<p>I'm a hiring manager for a major aerospace company. Here's the deal. If you're being hired with 5+ years in the industry, where you went to school makes little difference...we'll be interested in your degrees, of course, but where you earned them will not be a significant driver compared to your work history. If you are being hired with little experience, we will look at your degrees and GPAs first, and where you earned them second. We do maintain a "preferred school" list, but the list in much bigger than you would think....nearly 100 schools are presently on it. Within that list, it makes little difference. Your degrees, your GPA...and very, very importantly....your job interviews, as well as any co-op or summer intern experience, will determine if you get an offer.</p>
<p>I do not speak for i-banking or other industries, but for mainstream science or engineering jobs at major corporations, this is the way it works.</p>
<p>Yeah, seriously, who cares if you get a really good first job because of your school if, when you get the job you hate it and end up being fired or something... in the over-all long run (i.e. by the time you're 40) the school you went to will mean very little to which career you are working.</p>
<p>it seems like the general agreement for everybody is if you want a good job out of college then an elite school matters. In the very long run, experience matters most, i totally agree. But, it's important to develop that experience, and having a good job from the very beginning is important. I am certain of this after having taken an HR course on recruitment at Cornell - before, i thought that it didnt matter much. </p>
<p>rogracer - my parents also stick to the 5-8 years of experience thing. VP and executive positions are given to those with experience and past success. Their "preferred schools" list is much shorter though, usually about 15-25 schools at most. The aerospace field seems a little different too, you can graduate with almost any degree and work for an IBank, but i'll be damned if an english major can get a job as an aerospace engineer. They also look at where you held a management position. It's easy to say you were a manager at wal-mar, getting a job like this is cake. However, a management position at a company like Goldman-Sachs is much different. </p>
<p>griff - even if you hate the job you get, you still have the killer resume and an education from a top school to aid you in another job search. I'd much rather get a job, hate it, then move on rather than get a job, hate it, but be unable to move on due to an inability to get another job due to competition. Your argument: i'm not buying it. </p>
<p>If you want to rely on age and experience for a high paying job, go ahead! I'd rather now wait until i'm 40.</p>
<p>Once you leave college, then where you went really doesn't make a difference. Just like once your at college it doesn't matter if you were valedictorian, had a 4.0 GPA, or whatever else.</p>
<p>A college education is all that matters. It's what you do with the resources that are given to you. If you do that, then your guarenteed to find a good job.</p>
<p>in your opinion, which school is better: Stanford or SUNY Oswego. It is a matter of opinion, i wish it was only my opinion alone, but it's also the opinion of those responsible for recruiting for jobs. It's tough to ignore this.</p>
<p>The name matters most if you want to enter the buisness sector, in such jobs as Ibanking and Consulting. These industries are heavily baised towards elite schools. Furthermore, the first job out of colleges into these fields may be the most important.</p>
<p>For other industries, the pure name matters less.</p>
<p>For Grad school admissions, the name may help you get in.</p>
<p>I think it's both on personal preferences (small or big, rural), and quality of academics. And yes, graduate school name probably does matter more.</p>
<p>Here's an interesting tidbit:
Harvard dominates comedy writing. Yes, you heard me right. Rumor has it that many of the Simpsons writers went there - in one episode a guy was wearing a striped tie with, of course, the Harvard colors. Yesterday, at my school, we had career day where school alumni came and told us about their job. One was a writer for Malcolm in the Middle, who went to UCLA, and said, after I asked him, that 3 of the 9 writers there went to Harvard. And, he hinted that the proportion is greater among the Simpsons writers. He said this is so simply because the job is awesome - he described it as cracking jokes all day with a bunch of guys in a room and occasionally writing a script - and you get paid a lot, think tens of thousands at least per episode. Of course, it's selective. But, this doesn't mean that Harvard gets you the job, but at least that it knows how to pick 'em.</p>
<p>
[quote]
