Kyle believes college prestige does matter to job seekers, not only because of campus recruitment. Based on his belief, he wants to find a best value for his future kids — a low-cost college with good prestige.

Q: what level of prestige?
A: he said top 50 or lower by U.S.News ranking, which is based on nothing but professor research.

This prestige is not related to quality of education. I then told Kyle about Grace Dong’s experience at PACE. Peer influence from fellow students is a big part of quality of education. Obviously top colleges have more motivated, brighter students.

He stressed repeatedly that he didn’t want to send his kids to Ivy league. I think this is similar to my habit to avoid branded clothing. However, I would still send my kids to a branded college if I can afford it, because it’s no worse than an unbranded college.

Lateral thinking —

• internship — is important for my son
• Geographical location of the college is possibly more important than prestige. Some 2nd-tier colleges in NYC get many campus recruitments from Wall St
• Q: how about sending my kids to Singapore universities?