Having coached a high school sports team this winter, I got a lot of questions about college. The kids were worried about the recession affecting their ability to attend the school of their choice. After imparting all my knowledge that accumulated over the years like no 9 AM or Friday classes, I came upon the advice I wish I got in High School. This is sound advice during normal times, but especially useful during a recession. Go to State School! This advice obviously doesn’t work for everyone, but is the wise choice for large segment of people.
1) Affordability. Private institutions cost up to 50,000 dollars, while in-state tuitions could be as low as 15,000. You have to consider the opportunity cost of such an investment.
2) Quality. There is no reason to go to a private school if its not one of the best. It doesn’t look any better on your resume that you graduated from some third tier school, then coming from your local state college. If you can get into an Ivy, or one of the elite liberal arts colleges then you have a hard choice, but recent trends show that people are forgoing them to go to state schools. I recently came across a study that showed that people who got into Ivy League schools but decided to go someplace else were getting the same salaries 5, 10, and 20 years after graduation.
2a) Honors Programs. State schools have honors programs that are generally prestigious. They are also a lot easier to get into once you are enrolled in the general student body. At Umass, all you need is a 3. GPA and fill out an application.
3) Employment after Graduation. Pretty much nobody cares where you went to undergraduate school, unless it’s an Ivy League. There are so many colleges out there. Quick, who’s more prestigious Drexler or Butler? Truth is, I don’t know and don’t care. The same pretty much goes for your major. A good school has more recruitment and therefore makes it easier to get a good job straight out of college, but that only pertains to first job offers. Considering that our generation likes to change jobs frequently, the first job isn’t as important as it used to be.
4) Graduate School. This is the thing I wish I knew back in high school. Grad schools are looking for the next Einstein. If you went to a great school but graduated with a 3.0, then you have already proven to Grad school admissions office that you are not a genius. However, if you went to state school and got yourself a 3.6, which by the way is very doable, then you still have a chance to be the next Einstein. Obviously, you have to do well on your GMAT, LSAT and such, but a major component of your application is your GPA. It is much easier to get a good GPA at a state school then at a good private school.
So, if you’re contemplating between Tulane, Wisconsin, Arizona State and your State school, you should strongly consider your local university. It’s much cheaper, their honors programs are prestigious, and you will be able to get into a better graduate school after. Also, nobody will care where you went to school or what your major was soon after you graduate, so don’t fret, have fun, meet interesting people, and good grades.
Great post. I wish I had seen something like this when I was in high school but in hindsight I probably wouldn’t have taken it seriously. I was very idealistic at the time and I thought I could get any job I wanted that would pay off any college education I wanted. So in my mind, I was thinking “Why not splurge? Education will always pay off!” And it usually does, but not in the ways we like to think.
Thanks for writing this.
Very Nice Blog.. with my best wishes.
HAZEM
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