Fruitydragons, that assumes that there isn't a fire, and that the people running around shouting about one are, erm--
well. That they have their own view of the world, which may or may not be completely aligned with what most people consider to be reality.
To be clear, I agree with you-- the college admissions game now
is about whether or not you believe that the building is on fire, and that your survival (?) depends upon Doing The Very Bestest Thing Ever by Attending The Most Prestigious Institution.
It's not a simple thing, figuring out what is "right" with respect to a college education. Or any other major life decision. This is only the first of them, really.
It's just that it is nothing more than ignorance to claim that:
a) Everything about HYPS is, well-- hype. No. It isn't. The prestige is there for a reason. It
is a premium education. Of course, it also comes at an extremely premium cost, so there is that.
b) The system is bimodal, with elite institutions on one side, and all the rest on the other. Well, no, actually-- it is POSSIBLE to get an incredibly fine and life-changing education at-- for example, University of Wisconsin-Stout. It really
is mostly about what students bring into the environment as much as anything else.
Can you get a "premium" education without paying for one? Well-- yes and no. No, your diploma from UW-Stout won't say Princeton. Will your
education be as good?
Maybe. There's no way to say, actually, because it is individual and largely unwritten until it's over, and because nobody can say what you'll value about your college education
in retrospect-- not even YOU. It
is true, however, that your education at UW-Stout will cost about 1/6th, on average, as much as it would at Princeton.
ROI is a thing, I suppose, but the trouble is that most people who go to college do so for reasons which aren't purely economic to start with.
