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comment by kingmudsy
kingmudsy  ·  3308 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: 'It Doesn't Matter Where You Go to College': Inspirational, but Wrong

Well, fuck me for trying to save money and going to a state university, I guess.

Really, though, this whole article is comparing relative earnings from college graduates, but digresses from the intent of the saying, "It doesn't matter where you go to college, just as long as you go." Going to a public university may not net as much future income as a more selective university, but it's certainly preferable to no college at all, which is the entire point of the original saying. I'll be the fourth person in my family to even go to college, and I'll be damned if it doesn't make a difference.

He also seems to be contradicting himself and/or misrepresenting the quantitative facts in a few places. To say that the type of people who would go to Princeton will do as well at any other university does not indicate that the student's choice matters (i.e. "where you go"), but that the college's decision on whether or not you're the type of individual who will succeed at their university is the real deciding factor. Essentially, the differences of education don't matter as much as the characteristics of the student, which to me seems to contradict the title and first few paragraphs entirely.

He says, "It does matter where you go!" from one side of the mouth, and, "It doesn't really matter, as long as you're the type of person to worry about where you go." through the other.

Furthermore, saying that about half of all billionaires attended an elite college is a useless comparison without further data about how many of the other half attended college, what level of education the attained, and other relevant factors. The Forbes's most powerful men statistic seems significant, but it makes me wonder about why there's such a gap between Forbes's most powerful men and women in terms of how prestigious their universities are.





kleinbl00  ·  3306 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    To say that the type of people who would go to Princeton will do as well at any other university does not indicate that the student's choice matters (i.e. "where you go"), but that the college's decision on whether or not you're the type of individual who will succeed at their university is the real deciding factor.

Simply put:

If you have the juice to go to Princeton, you will always outcompete the people who lack the juice to go to Princeton. That does not mean you are smarter. That does not mean you work harder. That does not mean you are a better person.

It means your daddy has more money than other daddies, his friends have more influence than other daddy's friends, and that his coattails are longer and more cushy than the coattails of other daddies.

Forbes, for their part, calculate that 30% of the billionaires on their list inherited their money. External audits estimate that more than 60% of the 400 were born with $1m or more. Piketty, in Capital in the 21st Century, put the number even higher.