Does where you choose to go to Grad School effect your career?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>I am wondering how much the name of the grad school you attend affects your career. I would think that attending an elite program (MIT, Harvard, Cal Tech, Georgia Tech, Cornell, Texas A&M, UT, Michigan, Stanford, etc etc) would significantly boost your chances of employment. However, I haven't found much statistics to back this up. Why not attend a cheaper lower-ranked program or a lower-ranked program that offered you a tuition waiver plus a stipend? </p>

<p>Unless the name of an elite program acts as a 'silver bullet' for any interview or promotion opportunity, I find it hard justifying paying for a higher-ranked program when there are much cheaper options available. I'm sure this is a common dilemma. So I'm wondering if any people have experience with this?</p>

<p>Anyone attending an elite university:<br>
Have you found that you were given opportunities at this school that you wouldn't have received at a lower-ranked institution? Have you found that the prestige of your school helps in interviews and/or garners more respect in industry? Or is it largely ignored? Are there any other benefits from attending graduate school at an exclusive university that I need to consider?</p>

<p>If it's any help, I'm enrolling in an MS program, not a PhD nor a M.Eng.</p>

2

<p>What field? What specialization?</p>

<p>Generally speaking, especially for a research degree (even more especially for the PhD, but a thesis Master’s as well), it doesn’t matter what school you go to, so much as what group you’re in, and what contributions you make.</p>

3

<p>Does where you go effect your career? Of course it does, but I’m guessing the number on thing it effects is what your research topic is. So if I had two acceptances on the table I would look at the research opportunities and go with the one that most fascinated me.</p>

4

<p>It depends a lot on what you want to do with your career. There are a few areas where an “elite” degree will boost your career, notably academia and those jobs where you will be interacting with a lot of non-engineers - if you want to start your own company, for example, it is a lot easier to find funding as an MIT grad than as a South Central Louisiana State grad (Go Muddogs!). If you want to be a “regular” engineer it only really matters how competent you are, so go where you will get the best education for you - no one will care if you are an MIT grad ten years down the road, they will care what you did in that time.</p>