Fornew readers and those who request to be “好友 good friends” please read my 公告栏 first.

This is the title of a page one article in the Sunday New York Times Week-in-Review section dated Dec. 19, 2010. With increasing number of Chinese students going to US undergraduate colleges, this question must be foremost in the minds of Chinese parents also.

The short answer of the posed question in the above article http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/weekinreview/19steinberg.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=college%20cost&st=cse

Is a qualified yes or it depends . “ . .  the elite school can make a difference in income and graduate school placement. But happiness in life? That is another question. . . “

My own personal life experience and an anecdote seem to back up this assertion. After I became a junior faculty at Harvard in the early 1960s, a senior Harvard Business School professor told me “  . . You will find that the name of Harvard often opens doors for you (very true). But you must still demonstrate your ability once you get in. There is no free lunch . .” A Chinese ph.d alumni of the Harvard School of Engineering who became a very successful Silicon valley entrepreneuer told me that the Harvard graduate degree helped him in business. Even though he is not practicing in business the expertise his learned while getting his ph.d degree, other business people will often specially seek to meet him just to see what a Harvard ph.d is made of. This has given him an advantage in international business. He is so grateful that he made a large donation to Harvard to thank his alma mater (all very proper since Harvard supported him with full scholarship for the years of his graduate study).

Chinese parents take note.

Note added 2/22/2017: Another article dealing with this issue https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/02/21/mid-tier-colleges-do-better-job-of-upward-mobility.aspx and many others. Google the subject.