I’ve
had a lot of time on my hands to think (uh oh). As I’ve moved from
post-college employment to graduate school, I’ve been thinking about the
value of my education. Also, about the economics of student loans and
everything that’s screwed up with this system that leaves so many of my
peers with daunting levels of debt. It’s pretty much impossible for me
to rail against the student loan system without sounding like an
asshole: I was so fortunate to have parents that paid for my education
and living expenses, and gave me the gift of an adult life without debt.
I obviously don’t think Carnegie Mellon (and other ‘elite’
institutions) should only be open to wealthy or prudent and
education-minded families, nor that I know better than any individual
whether student loans and an expensive education are worth it. So I
figured I would keep this post personal but follow with another
perspective, this one from a friend of mine who also attended CMU, with a
STEM major and with student loans. (Coming soon to a computer screen
near you … stay tuned for Part II.)
There are three reasons I want to thank my alma mater:
1)
It is there that I met my future husband. I am unwavering in my belief
that marrying Sebastien will be both the biggest and best decision I
make in my life.
2) Through research, I was exposed to behavioral finance/economics ... the other great love of my life.
3)
The name brand allowed me to obtain a lucrative consulting job
post-college, and later to obtain admission to an Ivy League school for
my PhD.
On
the other hand: my life would have been great had I not gone to CMU, as
well. It would have been a different life, but it would be a rich one,
with great friends and experiences. I don’t believe in soul mates or
that there is one right person for everyone, or that any couple is
perfect. I would have dated other people, and I’m sure in that life I
would find someone who would make me very happy, and I him. Perhaps I
would still have become totally absorbed in behavioral finance, for the
field is growing and there’s plenty of fascinating research to unearth.
Maybe not, but then my brain would be cooking up other ideas. And
lastly -- I would have found a job that was in ways better (and in ways
worse) than the one I did have. And if I chose grad school -- there are
many places for intense learning and further education, of which Ivy
League schools are a minor subset.
Basically,
my life would have been ok. More than that, it would be great -- my
life wouldn’t be over or completely doomed. At least, this is what I
think now. My senior year of high school, not going to a school whose
name or ranking impressed others felt like it would be the worst. thing.
ever. And evidence that I failed at life. Yet I can’t ignore I’m
writing this as a person who has been unquestionably changed and groomed
by CMU, that my thoughts are a culmination of many classes, seminars,
and influential professors. I can’t say clearly how different I would
be if I attended college somewhere else. I have only one life, so there
is no test vs. control treatment to analyze. The great thing, though,
is that this question has been analyzed on a larger scale, by comparing
students who were admitted to elite institutions and chose to go
elsewhere, to those who were admitted to and chose to attend an elite
university. These capable individuals all did similarly well in
aggregate, and there was no difference in income 20 years down the road
for the two groups. That’s why I’m pretty sure my life would have been
juust fine.
How
is your perspective on college (and college ‘name brands’) different
now than back in high school? Do you think there are experiences elite
universities offer that others don’t?
(http://www.brookings.edu/research/articles/2004/10/education-easterbrook)
Back in high school I thought that the college that you went to actually made a significant difference in opportunities you were presented with but going through college and being employed by many companies (Mindray, J&J Ethicon, Movado, JP Morgan Chase and Co.) I would have to say it all depends on you. The only thing that a Name Brand college gives you is a higher lower bound, imo. Better companies will see the college and be like “Well he/she is a ‘insert elite college here’ graduate, he/she can’t be bad”. Otherwise if you actually pay attention and perform well in any decent college and have passion for your field you will be able to compete and beat any league graduates. At Ethicon I had CMU, Stevens, TCNJ, Harvard, Michigan, and NYU students all working in our department. The best people were from TCNJ and Stevens even though they were the lower rated colleges in the bunch. Currently at JP Morgan I have worked with almost every kind of college imaginable MIT, CalTech, Princeton, Harvard, Stanford and etc. The best performers are rarely from the top of the top schools, at least in my experience, they are usually from the mid-ranked schools and I don’t find that surprising. I am sure there are some people which go to those schools which are geniuses but I wouldn’t really bump into them, they would be the outliers. I thank my school for the network which I developed there.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, I agree with so much of what you said. I think the best, most motivated students at any school can do well. However, the average student might get more guidance/experience/connections at the elite school rather than at a mid-level or state school. And I think while many of us aspire to be at the top of a college class, it's important to see how an average student fares, because let's face it ... we're not always as special as we think we are. ;) And you're definitely right about a lot of high performers -- I remember when I interned at BofA and had a bunch of time on my hands, I went through the list of corporate leaders -- so many had degrees from universities I had barely heard about.
DeleteAnd congrats on graduating! :)