for all the kids that have not gone to college yet, let me tell you, it doesnt matter which college you go to its all the same, i went to usc and im smarter than 2 of my a+ friends who went to uconn (im a a+ student too)
but dont waste money going to yale or uconn to learn calculus unless you are gonna be a teacher
i payed 3,000 a year and am very smart so all im saying is dont try to be smarter when it doesnt work
besides, usc and alot of other southern and western colleges have nice beaches 😉 and beaches come with hot chicks :thumbright:

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I take it that you're not an English major. ::wink:

Having gone to the 7th/8th best university in Australia, I can tell you that I wish I aimed higher. A lot higher. I don't revel in mediocrity and would never suggest for someone else to do likewise. I'd rather get credits at Berkeley than my honours at UWA.

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<-----------------[trying to figure out how to acknowledge the humor of the gnome without messing with the original author any further, fails miserably and totally------gives the ornament the +1 because it simply must be done as matter of equity.]

Alot depends on what you can afford.
To me, if you can go to a better college, DO IT!
However......remember that the college won't make you smarter. YOU have to apply yourself and do every bit of work you can while you are there. If your main goal is to party, then a great college won't make you any smarter then an average college.
In the end, it's up to you.

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It's not about how colleges are better than others.. Yes, the calculus classes may have been the same at USC vs. Harvard/Yale/any other Ivy League school, it's the college's prestige that you benefit from. That can make all the difference.

That being said.. I'm not a college guy. Never was, and probably never will be (outside of a technical/arts school). So, I guess my comment will never matter to some.

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I'm under the impression that a college is a college.
I went to a very average college and am doing quite ok, thank you.

The student is more important than the college.

I actually prefer small schools with small class sizes. I've had beers over at Professors' houses. You're not going to have this experience at a large university.

Funny thing, I was just having this conversation this morning with the apartment manager. I was telling her that social skills are more important than knowledge. The guy with the social skills is going to be the smart guy's boss.

Not trying to sound anti-intellectual - I call it as I see it.

The advantage of a school like Harvard or Yale is you're going to be going to school with sons and daughters of CEOs and Senators. If contacts are important to you, then you might want to take that into consideration.

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As Cheesey said....it depends upon what you can afford, and.....what do you want to major in or make a career in. i.e., if you want to be vet, go to a good vet school like my granddaughter did to Washington State. She could have stayed in Missoula and gone to U. Montana for a lot less $$ but they have no vet school. She found and got literally thousands of dollars in scholarships over 4years at WSU. Now she has to find a way to pay for Med school over the next 4 years.

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My biggest piece of advice to someone considering/debating colleges is: find the place that best fits your dreams/passions.

Whether you go to Oxford or to Podunk U, you're going to find no shortage of idiots, timewasters, and people who could care less about you. Worse, you're going to find no shortage of people who are going to shoehorn you into their vision of the world and what's important, people who are looking to create clones of themselves, and people who are going to fill your mind with garbage.

At the same time, wherever you go, you'll find people who can inspire you, challenge you, help you learn important skills, and who you can connect ("network") with after college.

But unless your focus on your passions, your deep interests, your core needs and values, odds are that you'll end up spending too much time and attention with the first group and not enough with the second.

And if I'm allowed a second piece of advice, it would be "Harvard makes a difference only for the last degree." I'd doubtless be better off if my history degree were from Durham or Yale (if I were good enough for either). But that I didn't go to either of those places for my BA...it really doesn't matter.

But the first point is the most important. The biggest mistakes I made in my education choice weren't from where I chose to go for the various degrees. The biggest mistakes I made were in how much I weighed things other than my passions and deep interests in making those choices.

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This still happens?

Not here, alas. I did it in college (small school) and in law school (fancy nose-in-air medium size univ.)

But in our politically correct age, at least here, it's close to a crash-and-burn offense.

And probably would be even if the drinking age were still 18. (Of course in this politically correct age, the drinking age will never go back to 18.)

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