can tell you that I probably would not have gotten in even though I was an excellent student...being able to hit a baseball got me over the threshold.

Gogar is right, so much depends on the type of degree and where he wants to work after college.

A lot of my friends went to CA junior college(s) and knocked out the 101/102s on the cheap and then went to private schools/UC.

Once he gets going after college, the distinction between where folks went to school fades.

[Scooter]

The UC system should be just fine. I have found that name recognition is very important. The "Ivy League" has great national name recognition, so do schools with high ranking sports teams. Others will have good local name recognition, which helps a great deal locally rather than nationally. Lastly, do not underestimate alumni relations. Nepotism is rampant, especially for the first or second job.

I've gone to both public (California undergraduate) and private (Law) and found the above to be true on many occassions.

Lastly, education is most important. I've seen people go to well-recognized schools, but not come out extremely well-educated, and others go to a less-recognized school come out ready to take on the world. It is all about the effort. The greater the effort, the greater the educational reward.

[Don Plumley]

Here's my view. I'm a proud product of UC Davis (undergrad) and UCLA (mba).

First, the major subject and the school's reputation/experience/faculty has an important relationship. For example, a Physics degree from UC Berkeley is more "valuable" than a Physics degree from UC Riverside.

Second, it's what you put into it. That will show up in the job interview and in the results of the individual's work. A lazy person from Harvard will probably not achieve more than a go getter from Cal State Northridge.

Third, Ivy League schools have national/international name recognition - while Bay Area/California employers recognize the quality of education from the UC system, an employer in Oklahoma has probably heard of Yale, but not UC Santa Cruz (unless he likes Pulp Fiction and Banana Slugs). So depending upon field and geography, there are some plusses to Ivy League.

Fourth, Ivy League schools have better networking and better job finding resources/support. Princeton Alumni are far tighter than any UC groups.

Fifth, the Ivy League degree provides a "Quality Control" assumption - if you were smart enough (or connected enough) to get into the Ivy League, you are probably a smarter person.

All that being said, A) once you start working and have a reputation, from where you get your degree matters less and less (networking notwithstanding); B) you can spend 3 years at UC Santa Cruz, and transfer into Berkeley et al; C) if you get a graduate degree, that school is substantially more important than the undergrad.

Is it worth the money? There have been interesting studies done on the ROI for BSchools; loss of income, increase in income and cost of education. There is a pretty direct correlation between starting salary and "stature" of the school. So then it gets into the "bargain" schools which really ignores the Alumni networking impact.

Ultimately I think a UC education (what you "learn") is as good as any top tier research University nation-wide. It's the other intangible factors that are difficult to put into a cold ROI analysis.

[legion]

IMO, most people who attend private college just end up with tens of thousands of dollars more in debt.

There are some exceptions. There are many small private college that focus on one field and have excellent programs. Many of these schools have their own scholarship and work programs to bring down the cost.

One of my sister's friend spent 7 years at Columbia. He switched majors every two years like clockwork. He finally graduated with a degree in film and $70,000 in student loans.

What is he doing now? He a furniture mover for cash. He doesn't want any W2 income so that it can't be garnished.

[livi]

My personal experience is this: I would have been a bum without it and definitely not got into med school.

[Tobra]

I think private school is more important earlier, HS for example. Two years at community college, transfer to a UC school will save a ton of cash. Most have probrams that guarantee you a spot at the UC school, which can be tough if you are a white male who can't hit a curve ball. If your kid were a female refugee from Iran or something, slam dunk

Wayne makes some good points too

[RoninLB]

Santa Cruz is still a party school with plenty of 60's hippies still hanging around.




I attended a private school for under and grad. On Wall St it was an unrecognized intro.

Many private schools are loaded with inside politics. Find out what the game is and become a player.

[Wickd89]

I think below the elite level, most universities are pretty good and consistent in education. UC schools, U of A, Arizona State, Cal State Northridge, etc are all fine.

My parents wanted us to attend a catholic university so my choices included Loyola (LA, Chicago, New Orleans), Fordham in NY, Notre Dame, or Georgetown. Since it was two of us at one, we had to stay in LA and commute for part of my education.

