Prestige is always retrospective. It’s building on what brought prestige in the past. If you’re willing to bet on a new field or a new angle on an old field, and you think learning that (or associating with the up-and-comers) is best served at a less prestigious university, then you have a more complicated choice.
Or you might think an institution is going to lose prestige. Will the Harvard business school continue to be respected?
Personal taste: quality of life is the bottom line, and it isn’t that bad even if you aren’t at the top. You might be looking for something that isn’t offered at the most prestigious institutions.
About those studies of the return for getting into a top university: Do they include the costs of competing to get in?
Prestige is always retrospective. It’s building on what brought prestige in the past. If you’re willing to bet on a new field or a new angle on an old field, and you think learning that (or associating with the up-and-comers) is best served at a less prestigious university, then you have a more complicated choice.
Or you might think an institution is going to lose prestige. Will the Harvard business school continue to be respected?
Personal taste: quality of life is the bottom line, and it isn’t that bad even if you aren’t at the top. You might be looking for something that isn’t offered at the most prestigious institutions.
About those studies of the return for getting into a top university: Do they include the costs of competing to get in?