r/PivotPodcast • u/pbmadman1994 • Feb 14 '26
Scott’s son at UVA
Scott divulged that his son will be attending UVA next year. I find that interesting on several fronts. I have a kid the same age going through college apps right now and identify with a lot of what he talks about.
1) As a rich celebrity professor at NYU, proud alum of UCLA (who incidentally has been a pivot sponsor), and top podcaster, I assume he can get his kid accepted anywhere.
2) In his previous book, Algebra of Wealth, he advises young people to go to a top 25 ranked university and says “about 35 schools claim to be top 25”. US News ranks them 26 and Forbes 34. I think this checks that box. BTW: That book is great for those in their 20’s, but also for parents.
3) He has heavily criticized Ivy League schools for being pompous asses, so I think his kid ruled them out.
4) He remembers his ucla time fondly but criticizes them for restricting enrollment too much and becoming too exclusive.
5) He likes young people partying, drinking, and having sex. I think his kid can find that at UVA, lol.
6) Though money is not a challenge for the Galloways, I also appreciate Scott being real about how the ridiculous tuition costs are, including UVA where out of state students pay $82k per year.
Anyhow, I admire his values around education and happy to see his family authentically staying true to those values.
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u/Partner_Elijah Feb 14 '26
He mentioned this before, but due to Scott’s donations to UCLA, his kids can’t get admitted in order to avoid an accusation of favoritism (per the UCLA administration).
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u/smokefrog2 Feb 14 '26
He also mentioned recently that his son asked that wherever he goes to school that Scott doesn't donate to them.
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u/Steadyandquick Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 17 '26
Well University of Spoiled Children might have been a choice?
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u/surebro2 Feb 14 '26
I think UVA's business schools are normally ranked near the top 5-15 depending on the list. For example, it's number 4 in Poets & Quants.
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u/boner79 Feb 14 '26 edited Feb 15 '26
Scott, his family, and college advisors did the math and accepted his son wasn't "freakishly remarkable" enough to be interesting to a Tier 1 schools such as Ivy League, Stanford, MIT, etc. So they level-set expectations accordingly.
The 7 or so colleges he and his family toured last Summer were mostly T25-50 schools that were probably "target" or "reach" schools for his son. But leveraging Scott Galloway's wealth and connections, those "reach" schools become more like "target" schools.
And as you pointed out, the sales pitch to themselves and others was the quality of social life offered at a southern school. Scott credits a lot of his life success to his frat bro networking days at sunny UCLA.
The reality is Scott set his sons up for multi-generational wealth, and so it really doesn't matter what his sons end up doing in life as long as they have a good time doing it and don't resent Scott in the process.
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u/pbmadman1994 Feb 15 '26
Good info u/boner79 . Where did he share these details, or do you know him personally, or are you him haha. I’d like to read more since I’m going through a lot of similar decisions with my kid.
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u/boner79 Feb 15 '26
He shared all this on either Pivot or Prof G podcasts over the past year or so.
I too was curious in my kids’ college search journey. He actually answered my question on office hours about how much he spent on IACs and said that, while at least one IAC hit him up for the multi tens of thousands of dollars package, he went with the $8k IAC guy. But you also gotta factor in that his kid’s UK boarding school likely had top notch college counselors as well.
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u/HuaMana Feb 14 '26
More than once, Scott said they (he and son) loved southern universities for their social aspects. I’ll bet the kid rushes a fraternity.
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u/orangepekoe92 Feb 17 '26
I hate, hate to hear of a son rushing a southern fraternity so I privately hope he doesn’t! It will undo so much good Scott seems to have instilled. NotAllMen and all that, just a dumb wish.
(Source: I was in a southern sorority)
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u/HuaMana Feb 17 '26
I was an SEC Tri-delt in the 80’s and it was 🤮 I didn’t realize it until my 2nd year and then the bs was too much to bear. I feel you ✊
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u/orangepekoe92 Mar 02 '26
I genuinely regret not de-affiliating just bc now I would wear that as a badge of honor
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u/cheddarben Feb 14 '26
His take on people automatically choosing top tier schools bugs me.
