My take on college
 

It seems to me there is a growing obsesson in America among parents and students to gain admission to top colleges.

Personally I don't think it matters where you go to school nearly as much as parents and/or students believe. If your goal is to make money it really isnt that hard if you are smart. If you really care about studying and being around top academics then I can see the logic behind getting a P/H/Y degree. But most people at these schools go into financially rewarding careers.

I guess my main point is that if you are smart and your main motivation it to make money it really isn't hard to do.

Thoughts?

Re: My take on college
 

It just makes it easier. Self-selectivity. It's going to be much harder to make serious money without much hard work unless your good at selling things (houses) or something. There are also requirements for a lot of jobs. Your right a college education isn't required to make serious money but on average it's going to be a lot easier.

Re: My take on college
 

It seems you are discussing the issue of whether it matters to go to a great school. While certainly you can only get out of your education that which you put in, when you begin looking for the top jobs, the big employers generally gravitate towards the higher ranking schools. Now if you are failing out of an Ivy League school you are just as screwed as if you are failing out of a crappy school. But if you were hiring and had two candidates. The first has a BA and 3.0 GPA from Harvard, the second has a BA and 3.0 GPA from Big State U, which do you think is the better candidate all things being equal?

The college you go to is more about opening doors than anything else. The better your school the more doors that will be there...Whether you open those doors and take advantage is obviously up to you...

Re: My take on college
 

Riverman,
The signalling theory of education, one of the two major hypotheses labor economists use to explain the large returns to education, gives an explanation people might go to school even if they learn anything useful there. The idea is that employers can't tell high-ability and low-ability workers apart, at least not in a job interview. High-ability workers are more productive than low-ability workers (although the employer can't observe productivity until some time after they hire a new employee), so firms are willing to pay more for high-ability workers. But if the firm offers higher wages for high-ability workers, they need a way to tell the workers apart before hiring them.

College provides a way for workers to reveal their ability. To get a college degree, students must complete a series of annoying tasks. If these tasks cause sufficiently more hardship for low-ablity students than for high-ability students, then the low-ability students will not go to college despite the higher wages offered to college graduates. And high-ability workers will go to college because firms will only offer high-wages to college graduates (workers that have proven their high ability).

Re: My take on college
 

At a big time college your network of other successful people is going to be a lot larger. Let's just say I know a lot of successful people who either got to big time grad schools or work fairly successful first jobs. Networks are probally important then what you know or what your grades are but your grades are probally going to get you in the door. (I went to a nerdy Ivy League College <Cornell>).

Re: My take on college
 

Econ,

Maybe I have lost perspective. I went to a top school, and my impression was that some of the dumbest, least reflective kids got the "best" jobs while the kids I considered brilliant took scholarships or went to grad school in esoteric/specialized yet financially unrewarding fields.

I guess I'm trying to say that from my perspective things are effed up.

Re: My take on college
 

But by the same token, those dumbest and least reflective people wouldn't be able to succeed in the fields the brilliant students were entering, even if they wanted to.

Re: My take on college
 

Riverman,

I'm with you on this. Having created a career for myself independent of my college education, I see college as a way to learn, and make friends. You can get a great education at many public universities for a fraction of the price of an ivy league school. Personally, I think that anyone who spends six figures on a college education just to land a nice job is a tool, but I'm sure the majority of OOT will disagree with me on this.

Re: My take on college
 

[ QUOTE ]
Econ,

Maybe I have lost perspective. I went to a top school, and my impression was that some of the dumbest, least reflective kids got the "best" jobs while the kids I considered brilliant took scholarships or went to grad school in esoteric/specialized yet financially unrewarding fields.

I guess I'm trying to say that from my perspective things are effed up.

[/ QUOTE ]

I understand what you are saying, but maybe the "ability" needed for the high-paying jobs you are talking about is conformity and brown-nosing, which could be signalled by certain college activities. Plus, you are comparing two groups of college grads, while I'm comparing college grads to non-college grads.

Re: My take on college
 

Triumph,

I agree.

JPK,

I don't entirely agree. If someone only wants to make $, the "investment" of a P/H/Y degree is definitely "worth it."