These life skills translate into the workplace and to life, by teaching you to pay rent on time, manage you work when no one’s looking over your shoulder, taking care of laundry, meals, etc. on your own. sure, you may still be eating the meal plan, but you take care of getting yourself fed regularly- transition to the real world is not such a shock when meals are no longer available on demand… In the workplace, you have to essentially live with a variety of people, some of whom you might not even like very well, but still have to learn to get along and work productively together- not all that much different from dealing with a cantankerous roommate in college.

I met a lot of really smart people while at Penn, and some people who clearly have not set the world afire. This begs the question at the heart of this debate, which is how do we measure life success?

Some people see getting into a brand name school as one of these chips or tokens of success; I fully believe that success is much more accurately measured by going to a college that meets your interests and needs, where you fit in and feel successful. This might even mean transferring to another school that is a better fit, if the first one is not such a good match.

There is no one path to later job success or life success. The skills you learn in college are just as important as your major. I majored in biology but ended up in law school, yet skills I learned in both of these areas have helped me become who I am today. I can read detailed medical research articles, case law, contracts or novels with equal levels of understanding (if not enjoyment) and those are life skills that make managing almost anything as an adult easier than had I not had these experiences. So I am not the least bit sorry for any choice I made.
You have to look at college as one step along life’s path, not the only step in one direction with no chance to choose again. If there’s anything we’re learning, it’s that people have many jobs over their lifespan, and not always the job they thought they’d have when applying for college. so choose a school based on your itnerests, explore new ones, and don’t get too hung up on brand names or anything else. The experience is what you make of it.

I agree that you shouldn’t attend a school just because of its name. Just as you shouldn’t pick a school based solely on how swank the dorms are. But remember, the top tier schools are where they are for a reason.

I chose a top 20 state school, and it was four of the best years of my life, for a reasonable price. Made some life long friends and met my (then to-be) wife. I had no idea what I wanted out of life then, and it was a big enough place to give me options. Now I am working successfully in the real world, and doing grad school at night (another state school). The person in the next office over went to Brown, and on the other side, that person doesn’t have a college degree at all. One is the VP, the other is the CEO. I’m not telling who is who. So life is what you make out of your opportunities.