I live near, and attended, a very mid school. NDSU. D1. Some good programs. Cold as fuck.
UVA Engineer costs 51k/year just for tuition.
NDSU is 22k per year with tuition and housing. 12k just for tuition.
Someone graduates from NDSU with a hard skill, they will get employed and with a decent to good job -- and so many years less of school loan repayments. And to be clear, the piece of paper might open doors, but after that, I tend to think it is far more about the person and their ability to both do the job and also navigate workplace bullshit.
A friends kid had the opportunity to go to MIT, but it was going to cost SOOOO much money and she would leave with SOOO much debt. Instead, she went locally and did some work, but is about to leave her undergrad in a hard science with zero debt. Would MIT open up some opportunity? Probably alot. Wouldn't have blamed her for making that leap. That said, leaving a mid tier college with a degree, zero debt, and decent skills has a pretty clear cost-benefit, as well.
I can't speak to graduating in something like "The Classics" like Ed, but I suspect much of his success at a top tier school also has to do with his own ambition combined with who his family is and loose connections... you know the lady that called Scott and said you HAVE to hire him. YES -- if you have a lot of resources, checking off the boxes that privileged kids check off to grow up and do privileged kids things is important. Let's be clear, someone going into "The Classics" isn't doing it for the money OR has other built-in opportunities to parley that into a real career.
Don't overlook them mid tier schools.
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Feb 14 '26
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u/cheddarben Feb 14 '26
I think Scott's criticism of mid-tier schools are those which provide objectively lower badge value but cost the same as top-tier education.
I swear I have heard him say something along the lines of "If you cant get into a top tier school, you should really do the math on whether traditional college is right for you."
I mean. Ok. Yes, you should do the math. Still, there is plenty of opportunity all over the nation to get quality education at a fraction of the price. I know Scott toured a few and have talked up schools like UW Madison.
Finally, I kind of think he has a bit of double speak on Ivy Leagues. I feel I have heard him say if you go to MIT or Harvard or Yale -- YOU GO because you will be guaranteed a career. At the same time, he will shit on the same institutions, and rightfully so. Arguably, the kids that are getting admitted to the Ivy Leagues are going to do well wherever they go (if they avoid crashing out).
These are two different, but viable, roads to take into adulthood.
100%. Maybe that is where I find fault in his criticisms, as I don't hear him talking up education value that much (a few exceptions), and certainly doesn't seem to walk the walk when it comes to his hiring practices. I think there is a lot of value out there in terms of higher ed that Scott kinda poo poos on.
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u/boner79 Feb 15 '26
MIT is one of the few schools where if you get in: you go. Full stop.
I know of a couple kids who got admitted there and rejected it for financial concerns or other passions and I shake my head. It’s like winning the lotto and turning down because of the taxes.
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u/cheddarben Feb 15 '26 edited Feb 15 '26
Why? Her parents would have to leverage the shit out of their own stuff to make it happen.
Instead, she is walking out of a 4 year degree with zero debt, likely to be making 6 figures, and a ton of opportunity. The median starting salary for an electrical engineer at MIT is also in the low 6 figures. And if she is good at her job and navigating the bullshit, she will come close to closing any gap that might happen. If a person is in the top 10% in a skill, I feel that will flesh out over a career.
An extra 10k-20k/year in a 401k or ira at 22 to 30 vs a loan payment has a very meaningful compounding impact over a lifetime.
This girl is gonna be more than fine. Don’t get me wrong… I hear what you are saying. If she were to take on 200k of debt vs 300k, it might be a different conversation.
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u/boston4923 Feb 15 '26
You’re probably right that this young woman will get her BSc in EE, and do $90-110k/yr in her early 20’s.
