<p>I'm in High school, a sophomore, and I get average grades, with a 3.5 gpa</p>
<p>My question is, does it matter later in life when you go to job interviews and just in life in general? </p>
<p>Say I go to a very selective college and decide that I wanna go into wall street, would I have a much higher chance of getting a job than somebody who went to a crappy school?</p>
<p>Does it all depend on what major you choose? </p>
<p>And yes I plan like to attend a good college and make very good money doing whatever it is I do. Maybe finance or work for a big corporation, maybe architecture. </p>
<p>Somebody please shine some light on this for me, haha</p>
<p>This is a loaded question. The answer really depends on whether or not you’re going to grad school, what field you are in, etc. A lot of the time, the answer will be no, it does not make much of a difference beyond opportunities offered at each school. Certain paths (such as law), however, will put a weight on where you go to college or grad school.</p>
<p>Wall Street investment banks specifically tend to be more school-prestige-conscious than most types of employers. But not all types of employers are like that.</p>
<p>Really prestigious schools usually have good recruitment. This is because selective companies want to go their and their factuality usually has connections to their various fields. </p>
<p>Inversely, these same co may not recruit at your typical state university. e.g. will Google goto University of Idaho or University of California Berkeley for recruitment? Likewise the professors at these schools usually lack access. e.g. a science teacher that teaches science but does no research in the field or an accounting teacher with no personal connections to accounting firms. </p>
<p>So if you goto a typical state college what can you do? Cold apply your resume? If you plan to apply to your typical local ~10-30 personal ‘company’ then this won’t matter but if you want to get into a big firm the access a prestigious schools gives you is critical. Not to mention the "respect’ the degree carries…</p>
<p>a few years later it’ll be your work exp that keeps pushing you forward but a good degree CAN give you a great start.</p>
<p>As a general rule, people tend to hire people just like themselves, including where they went to college. Like it or not, it’s just a way we have of controlling for an unknown, we tend to stick with the familiar. Familiar = low risk, unfamiliar = high risk. </p>
<p>So if you want to go to work in a place with lots of Ivy grads, your odds are increased by having Ivy credentials. That same Ivy degree in a small town in the mid-South wouldn’t mean as much, and in fact may be at a disadvantage to one from Ole Miss or Bama. It’s all about context.</p>
<p>In order to make it to a major Wall Street corporation, a degree from a prestigious university is virtually a prerequisite. Whether it’s undergrad, grad, or both.</p>
<p>If you think that life is about challenging yourself then yes, your college experience matters. The pursuit of excellence has made out civilization what it is. Schools aren’t best because they are prestigious. They are prestigious because they have the most to offer. The facilities, the professors, research opportunities, competition, guest lecturers etc. </p>
<p>Does that affect the jobs you get for the test of your life. Well, to me, common sense says yes. Any growth in our life makes us more valuable to future employers but to me, the primary goal from four years of college should be to enjoy those four years as you should enjoy every day of your life. So pick a school that fits you best</p>