If you want to rely on age and experience for a high paying job, go ahead! I'd rather now wait until i'm 40. I'd much rather get a job, hate it, then move on rather than get a job, hate it, but be unable to move on due to an inability to get another job due to competition. Your argument: i'm not buying it.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>By the way, I am employed full time in an Information Systems position, while I am going to school full time, maintaining a 3.8 GPA, and studying Accounting/Information Systems (my current job is GREAT experience to go along with my major of choice). Thus, I'm not so worried about the "job prospects" upon graduating, because I work for a solid company, headquartered in Hong Kong and doing over a billion in revenue each year in 5 different industry sectors.</p>
<p>In fact, I'm kicking it here at work as I write this, listening to Tool, working without any direct supervision, maintaining the computer operations for 32 locations, and so I think my resume will do just fine for itself.</p>
<p>And my argument, experience matters more than where you went to school, is about as strong as you will hear once you enter the real world man.</p>
<p>peace.</p>
<p>And about the "alumni network" you talk about, I buy that, yeah...having a strong network is very much important when you are searching for a job. All schools have alumni networks, however, so I'm sure there are plenty of jobs out there that are exclusive to other schools' students only because of bias towards one's alma mater. Why do you think Bain and company loves BYU so much...because they have a strong network with the "big wigs" at Bain.</p>
<p>Getting a top, high-paying job right out of school is not all that important to a lot of people. There are sectors like nonprofit, government, the arts, etc. where the money you make is secondary to the satisfaction you get from your job.
As an anecdote, my cousin works for a multibillion dollar investment firm, it's CEO attended St. Joseph's College. Tant pis.</p>
<p>BYU? The Mormons have money! Don't mess with them, be good to your neighbor, they are very valuable resource. My neighbor was actually trying to fix me up with a scholarship to BYU-Hawaii, lol!</p>
<p>I'll give the mormons their props, they do have extremely strong global networks. Something unknown to those who are unfamiliar with the religion.</p>
<p>griff - you are lucky that you have this opportunity. Obviously, you're not going to have any problems. You have it made with a job and a high gpa. But, you're not the average student. I would love to have a nice job full time while enrolled in school. But, there's just no way i could even swing a part time job with Cornell's academics. I doubt i am alone with this. School is my job right now, and although i'm a junior at Cornell i'm only 19. I'll get my experience, and career services here is second to none. </p>
<p>mike99 - i didnt say graduates from mediocre schools get the worst jobs. They just often dont get the very best to start out with. </p>
<p>dwincho - you're absolutely right. According to a 2004 Society for Human Resource Management, benefits was the #1 component for job satisfaction aspects for employees. Runners up included compensation and job security. Though pay is important, the best companies offer more than just pay. would you like to work for SAS in the mid-east (one of the carolinas)??? Now, they pay about average. When we look at this company, we see that it is not all about just high-pay. SAS offers benefits that rock many average companies: free healthcare for entire family, free child daycare, full retirement benefits, stock options, company car, free gym membership, free country club membership, free cafeteria with professoinal chefs - the list goes on and on and on. Good luck trying to get a job there out of a mediocre college, they get hundreds of applications a week. </p>
<p>I'm not going to beat a dead horse much longer. I firmly belive that graduating from a top college will give one a competitive advantage when it comes to both grad schools and the entery job market. </p>
<p>I'm not just talking out of my ass, my arguments are based on the following:
- 3 Harvard Business School case studies (provided me with the quote "some companies hire only from the best schools")
- 1 Human Resource class taught at Cornell University
- 1 Organizational Behavior class at Cornell (studied the link between general intelligence and job performance)
- 2 parents who both recrit for two Fortune 500 companies
- 1 guest lecture by a VP of hiring from Microsoft
- 1 recruitment essay done in the HR class
- 1 Harvard Law school class profile - numbers show the best colleges have dozens more enrolled. It's posted online.
- 1 excellent internship granted only to cornell students</p>
<p>I've made my case and i'll stick to it regardless of what others may think. It's a tough pill for some to swallow, but it happens sorry to say. A name college really does matter.</p>