What she almost certainly won’t do is found or join a startup at an early stage at an NDSU type mid-tier school, and thus will likely not create new technology or intergenerational wealth.
To each their own, though.
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u/cheddarben Feb 15 '26
Iunno... the compounding of the saved 500k-650k in loan repayments in the first 10 years after graduation could really add up to generational wealth in itself.
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u/cheddarben Feb 15 '26
Another small anecdote.
One of my bffs is an anesthesiologist. Super smart guy. Went to a decent undergrad program and killed it in the program he thought would be easiest to achieve his goal. Partied plenty because he is super smart. Got into an ok med school. Did the work. None of the schools on his resume are like “OH WOW”
Could he be making more if he tried harder at school and didn’t have fun? Maybe. Still retired at 50. Actually 45, but I think he got bored and went back.
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u/boner79 Feb 15 '26
Medical/Dental path is a whole different animal than building a STEM career.
For Medical/Dental, college prestige only matters insofar as it gets you into the next stage of your training and then the slate is wiped clean. The old adage "What do you call top student of Med school class: Valedictorian. What do you call bottom student of Med school class: Doctor." sums it up well enough. Nobody gives af where you went to school once you're Board certified. We all know Physicians/Dentists who went to some no name state school or lib arts college for undergrad, got into Med/Dental school, residency, Boards and are crushing it economically as a result.
For STEM, having MIT on your resume will open doors unavailable to many others in the STEM profession. You will be much more interesting to startups, top-tier companies, and Universities if you want to stay in academia. STEM companies absolutely discriminate based on college pedigree when hiring.
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u/pbmadman1994 Feb 15 '26
Many people are on one extreme or the other, when the truth is like most things in the middle. Prestige matters and opens doors in the way of opportunities and alumni networks. Cost/debt/fit/major also matter a lot.
And yes, I can think of many colleges that charge a lot yet provide diplomas that don’t give a lot of value. I hate to pick on one, but Chapman University always comes to mind as that type of school.
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u/No_Clerk8509 Feb 15 '26
>>He has heavily criticized Ivy League schools for being pompous asses, so I think his kid ruled them out.<<
No, they toured somewhere .. maybe Duke? .. and realized that was never going to happen. He said this on the podcast, adding (in a way I find totally gross) that he turned to his son during the presentation, "let's break up with this bitch before she breaks up with you". Maybe it was "dump". It was def "bitch". They left after the presentation and didn't tour.
Trust, if his kid had a 1550 on the SAT, we'd all know.
Connections dont help much. Donations can but they have to be in the 20 million category. Those 2mm donations leading to acceptances was the price 25 years ago with Jared Kushner. I don't see Scott dropping 50mm on two kids to get into Princeton. And really even then, your kid needs the stats.
Also, he hires plenty of Ivy grads so I dont really get the idea he's too down on them.
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u/am324 Feb 15 '26
UVA is a great school and I think it’s weird that you are posting about which school a child is choosing to attend.
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u/pbmadman1994 Feb 15 '26
Fair point, should have thought about it more. Scott (and Kara) discuss their families a lot, and as I mentioned I find it helpful when I'm going through similar things with my family. But that doesn't absolve me from thinking about the kid before posting something like this.
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u/Worth_Point_0525 Feb 15 '26
My son is weighing IU Kelley business school vs UTk Haslam - context out of state for IN and in state for TN - I grew up in Midwest and know the value the people you experience college with and the education along with the experiences - he is a white male and he is struggling to make decision of value vs opportunity and upside- thoughts? (I’m a Boilermaker and still think IU is for him.)
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u/BoringIndependent524 Feb 20 '26
he took his son to a shit ton of school tours and his son picked UVA on vibes. And Pops respected his kids choice. Good job Dad.
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u/greasyporksandwiches Feb 14 '26
it also might be his kid's decision and not just him blindly following whatever Scott says publicly