Originally Published on October 24, 2019:

There’s a common refrain in elite college admissions. It goes like this: “It doesn’t matter where your child goes to college. All that matters is that your child is happy.”

And while the refrain is sweet, the argument is as ridiculous in 2023 as it was in 1993. After all, a student can be happy at an elite university just as a student can be unhappy at a non-selective university. This truth leads us to another refrain: “What exactly does this have to do with the price of tea in China?”

Does Where You Go to College Matter?

The fact is students who attend elite universities have higher earning potential than their peers who graduate from less selective institutions.

In a piece published by Maureen Downey in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on economic outlook after attending Ivy League schools (or similarly selective institutions), she writes, “Economist Raj Chetty found attendance at Ivy League and highly select campuses…provides a greater economic payoff for poor children than rich ones.”

The piece continues, “‘If you’re a rich kid, attending an Ivy Plus college rather than no college at all increases your odds of making it into the top income quintile as an adult earner by a factor of four. So you do get an economic boost from your college education, but it’s not a huge one,’ writes [journalist Paul] Tough. ‘If you’re a poor kid, though, attending an Ivy Plus college rather than no college is truly life-changing. It increases your odds of making it into the top income quintile by a factor of fourteen.'”

There are Happy and Unhappy Students on Every College Campus

We at Ivy Coach understand and appreciate that in our “everyone is a winner” climate, the parents of students who don’t earn admission to highly selective colleges often say it doesn’t matter where students go to college. Instead, all that matters is that they’re happy. 

If that soothes their egos, we’re all for such thinking. But, to cut through the nonsense, it does matter where you go to college. Sorry, Malcolm Gladwell, we’ve read every one of your brilliant books, but your arguments, while absolutely gripping and always worthy of the purchase, are often based only on anecdotes — and not hard data.

The Top 25 Colleges That Pay Off the Most

Colleges That Pay Off the Most

A CNBC Make It study also analyzed data to determine the top 50 private colleges that pay off the most. Those schools are listed below with their corresponding 2023 US News & World Report ranking. Note how the vast majority — nearly all of them, in fact — are among America’s most highly selective institutions.

1. Stanford University (#3, National Universities)
2. Princeton University (#1, National Universities)
3. University of Chicago (#6, National Universities)
4. California Institute of Technology (#9, National Universities)
5. Harvard University (#3, National Universities)
6. Yale University (#3, National Universities)
7. Columbia University (#18, National Universities)
8. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (#2, National Universities)
9. Pomona College (#3, Liberal Arts Colleges)
10. Duke University (#10, National Universities)
11. Washington and Lee University (#11, Liberal Arts Colleges)
12. Vanderbilt University (#13, National Universities)
13. Dartmouth College (#12, National Universities)
14. Olin College of Engineering (Unranked)
15. Rice University (#15, National Universities)
16. Williams College (#1, Liberal Arts Colleges)
17. University of Pennsylvania (#7, National Universities)
18. Bowdoin College (#6, Liberal Arts Colleges)
19. Webb Institute (Unranked)
20. Brown University (#13, National Universities)
21. Haverford College (#18, Liberal Arts Colleges)
22. Swarthmore College (#4, Liberal Arts Colleges)
23. The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (#2, Regional Colleges North)
24. Bates College (#25, Liberal Arts Colleges)
25. Wesleyan University (#18, Liberal Arts Colleges)

Colleges with High Earning Potential

In addition, PayScale published a 2021-2022 college salary report. That ranking of universities with their corresponding mid-career pay is listed below. If the school was not listed above, its 2023 US News & World Report ranking is also cited.

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology ($167,200)
2. Harvey Mudd College ($166,600, #29, Liberal Arts Colleges)
3. Princeton University ($161,500)
4. United States Naval Academy ($160,100, $6, Liberal Arts Colleges)
5. Stanford University ($156,500)
6. Harvard University ($156,200)
7. Babson College ($155,400, Unranked)
8. Santa Clara University ($154,700, #55, National Universities)
9. United States Military Academy ($154,300, #9, Liberal Arts Colleges)
10. University of Pennsylvania ($153,100)

The Colleges That Pay Off the Most Are Highly Selective

As Abigail Hess writes in another piece for CNBC on the colleges that pay off the most, “The top 10 private U.S. colleges on our list, in particular, provide a significant premium for students that attend. But there’s a catch: They’re all extremely difficult to get into.”

For the Class of 2026, as but a few examples, the overall acceptance rates stood at 5% for Brown, 3.73% for Columbia, 3.19% for Harvard, 4.47% for Yale, and 6.24% for Dartmouth. Yes, these schools are “extremely difficult to get into.”

The Critics of Attending Top Colleges Are Often Hypocrites

So to the folks who say, “It doesn’t matter where your child goes to college. All that matters is that your child is happy,” smile at them and nod politely.

Similarly, when a high school counselor at The Derryfield School in New Hampshire pens entire op-eds lamenting how going to an elite university is essentially overrated, check out his Twitter feed. Note the young person featured prominently in the Yale t-shirt in his profile photo. Note the schools featured prominently on the high school counselor’s own school’s college counseling website.

So, yes, those folks who argue that going to a top college is overrated are often hypocrites. They may suggest it doesn’t matter where you go to college, but that doesn’t mean they even believe their hollow words — and the data certainly doesn’t back up their assertion.