Don't go to a college just because of it's "Name" .

Applying to College
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<p>Since it was suggested to post this so people could see, here it is :P @shawnspencer‌ </p>

<p>I have heard many times how people prefer an Ivy League school over a non-ivy league, believing that you're guaranteed a job,world-recognition,etc etc from graduating from schools like HYPS and guaranteed a job.</p>

<p>I can assure you I have seen many Harvard graduates and other ivy league graduates be rejected from a job than a COMMUNITY COLLEGE graduate.In fact, If I was an employer and had two people, one from a non-ivy league school, and one from a ivy league school like Harvard, and saw the non Harvard candidate had more qualities/things that I am looking for than the Harvard person, I am dumping that Harvard person's applicant in the trash and taking the other person. Yes I will applaud someone for getting into Harvard, but at the end of the day, I don't care what big name school someone is from. If they can't be a good asset to my company, I don't want them. If they are book smart,good for them.However, I want to see some knowledge/intelligence outside the books and studying.</p>

<p>And actually very ivy-league graduates BECOME world well known. Most of the well known people I know did go to a Ivy League for a little while yes...but they dropped out LOL. Though I am sure they had plans set in place first before just dropping out which came to work to their advantage.</p>

<p>And just APPLY and you'll see. Though I'm going to say even though you may have like a 4.0, 2400 SAT or 36 ACT or insane amounts of EC's and whatnot, you can still be rejected.</p>

<p>Don't be frustrated because for many years it has been happening. It's nothing new. Yes strive for the best, but there's a difference for wanting the best because others say so, and wanting the best that accommodates YOU and only YOU.</p>

<p>At the end of the day,go to a school that you know you will do well in, not because of it's stupid name. That so-called name won't be there to pay your taxes or possible DEBT you may have from it or will be there for you when you are sick. :) That's just me though. Also..I know many people who used to go to Ivy League/transferred that said there are other COLLEGES out there that actually do better than an Ivy-League school is doing and some regret going to a school that really isn't all that like it used to be. Everyone has a different pathway and life and what another's life path leads them to, does not guarantee you yourself having the same thing happen.</p>

<p>And this is coming from a girl who had all the ivy league schools listed as college choice when she was in 3rd grade(Yes.I started planning/thinking ahead.I can't help it. :P)</p>

<p>Don't go somewhere because of it's name. That name won't get you a guaranteed easy-going life, nor a good relationship with others, etc. Yes, you will obtain knowledge that may benefit the world but keep in mind that ANY college can have a student that decides to make a everlasting impact on this planet called Earth. Go somewhere that you know you will be challenged and will grow and will have a fun time too. Don't try to keep the mindset you will be guaranteed a job because you're "Ivy-League". You won't. 100% guaranteed you won't. Work more on how you develop as a person, work on your hands-on skills, skills beyond the books and lectures and reading textbooks and essays. Work on academics yes, but work on the soft skills that you need in order to strive under a company/organization.</p>

<p>At first, it was hard for me to realize this and was very stubborn in the belief that I should go to a Ivy-League school. After a series of doing volunteer events and winning a program where I had managed to successfully develop soft skills required in the work force after college that many people lack, I realized my faults and changed my choices and I do not regret one bit having a change of heart.</p>

<p>People can have a degree and flaunt it all they want, but if you don't got the skills to back up that degree, that piece of paper is all what it is: a piece of paper with no strong foundation to back it up.</p>

<p>Also, please please PLEASE enjoy those 4 (or maybe more) years of college you will have. Many of you see how the world/society is right now. Take advantage of those times because those 4 years you are NEVER getting back. Make no regrets. Seriously. I don't want any of you to wake up 20-30 years from now, waking up and regretting making such a naive choice to going to a college where you were unhappy in and didn't suit you well as a person, </p>

<p>All because of the belief the school will fit you well based off of other people who the school truly was meant to fit comfortably for.</p>

<p>This is just my two cents though. I'm only an 18 year old girl who is on her way of going through the roller coaster of college admissions. :P </p>

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<p>I’m not debating the thesis of your post. But personally I don’t believe your assurance. The HYPSM and CC graduates apply to very different jobs that their applications seldom overlap. So I doubt you have seen many jobs go to CC graduates while there are HYPSM graduates applying to the same jobs.</p>

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<p>@pastwise It is fine if you don’t want to believe my assurance. :slight_smile: I should’ve edited community college to a non-ivy league school. My fault </p>

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<p>While I do agree with the fundamental premise that most of one’s successes is determined by attitude, abilities, intelligence and hard-work, I do believe that the so called brand-name colleges have vastly superior networks that can really help one get his or her foot in the door.</p>

<p>Of course, I (and others) would like to believe that the name of college has little to do with our own success, but the harsh reality is that many of the top firms will greatly favor certain colleges.</p>

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<p>It’s not like many people have the choice to GO to an ivy league school. The hard part, getting admitted, makes this a total non-issue for most people. </p>

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<p>@arghwhy‌
Are ivy alumni networks really stronger than those of, say, state flagships? I’m asking because the two flagships in Texas have VERY strong networks. I doubt small private schools can compete with them, actually.</p>

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<p>It is certainly possible…</p>

<p><a href=“Berkeley News | Berkeley”>Berkeley News | Berkeley;
<a href=“Aaron Benavidez | Department of Sociology”>http://sociology.fas.harvard.edu/people/aaron-benavidez&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I.e. this Sacramento City College graduate will, when he graduates from his Harvard PhD program, likely apply to the kinds of jobs that other graduates of his Harvard PhD program apply to.</p>

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<p>@ucbalumnus, there are always exceptions to the norm. It’s like seeing a news item that someone won a lottery by buying a single ticket, and think you can follow his steps and reproduce it. I just don’t expect it to happen though you can argue it’s certainly possible. (Now success from CC will be higher than buying lottery tickets, but I think you understand what I’m trying to say.)</p>

