Am I the only person who disagrees with this thread?

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So about 11 years ago, this discussion was posted. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-act-tests-test-preparation/76962-grad-school-is-more-important-than-undergrad.html

I know it’s quite old, but it just seems flawed that I have to talk about it. I want to address various quotes.

“If you go to Harvard for your undergrad and got some tiny, crappy school for your master’s and doctorate’s, you’re career is not going to be hot.”

This is totally wrong. If you go to Harvard for undergrad and then go straight out into the workforce, your career will be pretty good. However, if you decided to get even more educated and get a Master’s Degree, that’s just a bonus and your career will be even better, no matter what school it’s from. According to this link, http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d13/tables/dt13_104.20.asp, only 7.4% of people even have a Master’s Degree. This means that getting a Master’s Degree is impressive to the point that it doesn’t matter a whole lot where you get it from.

“Now some of you may have the argument that you HAVE to go to an awesome school for undergrad to get into an awesome grad school. Aren’t you forgetting something else, like the GRE? It’s basically the SAT/ACT for undergrads. We’ve all seen bright kids come from crappy high schools and go to a great undergrad college.”

He has it completely backwards. You do have to go to a well-known undergraduate school to go to a well-known graduate school. In-fact, many students who go to prestigious schools for undergrad end up going to mediocre schools for grad school. But the other way around doesn’t happen. Of the students who go to a mediocre school for undergrad, the few who choose to pursue a Master’s Degree will also go to a mediocre school for graduate school.

However, there’s nothing wrong with going to a mediocre grad school because getting a Master’s Degree is impressive no matter where you do it. I know that the link I provided above only applies 25-29 year olds, but the vast majority of students who do a get a Master’s Degree do so at 24 or younger, so if someone is 25 and doesn’t have a Master’s Degree, it’s safe to assume they’ll never get one. Even among white people, the percentage with a Master’s Degree is only about 8.6.

And this is coming from someone who attends a mediocre state university as an undergrad. I’ve long accepted that I’ll to go to a mediocre state school for grad school. But I’m not fussed about it because when I’m grad school, I’ll probably have several classmates who went to well-known colleges for undergrad and once I’ve finished my Master’s, employers will be so impressed that I’ve accomplished something that 92.6% of the country hasn’t that they’re hardly going to care where I did it.

Anyways, does anyone disagree with this thread the way I do?

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You started a thread to dispute a thread from eleven years ago? I disagree with this thread :wink:

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No, you want to talk about it to support your plan.

But I can assure you that you will find very little support on cc for your thesis, assuming folks want to engage on an 11 year-old thread.

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Having a spouse who is a professor, I am often around many individuals with PhDs. Most of the individuals I know with advanced degrees went to a grad school of much higher caliber than their undergrad. I’m talking Duke and Stanford for the PhD, with undergrads from schools many on CC regard as total safeties - or not even worth consideration.

The most important college is the one where the terminal degree is earned. While it is true in many careers that an advanced degree is unusual and sets you apart, in academia it is a requirement - and the competition for jobs - especially tenure-track jobs - is fierce. A PhD from a top school sets you apart. A PhD from a mediocre school doesn’t - regardless of where your undergrad is from.

Yes, there are jobs where an advanced degree from University of Phoenix can matter - but that doesn’t mean you are doomed to attend a grad school of a lower caliber than your undergrad. Kick butt at undergrad, kill it on the GREs, and you have a good chance at a higher-ranked school for grad work.

This thread was right 11 years ago, and is still right today.

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