XC Forever wrote:
Of course it is special to get a Stanford degree, but my question was directed at the fact that an undergrad degree at Stanford won't get you anywhere speciall on its own. It will probably open doors to a good post bach program most anywhere....but a kid who is smart enough to get into Stanford, will get into a good post grad program in any event. Check it out, an undergrad degree at Stanford won't get you a materially higher paying job anywhere. If you want that kind of success, save your money and get a state university undergrad degree, then go on to an MBA or law degree at Stanford and it makes sense.
My friend, I hate to say it, but you don't know jack.
Many of the top jobs in consulting and finance are only open to graduates of the Ivy League and equivalents schools (Stanford, MIT, U of Chicago, Duke, Amherst, Williams, the top two or three public schools and a few others). These jobs offer starting salaries of 60-80K plus 20-50% bonus to fresh grads right out of undergrad. If the first line on your resume list anything other than one of these top 15 schools then the probability is near 100% that its headed immediately for the circular file.
On top of that, a degree from a school like Stanford will noticeably ease the burden of gaining admission to a top graduate or professional school. Year in and year out, the students who manage to gain admission to top professional programs, such as Harvard Business School, Stanford GSB, Yale Law, and Harvard Medical School, with the lowest GPA's (but generally the highest GMAT, GRE, and MCAT scores) are always from either the Ivy League or Stanford, MIT, etc... These schools will almost always take a 3.5 from Stanford over a 4.0 from a school like Oregon all else being equal. This is because admissions officers know what an achievement getting into a school like Stanford is, and they understand that the level of competition at a place like this astronomically high. If the average Stanford grad were to attend a school like Oregon, it would be the academic equivalent of a DI All-American running in DIII - maybe the top 5-10% would be on the same level, but the majority would be so far behind it would be ridiculous.
Turning down Stanford, especially given the financial aid available to a student like Jordan, would be a monumentally bad decision. Her running career will last maybe 10 more years if all goes well. After that, if she decides she wants to do something more interesting with her life than run around in circles the Stanford degree will be much more useful.