Example:
Genius friend, went to Cal State Northridge, top marks, and straight to Standford for a masters and PHd in neural networks. Now he is one of the pioneers in this field and makes tons of dough using his brain.

Another smart friend, Cal Tech Bachelors, Standford MS, and PHd at Oxford.

Therefore: It does not really matter, as long as they take it serious enough to learn something.

Recruiting from the top schools is pretty awesome though!!

[Wickd89]

I think below the elite level, most universities are pretty good and consistent in education. UC schools, U of A, Arizona State, Cal State Northridge, etc are all fine.

My parents wanted us to attend a catholic university so my choices included Loyola (LA, Chicago, New Orleans), Fordham in NY, Notre Dame, or Georgetown. Since it was two of us at one, we had to stay in LA and commute for part of my education.

Example:
Genius friend, went to Cal State Northridge, top marks, and straight to Standford for a masters and PHd in neural networks. Now he is one of the pioneers in this field and makes tons of dough using his brain.

Another smart friend, Cal Tech Bachelors, Standford MS, and PHd at Oxford.

Therefore: It does not really matter, as long as they take it serious enough to learn something.

Recruiting from the top schools is pretty awesome though!!

[Wickd89]

I know Stanford not Standford. I was not the genius; then again just a typo..;-(

[Rick Lee]

I went to a prep school that cost more than my college and was well worth it. I attribute my first job out of college to having my prep school listed on my resume. The lady who hired me knew about the school, as she always passed it on the way to see her daughter at Princeton. Lots of kids did a post-graduate year at my prep school just to get a diploma from there to help with getting into a better college.

[Wickd89]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

I went to a prep school that cost more than my college and was well worth it. I attribute my first job out of college to having my prep school listed on my resume. The lady who hired me knew about the school, as she always passed it on the way to see her daughter at Princeton. Lots of kids did a post-graduate year at my prep school just to get a diploma from there to help with getting into a better college.

I have to agree here. I went to a reasonably exclusive prep school and felt it did more to mold me than my college selection...

[nostatic]

One factor that no one has touched on - the personality of the kid. I think a good large public school like Berkeley can be great *if* the student is outgoing, a self-starter, and very driven. There are resources there that you won't find at smaller or lesser institutions.

BUT, for some students a small liberal arts college makes the difference between "getting by" and "getting ahead." I've known people who floundered at big schools and then totally clicked at a smaller college.

I can speak from personal experience that you don't have to be from a top-tier undergrad to get into a top grad program. I graduated from University of San Diego (not UCSD). Good school, but nowhere near in the league of Berkeley, Harvard, etc. For me though the small size was perfect and I was at the top of my class. I got *more* research opportunities as an undergrad due to the small size and knowing my professors. I worked at Salk Institute for a year and a half, largely because my organic prof knew what I could do (I worked in her lab as well).

I got into every phd program I applied to and went to Caltech. From my incoming class of 28, a chunk were from Berkeley, Harvard, Yale, another chunk from Williams, Carleton, and other top liberal arts schools, and I was somewhat of the interloper. But I wasn't at any disadvantage.

College is what you make of it. I think the "fit" is more important than the name, especially for undergrad. If he is a UCSC kind of person, then he should go there. I did back in 1980 for two quarters. I sorta remember them

[biosurfer1]

I think it depends on the person a lot more than the school. If he/she works hard, I believe they can get an excellent education at Heald, Harvard, UC, etc.

Put in the time and work and it will pay off

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Did private school for high school and undergrad, state university for graduate school. My graduate degree is paying huge dividends for me, the others very little if anything.

In short, I think private school is highly overrated (and overpriced) in a lot of cases.

[ckissick]

Certain colleges matter, whether they are private or public. For most majors, it doesn't matter too much. I got my MS at Imperial College in London. It's a public University, but its reputation, even here in the US, made it very easy for me to find a job. No private college would have improved my situation.

[alf]

I work with people with grad degrees from Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Penn etc and people with degrees from public Universities and even some that dropped out.

You know what?

It is not about the degree or school, it is about the individual's character and intelligence that matter most.