Comments on: College Prestige Lies

By: The Payoff from College: Money Is Only Part of It - CBS MoneyWatch.com

The Payoff from College: Money Is Only Part of It - CBS MoneyWatch.com — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:07:40 +0000

[...] payoff to sending your kid to a selective college over a merely average one, and I learned that while there are studies on both sides of the issue, the preponderance of evidence lines up on the side of selective schools. (Guess what we’re [...]

By: PJ

PJ — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:25:25 +0000

“This is an interesting topic, but I find it somewhat disturbing that salary is the only thing mentioned in regard to the prestige of a college.”

This is an interesting topic, but I find it somewhat disturbing that prestige is the only thing mentioned in regard to the value of a college education.

it’s further disturbing that the ‘value’ of the $200K expense for that private undersgrad education has nothing to do with books, learning or acquisition of critical thinking skills. Rather, we are told that the ’social networks’ are invaluable differentiator.

If you want to make money in business – start a business. If you want to make money on wall street – go there. If you want to be an engineer – MIT will work but so will a state school for many. If you want the social networks, save the $200K and spend it on summer in the Hamptons and winters at Vail, and buy a Benz, for the ‘prestige’.

If you want to LEARN and acquire the life of the mind and become a scholar … well, $40K a year is a stiff price to pay and probably is not worth it.

The smartest comment was from the person going to the large state school. Yeah, with 40,000 undergrads, you’ll find more genius students on that campus as in an elite school of a 1,000. The trick is to *find* them.

By: PD

PD — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 22:14:07 +0000

It is too bad that there isn’t a success meter that is valid. I went to a small public college, enjoyed it tremendously, became a teacher, still enjoy teaching. Became a parent, enjoy that tremendously. Soon I will retire. I wonder if I will enjoy that? Does this prove that a small public school makes a person more successful? Maybe it has more to do with the person. But, trying to figure it out keeps lots of “successful” people in business.

By: Overcoming Bias : Who Are US Policy Elites?

Overcoming Bias : Who Are US Policy Elites? — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 10:00:51 +0000

[...] Recall also that college students make more money by going to “elite” colleges, but not because students at those colleges have higher test scores: [...]

By: clew

clew — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:32:44 +0000

Are the most exclusive colleges in the most expensive places to live? Perhaps there is a slightly higher probability of staying near one’s college for one’s career; and more expensive places tend to pay (professionals, anyway) a bit more.

($0.1million over the course of a career could probably be managed by a very slight difference in sorting ‘coastal+Chicago’ vs other places to live.)

By: Stephen

Stephen — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 08:58:50 +0000

This is an interesting topic, but I find it somewhat disturbing that salary is the only thing mentioned in regard to the prestige of a college. This might be true for some degrees, and possibly all degrees. However, as a computer engineering undergrad in a non-prestigious college, I find that many companies in my industry do not bother do campus events at my college, despite being a large campus. These companies have obviously done their research, and there must be a reason that they consistently choose from specific universities before others. Additionally, a quick survey I performed recently on the founders of recent successful Internet startups showed that the founders tended to be graduates or drop outs of these prestigious universities. The longer I attend my college, the more I feel I am missing out on something better– perhaps more opportunities or a better way of thinking.

By: Robin Hanson

Robin Hanson — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:05:11 +0000

James, this is indeed a thoughtful relevant article.

Alexis, yes of course we value prestige itself; given my original reading of the paper I was going to post on it being nice clear evidence of this fact, but then messy facts intruded.

none, if I’m to refrain from citing anyone who has every said anything stupid, I’d just have to refrain from citing.

By: James Andrix

James Andrix — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 06:37:40 +0000

For your consideration:
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2009/1/24/11657/1141

By: Rob Adams

Rob Adams — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:34:04 +0000

I suspect high lifetime earnings are well-correlated to having a father who can write blog entries doing a survey of research into the effect of college on lifetime earnings

By: TGGP

TGGP — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:27:47 +0000

somebody else: Robin clearly stated he first read the paper, and later on found HS & Study Hacks through web searches. Nor would he have figured it our “earlier” rather than “at all”, because he hasn’t yet acknowledged being wrong in his interpretation. Noumenon or none could have done what rfriel did by writing or linking to some actual criticism of Hanson’s view on the paper and the former was even willing to grant the possibility that HS had the right interpretation in this instance.