<p>If, according to the article, your goal is senior management of a business.</p>
<p>There must be a lot of depressed folks on Wall Street today. You know, the ones who pushed hard to get their kids into name brand schools thinking that was the key to the corporate kingdom, only to read in the WSJ that it may not matter. :)</p>
<p>Well, it still is the key to the jealously guarded Wall Street firms.</p>
<p>I can't imagine anyone who has spent any time in corporate America doesn't already know this.</p>
<p>The article creates a false premise that rational parties would never adopt in the first place, then shoots down the premise.</p>
<p>Few people with any common sense would ever claim that top schools were the EXCLUSIVE path or the GUARANTEED path into higher level management jobs, nor would most people suggest that ALL or most CEO's came from (for example) the most selective 25 schools in the United States.</p>
<p>The average college today (including many state universities) has become to some degree an extension of high school, a high school with better parties. However as a general rule with the more select colleges, a student will have to apply themselves to actually graduate - and that difference can be meaningful over the longer term completely apart from the prestige of the particular college attended.</p>
<p>Actually that is exactly the point they were making. And in the past it was true that a much large proportion of CEO's came from elite schools. That number has drifted WAY down over the last 30 years.</p>
<p>Also most of the better state schools are far more competitive than they were 30 years ago. They have not become an extention of HS by any means but instead approach quality of students found at the elite schools a few decades ago.</p>
<p>Happened in med. school admissions, too. The percentage of Yale's graduating class that went on to med. school dropped by 66% between 1975-2002, according to Yale's own data. This isn't to say that more COULDN'T have gone to med school, only that they didn't. And, yes, it is true that some return to med school later, as is true at every other school with whom they compete.</p>
<p>Almost without exception, success in life is dependent on the qualities, character and abilities which the individual brings to the table and not the college name on the sheepskin. Ergo, the gist of the WSJ article is not surprising.</p>
<p>It did seem to me that many of the "top" managers had gone on to prestigious schools for their masters degrees. They state that Hamilton is just a mediocre school...I am under the impression that it is considered selective.</p>
<p>I also don't feel there are any earth shattering revelations in this article. I believe that the school name on your degree may help you to get your first job. Advancement from there will depend upon your experience and performance.</p>
<p>Actually it appears the WSJ article didn't go far enough. Not only aren't elite colleges essential for business success, it doesn't appear that an undergraduate degree from ANY institution is required. Bill Gates, Steven Jobs and Larry Ellison were all college dropouts.</p>
<p>Well, according to this article, my son is studying Computer Science at the right school - Carnegie Mellon!</p>
<p>
[quote]
Happened in med. school admissions, too. The percentage of Yale's graduating class that went on to med. school dropped by 66% between 1975-2002, according to Yale's own data. This isn't to say that more COULDN'T have gone to med school, only that they didn't. And, yes, it is true that some return to med school later, as is true at every other school with whom they compete
[/quote]
How many that APPLIED went on to med school?</p>
<p>A very, very high proportion. Not as high as Hope College, or Earlham, or Kalamazoo perhaps, but a very high proportion. No surprise there. They didn't need Yale to do it, either.</p>
<p>But the point is - they DIDN'T (as I wrote in earlier - it wasn't that they "couldn't" but that they "didn't"). And those who took their places, obviously, went to other schools.</p>
<p>Perhaps the campus is no longer as conducive for pre-meds? Or perhaps some rich folks think medicine is no longer a profession worth pursuing? Or perhaps Yalies are on to more interesting, more exciting, more lucrative things? We can speculate all we like. But we do know that those med school places formerly filled by Yalies are going elsewhere.</p>
<p>mini, if ypu personally know any MD's, and I am sure you do, you get the impression that being a doctor is not all that it is cracked up to be at the present time. Those bright Eli's may have figured this out.</p>
<p>ok.......................since Pitt State is mentioned............</p>
<p>a little trivia here...........isn't pitt state the only university to have a college mascot which is the Gorilla? :) his name is Gus</p>
<p>ok.......one more..............what big 12 football coach once coached at Pitt State? hint..........he's also a pitt state grad.</p>
<p>thanks barrons for posting this article!!!! :)</p>
<p>"mini, if ypu personally know any MD's, and I am sure you do, you get the impression that being a doctor is not all that it is cracked up to be at the present time. Those bright Eli's may have figured this out."</p>
<p>Yup. It's one of many possibilities. Another is that it is just not a good place to be a premed. H., for example, hasn't seen anything like that level of decline. Another is that the school hasn't changed at all, but that potential premeds have figured out that they can do just as well elsewhere, or that the difference isn't that great. As I said, it's not that they couldn't go to med school (in as large numbers) - with the possible exceptions of the GWs of New Haven persuasion, I suspect that virtually anyone who gets into Yale these days COULD have gone to med school. Only that they didn't, and the places are being filled by others.</p>