I actually have a very irrational hatred of PSU, but it is a very fine school with a respectable list of notable alumni.
Not sure what point academic focus turns into “obsession”. However, getting your kid into the best possible college, even if it is not Princeton-esque, should be a major goal for most people with kids.
Of course it is a priority… By obsession I meant HYP or bust…
The Lawrenceville School doesn’t exactly take everyone who wants to go there. I think their acceptance rate is in the low 20’s.
Agreed, but it’s much less difficult to attend than Princeton. Need to start prepping for those SSAT’s now…unless the kids really enjoy reading, then that should be pretty helpful until they’re 13 or so. Then you need to start the prep.
Penn State a fine school.
LOL!!
The other issue is that high school admissions is a much less efficient market than college admissions. For college admissions, all those kids are pushing 100% effort. For admission to a competitive high school - not so much. There is room to put in that marginal effort and squeeze out a few competing kids.
I’m liking the PSU hate on here, but curious if folks find the following schools equally laughable:
Wisconsin
UC-Irvine
The U (Miami for you non-football fans)
UT-Austin
Washington
BU
Florida
THE Ohio State University
I agree for most competitive high schools, but folks targeting the elite northeast schools take it pretty seriously.
I agree with you somewhat. I’m not sure why somebody would actually believe that almost any public school (with the exception of Cal-Berkeley and maybe Michigan) is better than an Ivy (or equivalent).
That being said–for undergrad, I’m not sure if some of the private school tuition is worth the money. $50k tuition is a lot harder for me to justify than $10k tuition at UT-Austin.
And I don’t find your list of public schools “laughable”. If my kids get the chance to go to UT-Austin, I hope they jump at the chance. (Here we go again with the elitist “Harvard or Hacksaw” crap.)
Agreed. I’ll say it again…earning $200k or more a year is the true criterion for determining the hacksaw. There are plenty of young braggarts out there sporting freshly minted Ivies on their walls and struggling to pay the rent. I’m all too happy to dispense this advice to them as they fetch me my coffee at Charbucks. The true mark of success is that you never hear from successful people. It’s because they are busy generating dollars.
I like your attitude, DoW, but I’m gonna disagree with this.
There is no “true” criterion. First, $200k in NYC is very different from $200k in San Antonio.
Second, success is not an absolute measure. It’s a relative measure, and it’s relative to what you’ve been given.
EG - John F. Kennedy - Granddaddy was a businessman, mayor of Boston, and 3-term congressman. Daddy was a US ambassador and first chairman of the SEC (among other things). Little Johnnie went to two of the most elite high schools in the nation (Canterbury & Choate). After graduation, he faced the difficult choice of whether to attend LSE, Princeton, or Harvard. First job out of school - officer in the Navy, working as a clerk for the Secretary of the Navy. (A position that was secured for him by the director of Naval Intelligence–one of daddy’s friends.)
EG - Lyndon B. Johnson - Born in Stonewall, Texas, into a farming family. Graduated from Johnson City High School (think–Hickory Hoosiers without the basketball team), then went to Texas State Teacher’s college (aka Local State University). First job out of school - taught public high school in Pearsall, Texas.
One of these POTUS’s is not like the other one.
I hear your point, Greenman. But of course (as per my earlier reply to this thread) I recognize geographic differences in the cost of living – I just don’t want to hear it. I believe that $200K is a universal level where most people, in most parts of the country, probably could not disagree that you’ve “made it” (and please, people that are un/underemployed on this forum, spare me from arguing with me that the new universal number is $300K or some such bologna; I’m getting impatient waiting for my coffee). $100K used to be phenomenal, but in NYC, you are a pauper at 100 large. So even in a big city, if you were forced to cough up one number, I’m saying that $200K is the new “line.”
Of course, there is a bit of humor in my suggestion of $200K or the hacksaw. It is just as tunnel-vision and adamant as all of this “Top 3 MBA or hacksaw” claptrap. In order to replace the forum heuristics of success, I need a criterion that is just as hardline.
Don’t tell Destroyer of Worlds what he doesn’t want to hear. It’s hard for him.
Well, the monetary equivalent of “Harvard or Hacksaw” is probably closer to $5m a year.
I mean, if you’re not making at least $5m per year, then you should probably cut your nuts off. $4.9m just doesn’t cut it. Not even worth trying for.
EDIT - and if you can’t drive a Bughatti Veyron Supersport, then you should walk wherever you need to go. Rolls Royces are laughable. They’re for idiots.
And don’t wear a $15,000 Rolex. If you do, you should kill yourself. Only $100k Zenith watches are worth wearing.
this also applies to about 1/3 of the members on AF. which is why I have a loyal following of flamers
How about $4.5m Louis Moinet’s Meteoris? :-p Everybody here is talking about it these days as our self-proclaimed ‘servant’ of nation prime minister was boasting the accessory while addressing the nation on much needed budget cuts and tax increases, and the fat bast*rd himself submitted less than $50 annual tax… F**k politicians.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/moerder/19-successful-people-who-had-a-rough-time-in-their-20s
20s somethings should realise that this is the exception, not the rule. if you’re not on the fast track by 25 you should have a first class ticket to hacksaw town.
When I was getting my hacksaw MBA, I was playing in the annual golf outing with a dude from Goldman and we were talking about various careers at GS, trader being one of them. He told me that if you’re not making $1MM in your 2nd year as a trader at GS, you shouldn’t expect a 3rd year. That was more than 10 years ago.
I like how this clearly shows you are a Texas Republican. Good on ya