<p>I have talked to several people who are past graduate school and are working as professors and other positions in the field I wish to study, and each one of them has said where I go to undergraduate school matters VERY little if at all, and that I would be much better off getting good grades at a cheaper/less prestigious school and saving my money then spending it on an undergraduate education at a "prestigious" university. These people have attended many top schools: Gtown, Uchicago, Yale, etc....</p>
<p>From who I have talked to, only your grades and test scores matter... where you go does matter a bit... but not nearly as much as Rec's, grades, test scores, and other things...</p>
<p>It matters somewhat- if you're going into grad school, going to a good undergrad school will help with admission. Still, how you DO in that undergrad school is more important than which school you attended.</p>
<p>
[quote]
where you go does matter a bit... but not nearly as much as Rec's
[/quote]
Unfortunately, that somewhat contradicts your point. Professors' recommendations do not hold equal weight, as unfair as that might seem, and the best professors often (but not always) teach at the best colleges.</p>
<p>It matters more what you DO with your undergrad degree than where you got it from.
A person with a published paper regarding their individual research and a prestigious internship - but who graduated from a lower ranked, lower name college is more likely to get a job than someone who drank their way through a tier 1 school.</p>
<p>I think undergrad will be like high school all over again in terms of what you have to do to get into a good school. You have to seize the opportunities and show people what you can do. Which undergrad school you go to, like with high school, will decide what kind of opportunities open up to you. Different schools will have their different strengths and weaknesses. I'm a high school senior right now (gotta get my apps in!), and I regret that I was so blind to so many great opportunities around me. I did manage to grasp many great opportunities before it was too late, but I still find many other amazing opportunities that I've looked over. I think this is the case with many (if not every) people. So, sorry for that detour, but basically I agree with other people in that what you do in your undergrad school is more important than where you go, but going to a good school certainly helps you find and pursue many great things.</p>
<p>I can address this point as somebody who will be starting grad school soon. The undergrad institution does matter if you plan to remain in academia. In fact, your academic pedigree will remain with you for the remainder of your career. Furthermore, your undergrad school makes a difference when you apply for grad programs. If you are most interested in medical school, the undergrad institution holds no importance at all in admissions.</p>
<p>bleedblue,
Your professors are telling you the truth. Undergrad matters, but rarely to the degree that so many on CC seem to think. When you get to the real world, the vast majority of people don't care. And even if they do, you will soon learn that there are brilliant co-workers from less prestigious schools who run circles around their colleagues from Ivies and other elites. </p>
<p>One of the ways that undergrad may affect you is in post-graduate opportunities. A few industries will limit their hiring practices to a select circle of colleges, eg, the now sharply declining investment banking industry, but far more important to most employers than where you went is who you are and what you did at ABC College. Any recruiter worth his/her salt can usually separate the wheat from the chaff and not have to rely on the labels of an undergraduate college.</p>
<p>Two things I've found to be true over the years:</p>
<p>(1) As the span of time between the present and your undergraduate days increases, the school you attended matters less and less.</p>
<p>(2) What matters most during your undergraduate years is that your school is a good fit for you. Hate large classes and TAs who teach? Don't go to a large university. Love the hot sun 24/7? Don't go to a school in the northeast. Despise math, science, and engineering? Don't go to a high-caliber techie school. Abhor cut-throat competitiveness? Stay away from the Ivies and cut-throat LACs. Adore the arts? Attend a school where the arts rule supreme.</p>
<p>Making blanket statements such as "expensive prestige schools are a waste" is pointless, especially when you don't know the recipients of your comments.</p>
<p>A theory I've heard, and tend to agree with, is that there is a sort of threshold beyond which the specific undergrad school doesn't matter. So there is little difference between the top Ivies and top LAC's. However, I would argue that there is a difference between going to a top school and a not-so-great school. Although I will agree that undergrad matters less and less as you get older...</p>
<p>It does not. I am an MD myself and went to a well regarded liberal arts school. Going to a research university would likely not have made a difference in my acceptance to med school. What matters, most of all, is how you do academically at school. It does not matter if you go to Stanford or to Bowling Green -- what matters is your GPA and how you have done at the school.</p>
<p>With the crazy economic situation right now and companies laying people off left and right, going to a solid college or university that fits you well is your best bet- don't worry so much about the pedigree. Nowadays a lot of your future will depend more on connections you make through networking (hopefully through internships and working) and possibly grad school. If you have a high GPA and test scores, you have a great chance of getting into the grad school of your choice regardless of the prestige of your undergrad. institution. </p>
<p>Perfect example for you: out of all of my friends who just graduated from college, the most successful is the one who went to SUNY Binghamton. While it is a good school, it's not Harvard, but he was accepted to the top PhD. program in the country for his area of study, which is at UC Berkeley. </p>
<p>Once again, because of the economic situation, many intelligent and talented students are choosing to go to public schools because of the tuition, and these people will still go on to have successful, fruitful careers.</p>
<p>I'm going through this struggle right now. I'm taking a gap year and then attending a small, Catholic, liberal arts college in the northeast. It has a good rep. around the immediate area, but not so sure about nationally. Thankfully, NYC is in the general area so hopefully it will provide me with good job prospects. I am insecure about the fact that I was valedictorian of my high school class, and kids in my class go to places like BU, NYU, GWU, and U. of Chicago. While those big schools are certainly recognized, they just weren't the right fit for me.</p>
<p>It matters more than the people who didn't get into their dream school say it does, and matters less than the people who went to Ivies for undergrad say it does.</p>
<p>Having gone to one of the top schools for my particular major, prior to my current situation, there's added benefits by attending one of the "top schools" for your major because of the connections, network, and reputation among employers. HOWEVER, it is not worth getting into debt just to be at the TOP school. If you can manage to find a middle ground of less prestigious who is still really strong in your major and you can get into less DEBT for it, go to the less prestigious school.</p>
<p>Also take into consideration where you see yourself living once you're done with school, because in all honesty, the city you will live in will have companies that recruit most likely from the nearby colleges, regardless if they're THE BEST at it, take for example UCLA and USC. They each have their departments where they're extremely good at, and then they have other departments where they're still strong in, just not number 1 or 2, but because they are in LA they're bound to get recruiters from companies in LA.</p>
<p>I will repeat things said by two people that I know fairly well by now:
-One is a nationally-renowned allergist who first went to Lafayette, followed by Harvard Med School. He told me that it does not matter at all where you go undergraduate school, as long as you keep up with the ECs, grades, and tests for your area of study.
-One is a top orthodontist who went to Rutgers, followed by Tufts. I told him what colleges I was looking at (Lower Ivies and just below), and he told me that I would just be wasting money going to anywhere but a public school. He also makes upwards of $2 million a year.</p>
<p>You would think I would listen to this device, especially with my family having some financial issues, but I still am looking at the same schools, only because I love to be around people with the same intellectual capacity as me.</p>
<p>I've heard that people only look at your highest degree. Since I'm going for a Master's (not so sure about the PhD...) maybe where I'm going won't matter, but I'll still want a place where I'll want to stay for 4 years, even if in the end where I go to grad school is more important. In that light, it does "matter".</p>