@TopTier We don’t even know that she HAS a problem. As @Mom2aphysicsgeek said, she has made some errors. She didn’t want to work right after graduating so missed the hiring cycle. Took some time off. She was offered a job that she turned down because she was holding out for a dream job. Apparently she took employment with Sprint and has transferred. It looks more complicated than that actually but I think as @Mom2aphysicsgeek suggested, if leaving Sprint right after transfer is HER choice, it really might be best to reconsider and not make another employment error. She did seem to receive job offers very quickly when she started to look the last time so this simply may be a case of nerves of which there seemed to be a pattern. Being a high performing female remains highly in her favor and there are places which will take her over a male with an average GPA from a name school because of that. Debt would have exacerbated her anxiety.
My son went to a small LAC and had the same panicked question when he saw the job competion. He got the jobs that a number of the applicants from the top schools did not. Now two years at a high paying company/job, he says that where he works and most options, he doesn’t see it mattering at all.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek (re #19) and @gearmom (re post #20): Of course I did, but apparently you may not have. The title of this thread – written by the OP – is: “Did I make the wrong college choice?”. That is PRECISELY the matter my post (#18) addresses. By opting to reduce educational expenses, the OP’s resume does not highlight Northwestern, and that’s a potential deficiency.
@BrownParent And that university was Brown actually.
I don’t think one should view a prestige education as a life solver. Sometimes you can position yourself out of a job if they think you are too qualified. Does an Ivy League grad really want to have a career at a shipyard? Is he going to bail after two years? Would a flagship candidate be a better fit? Also if you choose to take on debt for the prestige, you still have to remember that in the end it still has to be you who interviews.
@ToptTier Or it may have expanded her options. Not every hiring manager has gone to an Ivy League school. Let’s not underestimate the power of ego. They might not want a prestige candidate if they feel threatened or the think the candidate may be “too good” for the job.
@gearmom (re #24):
Perhaps, but I believe it is a LOT more likely that the hiring manager is quite risk-adverse and wants his boss(es) to feel he’s selected a high-potential/no-risk employee. Specifically:
- If the new hire works out well: “Thank you boss, I try hard to make wise selections.”
- BUT – and much more important – if he does not: “Gee boss, he is a Hopkins Engineering grad, what more could I do?”
The essential problem, however, is what the hiring manager says instead about the employee that doesn’t work out too well and doesn’t have a well-recognized educational background:
- “Gee, boss, he’s a Widener Engineering graduate.”
To which boss might well reply: - “What did you expect, that’s not a particularly good school, next time try to use better judgement or I’ll find someone who will.”
@TopTier
Far more likely they see an applicant who had a gap between graduation and first job, employed for only slightly more than a yr, and seeking a new job 2months after a transfer.
@TopTier Totally depends on the climate of the workforce. Good luck explaining a bad choice based on labels as though people are designer shirts. Your entire lower management could be flagship grads who don’t give a hoot. Prestige candidates could be considered risky. The flagship candidate might be considered a more relatable choice for the tradesmen they work with. They may be suspicious of a prestige candidates true desire to work in the humble starting engineer position. Shouldn’t they be more ambitious? So approaching a boss about a failed candidate could go quite differently. I hired him rather than the flagship candidate because he is from Harvard. I didn’t think he would leave after two years and all of our training investments. And bosses make choices based on ego all the time.
I agree with your post #26, @Mom2aphysicsgeek.
@gearmom (re #27): However, the OP is NOT a fashion/shirt designer, Rather, she’s an entry-level engineer in a large, complex, high-technology, multi-faceted, global, telecommunications giant. I understand your point – and, in some situations, I agree with it – but I suspect it is much more applicable in smaller, more local/regional, more simplistic, and appreciably less technically and managerially challenging enterprises.
Thanks all for the input. Let me provide a little background for my problem.
First, I am still at Sprint and I haven’t applied for any jobs as of yet. I just based my question on what I have seen and heard since I moved to NYC. When I first applied for the Sprint job I had to complete for the final position with an Upenn candidate and I got it over him. So as you can see I have never been bothered by prestige ( or I wouldn’t have transferred) and it never affected me during my Philly life.
