I'm kind of torn on this one. I believe that almost every single person I encountered at my alma mater (Duke) would have had parents on this board (i.e. they were all absolutely amazing, brilliant, definitely HG+--exactly the community I'd love to find for my boys so they can talk with real peers, develop ideas, share interests). However, I was pretty miserable a lot of the time. I was so poor, working 2-3 jobs, didn't like the snobbery & racism (while I'm not African American, my roommate was and a boyfriend, and I was more punk than prep). I am definitely convinced the name of my college helped me get my first couple jobs and seems to make a difference of how people regard me (could be my imagination, but I don't think so).
My DH formed lifelong friends there and had an entirely positive experience, so it'll be interesting to see what DS's wanna do.
State schools here are very very good and essentially free for good students, but I really want my kids to go to school outofstate and maybe come back for grad school or other degrees.
