

Why Your Kids Shouldn't Go to Harvard (even if they could get in) - zodiac
http://www.martynemko.com/articles/why-your-kids-shouldnt-go-harvard-even-if-they-could-get-in_id1247

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ceras
I agree with this for the not-quite-Ivy schools where financial aid is largely
non-existent, but given the incredible financial aid programs at many Ivy
League schools I don't think this advice is well thought-out. If you are
middle class, say earning $80k per year, I doubt you will pay more than ~$8k a
year for your child to go to Harvard. The article does not address this, and
explicitly says you should not consider these if you learn less than $40k (yet
you pay nothing at Harvard if you earn less than $60k, I believe).

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kespindler
Hopefully others pick up on this fact, but this article must have been written
circa-2000. The Canadian dollar hasn't been as low as .69 (mentioned in
article) since at least late-2003, as far back as yahoo/google finance go. The
latest references are 1999.

I'm also going to disagree with what the author says. I go to an ivy-league
school, and there are two things that make all the difference: the caliber of
students, and the atmosphere of hard work. Of course there are smart people at
every school, as Author writes in describing Honors programs. But the
concentration is just incredibly high at Ivys. Any random person you run into
or work with is most likely brilliant in some way or other.

Atmosphere of hard work - Being surrounded by many high-achievers, you just
can't help but push yourself to work harder, achieve more, etc. As long as
you're in touch with yourself to avoid burnout, I love this atmosphere because
it pushes me to accomplish more than I would were I surrounded by a bunch of
people who just want to drink all day every day (of course there are those
students, but they're in the minority.)

That's not to say an Ivy is always worth it. Rather, I think you can't make a
blanket statement about whether it's appropriate or not. For some it will be,
for some it won't be.

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philsnow
There is no date on this post. Best I can figure it was around 1999 (he
mentions 1 USD = 0.69 USD, and his latest reference is a study about
graduation rates from 1999).

He concludes that UCLA is a great deal on education at state school prices.
This may have been true in 1999 (that's the year I started at UCLA), but I
would definitely check the numbers before sending children to the UC system
these days. They have hiked the price multiple times in the last 14 years, and
it's starting to graze the price level of expensive private schools.

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curiouscats
I agree with his premise of finding many good educational options (many better
than Harvard) at schools that are less expensive.

It also made me think that may be that those that would benefit the most from
going to Harvard are those who can't get in :-)

It seems to me, much more than a good education, what Harvard offers is the
possibility of very good connections. That can be extremely valuable even
though is isn't about the quality of education at Harvard.

