nordicsair wrote:Blessedassurance wrote:jbagelboy wrote:ca n'existe que en France, ma cheri!
an international man of mystery is in our midst. teach us, great one.
He's doing it wrong.
First, good public schools are better than most private schools. So paying the ~100k (or whatever was being tossed around) is definitely not worth it for most private schools.
The value of the top private schools comes from signalling and the networking. The best schools might have some better professors or labs than the best public schools do, but it's hard to compare those. Instead, you're paying for that name on your resume that says you both got into and [hopefully] succeeded at a school full of the best students.
You're also paying for the opportunity to have a real career, one outside of the legal industry. Once you decide to go to law school, the benefit of that great private school won't be nearly as significant.
If your parents are wealthy, it's not a bad way to invest in the future of their kids. It beats the estate tax.
I don't know why I'm taking so much flak here when there are tons of students from private schools on TLS and I'm the only one standing up for the value of my experience. I know some other TLSers were at Yale (carbon?), Columbia (az?), Williams, Stanford, Penn (aiaea?) ect. along with me and they all surely paid tuition too.
All I ever tried to say is that my education was worth $200,000 to my grandparents/parents, and they were willing to pay for it and encouraged me to attend, so I did, and I have no regrets. I can't imagine a better single way to spend the money (you could say successful investments, but my parents weren't going to just hand me the cash to invest anyway). My family isn't "wealthy" but not poor or needy either.
I was never trying to start a private/public debate here. It just happens Cal and UCLA were the only "cheaper" schools I applied to and considered attending as a senior in high school. They are amazing schools. Yet I know that my outcome and opportunities, despite the fact that I wasn't even in the top 25% of my class, are way better than many of my high school friends who went to big public schools and didn't do so hot. Everyone I know my year at my UG is doing something interesting, innovative, lucrative, other than the spoiled d-bags living on their parents money (and many of whom just live at home and study for the LSAT ironically enough) but they would do that anywhere. With a post-grad unemployment rate nationally of 25% and underemployment of over 50%, I know there must be a lot of other schools not providing this basic service aside from the collegiate/educational experience itself.
Everyone has their own take on how they achieved their bachelors and what it was worth to them. I didn't start this conversation by hating on anyone else, some troll just harassed me for no reason about paying for college and it turned into this shitfest. I'm really sorry if I alienated or insulted anyone's education, I won't speak to yours but I ask please that you stop judging what you don't know about mine