What really is the benefit of a top college?
Why are you so obsessed with kids being competitive and getting into top colleges. How do you even know the schools are so much better? It looks to me like you’re a victim of snobbery and you are paying that forward. I think people throw around the name of the college like it means something but no one really knows what it means.
Kids can succeed at any school. It’s way easier to find long-term success for kids launching into the world from a top school.
Top private schools:
Fund startups
Fund research
Fund travel
Fund summer programs to insure kids do something good
Provide support to make sure kids graduate in four years
Insist that top professors directly support undergrads
Host the best companies for on-campus recruiting
Difference in students:
They come from about 100 countries.
The international students are usually the top in their country.
Most students are mostly valedictorians (or close)
Each student had either high achievement or large impact
Difference in outcomes:
Benefit of doubt on resume
Alumni connections
Marriage pool
There is very little social mobility in this world. Even for graduates of the top colleges. Social mobility is a function of how a child grows up. Kids do better at top schools because the parents set the kids up for long-term success, and that’s how they got to the school in the first place.
Social mobility is something parents provide:
Why do children of Chinese immigrants do so well in college? The parents raise the kids at a higher socioeconomic level than they are. All the money and attention in the family goes to the kids. Parents preserve very little for themselves. Other parents divide resources between parents and kids.
Who goes to these schools:
US kids in top schools received enormous resources and attention from parents. Not necessarily good attention from parents, but the parents were focused on top schools from the beginning.