<p>Also I am not comparing the cases where someone gets additional degrees after CC or have worked for 20 years. It’s not what the CC degree gets him/her the jobs. So the question really is, have you personally “seen” “many” jobs go to CC graduates over HYPSM applicants? How many is many? What’s the percentage?</p>

<p>BTW, as I mentioned earlier, I’m not debating OP’s thesis. My initial post was in specific response to the line I quoted which OP has since agreed to be over dramatizing.</p>

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<p>@arghwhy:</p>

<p>Right, as @Fredjan said, it depends on location and industry, so I don’t think you can generalize. In the Northeast, particularly on Wall Street, certain Ivy/elite-private networks range from strong to extremely strong. Yet I know some state schools that are strong in CS have nice networks in Silicon Valley as well (and obviously a bunch of privates do as well). And even on Wall Street, some of the top state schools (or at least the b-schools of those state schools) have networks that are quite good.</p>

<p>For sure, if you want to get on Wall Street, look at Wall Street targets/semi-targets (though there is at least one public that will surprise you on how well they place there), and if you want to join an MBB, go where they recruit (but note that they tend to take the cream of the crop even at HYPSM).</p>

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<p>I agree that a good fit school is much much better than a school simply with fame or good reputation for the student. </p>

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<p>Maybe I should’ve changed the thread title to "Don’t apply to a school just because of it’s “Name” " :slight_smile: </p>

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<p>if you’re at it, may as well take out the apostrophe in “it’s” :3</p>

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<p>@SammyxB, don’t you think you should wait until you actually go to college before you make these predictions???</p>

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<p>@oldmom4896 No. The reason why I said no is because what I just said is what has been passed down to me from people who already went to college and had experience the college life.These same people were the ones who gave me advice about high school before I entered it and now , looking back at my years of HS, they were correct and I believe that the advice they give me now for college will most likely happen. What I had said isn’t really anything new. It has been said before and still stands firm. I already seen people make regrets after their 4 years and many telling me how they woke up and regret some of the choices they made.</p>

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<p>Oh, anecdotes. Remember the advice to do the research, actually look into the colleges. You liked my post, on another thread, about critical thinking. The idea is to make your own best decisions- not just take others at their word. Or their spin.</p>

<p>I can’t resist asking how, many ivy League grad do you know? Or current students?</p>

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<p>Ivy Leagues usually only admit applicants that are most likely going to be successful in the future (regardless of whether or not they have an Ivy League diploma). Bookworms won’t get into HYPMS. </p>

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<p>Exceptions to the norm? It’s fairly common for students to go from a mid-tier state school to a selective PhD/graduate program–and they probably paid a lot less for their undergraduate degree. </p>

<p>@SammyxB I’m with oldmom here. Although I agree with your claim, you’ll need more than hearsay to build a strong argument. Find that commonly cited study (re: students accepted to Ivies but chose not to attend and their salary compared to Ivy graduates. spoiler alert: the salaries are the same.) or something other than making up a hypothetical. </p>

<p>In my opinion, it makes sense to go to an Ivy or Ivy equivalent for undergrad if:
-it costs less than other alternatives
-you will not go to graduate school (even then, this is shaky)
-you want to work in finance/consulting (MBB)</p>

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<p>@Vctory, read the entire thread before you post. Don’t be so trigger heavy.</p>

<p>I was debating the point that many jobs go to CC graduates instead of Ivy applicants. ucbalumnus throws out an example of someone who did CC. I said there are always exceptions. Futhermore, that’s not even a good example because the person had advanced to better schools instead of going to work force directly after CC.</p>

<p>So don’t be so biased that you already know what you want to write before considering others’ points.</p>

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<p>@Vctory:</p>

<p>I’d change that to “costs about the same and is a better fit”.</p>

<p>No need to eschew brand names just because (and big state schools, LACs, & elite privates all have different strengths and weaknesses to them). However, paying 120K more over 4 years if you do have a good alternative at state school prices makes sense only in a few specific situations (or unless you have money to burn). </p>

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<p>ETA at the beginning of my post: I assumed OP couldn’t be ridiculous enough to say that an associates degree > bachelors degree. A way that a CC grad could be equal to a HYPSM grad is if both of them go on to prestigious grad schools. Two HLS grads are two HLS grads, regardless of undergrad. There’s no need to debate straight out of CC vs HYSPM. That’s silly. I thought the debate was on general undergrad prestige.</p>

<p>I read the entire thread, and I wasn’t trigger heavy.</p>

<p>OP was referring to undergraduate prestige not being important.
ucbalumnus threw out an example of a CC -> Harvard PhD.</p>

<p>You’re right that CC grads don’t immediately compete with HYPSM grads in the job market–nor do they compete with state school grads, TTT grads, regional school grads, etc. They have an associates degree; it’ll be harder for them to compete with a bachelors. </p>

<p>Now, I read OP’s post to mean a prestigious undergrad isn’t necessary for success (why a student shouldn’t choose a school because of its name). In other words: undergrad prestige doesn’t matter (w/ the exclusion of finance). CC grads/state school grads (don’t see why we’re lumping them together, but c’est la vie) can still, with the same effort as a HYSPM grad, apply for the same jobs as the HYPSM grads and be just as successful. Typically, they do this by going to a prestigious graduate school. </p>

<p>The purpose of this thread is to say that undergraduate prestige doesn’t matter. No one ever said grad school prestige doesn’t matter (it does). The example uc gave is perfect. </p>

<p>If OP actually thinks an associates degree is > a bachelors degree for hiring purposes…then…well…lol.</p>

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<p>Agreed. (I’d say 50k more over 4 years is still too much)</p>