
Does It Matter Where You Go to College? - KeepTalking
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/05/does-it-matter-where-you-go-to-college/257227/
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keiferski
You know your value system sucks when the question "does it matter where you
go to college?" is automatically assumed to be about salary.

~~~
jerf
You sound like you either have one, or have transcended the need for one.

Try not doing either of those things.

I too used to sing along in happy harmony with the "it doesn't really matter,
follow your bliss". Now I'm 33 and my high school circles are filled with
people who have wrecked their financial lives on the shoals of that advice.
Now I know I was singing with the sirens.

It was already screwed up 15 years ago, as my high school circles can attest
to. It's more screwed up now, but now people are seeing how messed up it is.
Money matters, _especially when accruing lots of debt_. It isn't the only
thing that matters, but it most assuredly matters.

Don't keep singing with the sirens.

~~~
keiferski
Maximizing income and minimizing debt are not the same thing.

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jerf
Ha! People should be so lucky as to be worried about "maximizing income".
We're in an era in which people need to be careful just to _balance_ their
income with their college debt.

Stop moralizing and think. Millions of people are hurting out there. It's time
to put away the gibberish about how it's somehow uncouth to think about money
as you think about college. We now _know_ that line of thought is profoundly
damaging. If you don't agree... how much more evidence would you need?

~~~
keiferski
You're missing my point. Making a decision to go to X school because it will
make you more money is fundamentally a different decision than going to Y
school because it's cheaper.

You may have to get the higher debt to get the higher paying job, but going to
the lower debt school is probably good enough to make a decent income.

~~~
suresk
Those aren't fundamentally different decisions. In both cases, you are
determining your rate of return on your educational investment and making a
decision to prefer high debt/high earnings, and lower debt/lower earnings.

If you don't think the school itself matters enough to justify the increased
cost, you'll prefer lower-cost universities. If you think it does, you'll
prefer the school that can net you the most income.

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confluence
I like answering these questions by solving simpler ones.

    
    
      Does it matter where you are born?
    

> Afghanistan vs. United States.

Put you in Afghanistan and you're dead. Put you in the US and you have a shot
at middle class. Both are not your fault - and neither are deserved (I hate
that word).

    
    
      Does it matter who you are born to?
    

> Rich parents vs. Poor parents.

One can pay for all you need, and support you in every way to best game the
system (which is completely rational and understandable behaviour). The other
gets screwed by the self same game. Both generally through no fault of their
own - no one deserves anything.

    
    
      Does it matter when you are born?
    

> 1900s vs. 2000s.

One situation gives you cholera. The other gives you an iPhone, good health,
decent lifespan and an education. Neither was deserved - both greatly effect
future outcomes.

Of course it matters where you went to college. It matters more than you think
it does, and even more than you now think it does. The world is not a
meritocracy - never has been - never will be. Fun fact - meritocracy was
coined in a satire since it was so ridiculously false. Unfortunately, people
like believing things that are false - it is one of our strengths as humans
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-world_hypothesis>). Karma is bullshit
masquerading as depth and is merely a result of faulty (but useful) logic
generated by induction machines that we call the brain.

Why do we use QWERTY keyboards? Because some random guy made a couple thousand
typewriters that didn't stick mechanically 70 years ago. What does that have
to do with modern computers? Absolutely nothing.

The world is chaotic, and exhibits extreme path dependence in path outcomes,
which of themselves, are extremely uncertain.

What would've happened if the comet that killed the dinosaurs missed? What
about not having a snowball earth to generate all the oxygen you breath right
at this moment? The importance of people by the people is greatly overrated.

Everyone is replaceable (even if you are 1 in a million - and nowadays even 1
in a billion), but situations aren't.

Situations are king, path dependence and chaos rule your life and there is a
lot of poor reasoning out there. That doesn't mean you have no effect on
future outcomes - it just means you have a lot less control than you think you
do.

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melvinmt
The bigger question is: Does It Matter _If_ You Go to College?

~~~
kintamanimatt
Depends. Please go to college if you intend to become a doctor! I hear people
frown on "doctors" that are self taught.

~~~
crazygringo
Dr. Mike Ruddy from last week would appear to disagree strongly with you:

[http://www.theonion.com/articles/im-not-one-of-those-
fancy-c...](http://www.theonion.com/articles/im-not-one-of-those-fancy-
collegeeducated-doctors,11237/)

;)

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ggwicz
College doesn't fucking matter in any way, shape, or form in the context of
reality and actually doing good, productive things. Nor do people who base
hires / who they like on where those people went to college.

~~~
jmduke
I know many, MANY people -- myself included -- who were impacted positively by
college. I found my passions and improved myself tremendously.

I'm not saying college is some panacea, but you're an idiot if you think it
"doesn't fucking matter in any way, shape, or form".

~~~
ggwicz
How does the fact that it positively impacts some people mean that it matters
or is important?

This article is talking about money, employment, status, etc., in the context
of education and college. I'm saying that going to college does not in any way
mean that someone is more qualified, smarter, capable, productive, etc. than
someone who didn't go to college.

I'm saying that if you went to college and discovered, for example, a passion
for graphic design, the idea that you'd inherently be better than a self-
taught graphic designer is 100% ridiculous. And that if an employer chose you
over that person solely because you had some extra letters after your name and
could tolerate 4 more years of schooling, that employer is dangerously stupid.

~~~
jmduke
What you said is "college doesn't fucking matter in any way, shape, or form in
the context of reality and actually doing good, productive things".

Which is completely incorrect. I understand if you think that a self-taught
graphic designer is on par with a college-grad graphic designer, but that's
not what you argued in the above quote.

~~~
ggwicz
It's exactly what I'm arguing above; college doesn't matter.

By saying it "doesn't matter", I'm saying that the ability of a person to
produce something good or provide a good service to others does not require a
causative relationship with that person's level of organized education
(college, grad school, high school, two-year degrees, etc.).

You've said twice that I'm incorrect, without explaining why you think so.

