State schools really depend on the state you’re in, as well as the major you’re going for, as to the quality of education you’re going to be getting. But there are advantages to going to a top school – state or private – in your field of choice. Your contacts. Your resources. It’s recognized by employers and graduate schools. Undergrad paves your way to grad school. Also, the top schools in their field recruit top talent. There is something about steel sharpening steel. If you want to be challenged by some of the top minds in whichever industry you’re planning on going into, that’s the school you want to go to. The classes will be harder and you’ll have competition for the race to the top, but reaching the top will be a far sweeter victory than if you go to a mediocre school and sailed your way there.

Also, be sure to visit the schools. Make sure that socially, emotionally, it’s the right fit for you. Harvard or MIT might be great for your program, but if you’ll be miserable with a Boston winter you might want to rethink it.

Happy choosing!

I’m sure you could get into great schools with those credentials, and I wouldn’t definitely take advantage of that. You’re likely to get scholarships or other financial support. The reality is, once you get out of college, that’s when the real education starts. If you have a specific career path in mind, an Ivy League school definitely will give you a head start towards a successful career. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that going to a state school wouldn’t be great too.

Honestly, this may sound cliche, and not helpful, but it’s all what you bring to the table. There are people at Ivy League schools only because their parents have big money, and there are people at community colleges who are amazingly smart and enthusiastic about their interests. You have to be creative in your experiences and personal development. Many people think that a great school will make them smart and worthy. I say go to the best school that you desire to be at, and can get into, and make the best of that experience. Good luck with everything!

It really depends on the sort of person you are. The Ivies really take care of you: they live with you, and you with them, and they’re on top of you all the time to guide you along. Other good schools–Oberlin, for example–do much the same thing. The Ivies are good for making business contacts, but so is the Elks Club: for all the people who were in Skull and Bones at Yale, you’ve heard of the Bushes and about nobody else.

Any school is as good as you’re willing to make it.

Suppose that your parents are really, really rich and they die when you are 22 years old and leave you all your money. You’d probably be able to “live comfortably,” right? Is there anything in that scenario that ensures that you will have graduated from “a top tier school,” however you are defining that, before your parents die? No, of course there isn’t. I’m not sure what it took to “convince” you that no-one lives comfortably who hasn’t graduated from one of a small number of universities, but it really shouldn’t take you more than a couple of seconds of thought to un-convince yourself.

the kind of school you are in also determines the kind of connections you make. this could help you later when you go into business.