The Homa Files

TakeAway: One of the strongest predictors of post-graduation income is the caliber of the schools that reject you.

* * * * *

Excerpted from WSJ: Weighing the Value of That College Diploma, Dec. 16, 2009

College graduates in general earn at least 60% more than high-school grads on average, both annually and over their lifetimes, and the income gap has been growing over time, says a 2007 report by the College Board.

But, one of the strongest predictors of post-graduation income is the caliber of the schools that reject you.

Researchers found students who applied to several elite schools but didn’t attend them — presumably because many were rejected — are more likely to earn high incomes later than students who actually attended elite schools.

“Evidently, students’ motivation, ambition and desire to learn have a much stronger effect on their subsequent success than average academic ability of their classmates.”

Full article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703438404574597952027438622.html

This entry was posted on December 17, 2009 at 7:30 am and is filed under Education - Academics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.