re: Which school in the SEC would you send your children?

Alright, I usually stay out of the academic shite throwing threads but I'll bite on this one simply because I've seen too much bullshite.

Anybody that says "a better academic school", please explain exactly what you're saying. If you're saying "you learn more at school A than school B", that is absolutely without a doubt false. That form of education is the responsibility of the individual, especially in today's age of Google where you can get almost any piece of information within a few seconds.

If you're saying "there are better professors so therefore the average student learns more", that is also false but probably has a better statistical significance than the previous statement. I live a few blocks away from Nouriel Roubini the NYU professor who is widely acclaimed as one of the world's best economists. Everyone I know who has taken his class says he's the worst teacher they've had. People learn things differently, whether it be by specific audio or visual examples. Certain teachers may reach some but not others, although I will agree that some teachers can reach more students than others. Regardless it is an arbitrary metric and you can't prove it anyway, also the responsibility of the individual still takes priority.

Now, if you're saying "school A has better opportunities due to alumni networks", then yes that is absolutely true. I work with almost exclusively Ivy Leaguers and they are mostly here because of their network, some of the Harvard grads wouldn't know spreads or cash vs. CDS basis if it was tatooed on the foreheads. If you want to be an accountant, you should go to Texas A&M and get in the PPA program. Does it mean you will learn more about accounting? Not necessarily, but you have a great opportunity to get Big 4 job out of college.

Does that mean somebody that went to another school got a better job than me for going to Arkansas? I graduated last year and started at one of the top financial firms in the entire world and I'm willing to bet my starting salary was better than 99% of all undergraduates from every SEC school (including A&M) last year, and it had nothing to do with any sort of family hook-up. That doesn't mean I'm smarter or somehow got a better education. That just means I worked my arse off and got lucky.

The point of this tl;dr post is that arguing which school has a better education is just asinine. Education is the responsibitliy of the individual. If you want to argue about alumni networks and opportunities, then you have a basis for the arguement. That doesn't mean one school is better than the other and it sure as frick doesn't mean you get a better education at one rather than the other.

If you want to get your kids the best education possible, it has absolutely nothing to do with what school you send them to. It has everything to do with their curiosity and hey much they want to learn.