"tldr; It was worth every penny if you went to Stanford, I wish I had known that when I was 18."
I wish I had known that when I was 14/15 and cruising through high school, buying the feel-good talk about "paying that much for a top-name education wouldn't be worth it anyway." So instead I got a very good education (you get out of it what you put into it, after all) that actually cost more in practice than a heavily-subsidized-by-the-school Ivy one and yet comes with a lower-value degree.
I'm happy where I am, so I'm not complaining. But the system is fairly screwy.
I wish I had known that when I was 14/15 and cruising through high school, buying the feel-good talk about "paying that much for a top-name education wouldn't be worth it anyway." So instead I got a very good education (you get out of it what you put into it, after all) that actually cost more in practice than a heavily-subsidized-by-the-school Ivy one and yet comes with a lower-value degree.
I'm happy where I am, so I'm not complaining. But the system is fairly screwy.