<p>I can't find data on this anywhere. Has anyone seen any studies on how much a college's reputation affects your future employment oppurtunities? I have the grades to go almost anywhere I want, but if I choose to go to a school without as good a reputation but a better atmosphere, how much will that effect me down the road?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
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<p>Thanks. This is really helpful.</p>
<p>There was recently a study done that compared high-achieving high school students who attended prestigious colleges with their equally high-achieving peers who attended less prestigious colleges. The study found that there was essentially no difference in these students’ starting salaries.</p>
<p>The impact of reputation on your future prospects depends largely on what you want to do. If your future career involves going to graduate or professional school, scratch it - just go to the place that you want the most and that costs a reasonable amount, work your butt off, and get into the best graduate/professional school you can gain admission to. Where you go matters naught.</p>
<p>There are other sectors that require only a bachelor’s degree but where you graduated from doesn’t matter. If you want to be a social worker, a nurse, a teacher, etc., they don’t care whether you went to Harvard or Nebraska State. What they care about is that you completed the appropriate training and licensure required in the state that you’re trying to work in, and that you know what you’re doing. And even some of the more prestigious jobs like health care management or engineering you don’t necessarily need a fancy degree if you’re not planning to work at a well-known, tippy-top company.</p>
<p>Where reputation of your undergrad matters is if you’re trying to go into a field with more prestigious, competitive jobs. Want to be an i-banker straight out of college? A degree from Wharton or MIT will net you more offers than a degree from Penn State or Rutgers. Management consulting firms recruit only at top schools because their clients want to see that their business analysts come from top schools; they are more likely to trust a fresh-out-of-undergrad analyst telling them how to restructure their business if they came from Harvard or Yale than if they came from Fordham or University of New Haven. Or you wanted to be an engineer at Google or manage the Mayo Clinic, your degree from a fancypants school might get you farther because those jobs are really competitive. Same if you wanted to work at a really well-connected job like the State Department or in the foreign service.</p>
<p>The thing is, don’t assume that less prestigious schools have better atmospheres than more prestigious ones. I went to a less prestigious (but still well reputed) LAC and am now at a very prestigious Ivy League university, and I love(d) the atmosphere at BOTH places. If you have the money and time you should visit all of your schools, perhaps after you’re admitted, and gauge the atmosphere.</p>
<p>Thanks for your insightful post, juillet! As a high school senior surrounded by friends who are looking only into UCs and Ivies, it’s very refreshing to hear the other side of the story from someone who’s been there.</p>
<p>To the OP: I’ve also read about the study that juillet mentioned. My belief is that if you’re smart enough and motivated enough to get into an “elite” college, you can succeed on your own merits. </p>
<p>I’d recommend Loren Pope’s Looking Beyond the Ivy League for more related statistics. For a shorter read: [Who</a> Needs Harvard? - TIME](<a href=“http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1226150-3,00.html]Who”>http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1226150-3,00.html)</p>
<p>Hope you find your match. :-)</p>