Comment by darrennix | Hacker News Reader

Comment by darrennix | Hacker News Reader

I applied but didn't get in to MIT undergrad for computer engineering. I ended up attending a good state school instead. Years later, I attended MIT for grad school.

With that context, my advice is twofold:

1. Surround yourself with people who will challenge you

2. Make financial decisions using net present value (NPV)

I've taken classes on four campuses over the years and found the quality of the instruction in the classroom was universally high and uncorrelated with the prestige of the institution. However, I found that I learned more deeply and tackled more ambitious goals when I was surrounded by other students in the most challenging programs. Furthermore, I continue to observe stark difference in the post-college opportunities for graduates that are highly correlated with each institution's reputation.

As for NPV, your chosen field means that the money you save or spend in the next few years will be swamped by your income later in life. Make a spreadsheet that stretches out over your working life and calculate the NPV of both paths.

TLDR: Go to MIT.

I struggle with this (kiddo is at the stage will be applying in a few years, so have thought about it), as it essentially relies on network effects with a large/unknown variance. (Is the MBA network comparable to OPs path?)

What do people peg the OPs chances of following the stated career path at State vs MIT?

(Disclaimer, have gotten a terrific education at state schools and have what I take to be a reasonably successful career from that starting point. So default bias to choose state over more expensive alternatives.)

Thank you for taking the time to write a thoughtful reply. I've made a fairly large and comprehensive spreadsheet that takes a lot of factors into account. The TLDR is that if I went to MIT, I'd see a massive initial dip in NPV, but then out of MIT I'd be making more that I would out of Z. So over 20 years, MIT would definitely have a higher NPV (by about a factor of 1.3x) but 15 years out it's about the same. Going to MIT has larger up-front commitment and more initial risk for the reward of more earnings later on. But of course, there's always more to consider than money, and who knows what things will look like 20 years from now?

Spreadsheets are great, but I'll bet you 5 years of NPV that you're underestimating the non-financial (or even indirectly-financial) benefits of MIT by a significant factor. The name and network open more doors than you can imagine today.

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