<p>It’s 2018.
You’re a 27 year old in a fast-growing, midsized NYC company. You’re hiring someone fresh out of college. BA in something. Liberal Arts. A dozen or so resumes come down to you from HR. What schools impress you most and least? Let’s keep it simple. You really don’t need more details than this.</p>
<p>Rank 'em based on being an East Coaster who isn’t looking for engineering, medicine. etc. This is different than US New Rankings</p>
<p>Midd
Vassar
Cornell
Brandeis
Colgate
Ham
Bard
NYU
Oberlin
Kenyon
Skidmore
Rochester
Bucknell
Sarah Lawrence
Delaware Honors
McCauley Honors</p>
<p>If that 27 year is applying that type of criteria as a significant factor in a hiring decision, I suggest that the 27 year old is an idiot. Where one goes to college is affected by many factors in addition to how bright or hard working one was in high school, including family health and finances, geography, socio-economic group, etc. Moreover, people mature at different rates and the mere fact that someone may or may not have been a high achiever in high school has little relevance to performance in later life. </p>
<p>Intelligent recruiters look at many factors in evaluating a person’s likelihood of success as an employee. The identity of one’s college, separated from the transcript and other evidence of performance at the college, is pretty meaningless.</p>
<p>^ basically what they said. I wouldn’t want to work for a company that hires me based on where I went to school, rather than on my character and professional qualifications.</p>
<p>And in any event, none of the schools listed are -that- far apart in quality, etc: it’s all about how hard you work.</p>
<p>Much of the hiring at entry level jobs at companies IS done this way, NOT by “intelligent recruiters” in HR departments. Just someone a few years out of college him or herself who needs to hire someone else because he got a headcount and has a load of work that needs to be done. And perceptions about where you went and what that means are a huge factor. That and who you know at the company. No one asks, what was your gpa, did you get a scholarship, etc. They want to know where you went.</p>
<p>As someone who does <em>lots</em> of hiring and has done so for decades (both in mid-size and very large companies). I can tell you that neither myself nor anybody I know has ever hired somebody based on the school they attended.</p>
<p>I hire smart people, who statistically gravitate to the better schools. Therefore the majority of my staff went to what might be considered “good” schools, but I hired them because they were smart (using my own judgment and criteria to make that determination), not because of what school they attended.</p>
<p>Some of the best and brightest people I’ve ever worked with either went to a college I’ve never heard of, or no college at all.</p>