<p>A friend of mine got accepted to all universities she applied to this past month, including Rochester, NYU,stanford, and Syracuse, and some other community colleges as safeties. She attended a public school and parents are mid-lower class. Nevertheless, she decided to leave her family and go to california to attend standford solely because of its prestige. SO, i was wondering how much of this ivy league obsession is mere marketing. For example, suppose two students with fairly equal status and GPA, SAts, etc, one goes to MIT and the other to syracuse. Is it more probable that the one who went to MIT will be more successful later during the draduate studies or does it depend more on the person than the school he/she is going to?</p>
<p>On average? The MIT person will win hands down. Obviously there will be exceptions.</p>
<p>It depend more on the person. Obviously if they'll have same GPA after undergrad, same research projects, same scores, then guy at MIT will be more successful.</p>
<p>Most studies to date say given equal HS records, the college attended has little to no impact on future earnings. If you define success as income there is no advantage for eqaully talented people. Now obviously if you get into MIT your are more talented than most people and should do well. This has been discussed here at length with study citations etc.</p>
<p>Going to an Ivy/top-tier college may be beneficial, but it doesn't guarantee success all the time.</p>
<p>Going to an Ivy/top-tier college may be beneficial, but it doesn't guarantee success all the time.</p>
<p>^ bingo</p>
<p>someone successful at an ivy would have been successful at a "lesser" school</p>
<p>no, it depends more on the person</p>
<p>studies have shown that people from colleges you've never even heard of are accepted to the most prestigious graduate programs</p>
<p>of course, being a perfect student at a prestigious undergraduate school might be more impressive than at a lesser school. but a perfect student at a lesser school very possibly can be as good as or better than a simply "good" student at a prestigious school</p>
<p>Does it determine success? It helps A LOT</p>
<p>Does it assure success? No.</p>
<p>My take: Prestigious schools will open a lot of doors. After the doors are opened, it is up to the individual to make the next move. I think prestige makes it a lot easier but the brightest people will always be able to open that door themselves and take it from there.</p>
<p>To sum it up...
Prestige is opportunity.
Prestige does not always mean success.</p>