The reason I want to leave Sprint is that the company is going through so many changes and I feel quite stagnant in my position right now. Although I haven’t fully decided to leave Sprint yet I thought of exploring my options by applying for other jobs:/
On a fuuny note, I think the dating situation in NYC has affected my low self esteem on my college of choice as well. I go on dates with Ivy, Vanderbilt, Duke grads and when they ask about my school I feel a little embarrassed. I think that’s another issue related to the depression I am going through and I am currently seeking therapy for that.
I’ll keep you updated. Thanks.
P.S: Sorry for spelling errors I am typing this on a phone.
Re: post 27, this isn’t a question of prestige vs state flagship. It’s prestige vs Widener. There is a lot of space between those two. The hiring process is fraught with risk. It’s almost always a crap shoot no matter how rigorous the hiring process is. And it’s expensive to hire an engineer who doesn’t work out. I have never known a hiring manager in engineering to make a hiring decision based on ego. I am with Top Tier on this one.
@girlengineer In post #30): “P.S.: Sorry for the spelling errors I am typing this on a phone.”
Well, I certainly hope it’s a Sprint phone.
Far more seriously, don’t ever feel AT ALL embarrassed! Character, values, performance, and MANY other attributes are SO much more important than education could ever be, and your educations is fine.
@girlengineer
I would recommend not changing jobs right now. As a recent transfer, you are in a weak position as an applicant.
As for feeling bad, don’t. You have your degree and a job. Anyone who looks down at you for where you went to school has a self-identity problem. Where you go to school most definitely does not define you. You define you. 
WHAT SHE SAID.
@VMT Simply a side discussion with top tier with several factors mentioned other than ego including fit and expectation. But whatever
As I said we don’t even know that she HAS a problem and from her post it seems she DOESN’T. Widener was such a bad choice that she beat a UPenn grad? I’ve been agreeing also with Momphysicsgeek that she not make another employment error which seems to be the real issue.
Re post #35:
I’m all for the OP, she seems just fine to me, and I sincerely wish her great happiness, success, and satisfaction both professionally and personally.
However, @gearmom and @VMT, the germane systemic question, it seems to me, isn’t did @girlengineer receive her current Sprint job when a Penn graduate was passed over – hurray for her – rather it is how frequently would that occur and how frequently would it not? An East Swampy State alum may sometimes prevail in a job competition with a Stanford graduate, but how often and for what job(s)? Were there no major, pervasive and widely-acknowledged advantages to matriculating at the most-competitive universities (and some CC participants seem to suggest that’s true), wouldn’t everyone simply attend East Swampy: it’s easier to be admitted, it’s less expensive, it’s less academically difficult and competitive, and it just may be more fun. Yet, generation after generation, very bright individuals (and their families) work diligently and make profound sacrifices to attend the most demanding and selective institutions (not to suggest that some equally intelligent people do not opt for other higher educational alternatives). Why do they do so? Could it be that America’s long history has generally demonstrated that enduring, tangible, and extremely significant benefits accrue from their decisions to do so?
@gearmom I did not intend to comment specifically on the OP’s situation (though I mentioned Widener in my post). I was really just agreeing with TopTier’s general comments regarding hiring practices and the impact of the name of one’s University. Of course, this is just my view of the world having worked for a large corporation. There are other models for hiring. I don’t know enough about the OP to know if she really has a problem or not.
@TopTier I’m glad that you brought up East Swampy State because I’ve long wanted to champion that uni. Certainly if you are sifting through thousand of applicants, the prestige choices would float to the top like… cream. Of course there is value in making a prestige choice or why would you pay more? But there can be more to hiring than ink and paper. There can be a human factor which sometimes weighs in. Some, certainly not anyone here, but some prestige choice candidates can come across as a tad arrogant to the mere humans who attended East Swampy (or didn’t even do that). This may be no fault of the prestige choice candidate who has spent the last four years with other beautiful minds but I think we can agree that the East Swampy grad has had to peacefully coexist with a more motley crew . Now for the manager putting together a team of diverse characters, the East Swampy candidate may have an advantage since they are likely fluent in “mere mortal” which is commonly spoken in machine shops and work yards across the nation and less likely to “tick off the guys we need to work with on the floor”. So those East Swampy candidates who are not only multilingual but also have consistently received high marks in “Play well with others” and “Would never think to run with scissors” since they were tots may seem like the best candidate for the team.
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