<p>At the end of the day personality and looks will probably land you the job, assuming your resume has all the “right” information an employer is looking for. These days they have so many resumes to look at and top school graduates will have a much better chance on getting on the “second look” pile.</p>
<p>But the thing is, Gtbguy, what is considered a “top school” varies by location. In many cities and at many companies, the local state flagship or respectable nearby private carries more weight than some far-away fancy school. Certainly no one is going to discount a resume from a prestigious university, but it may not offer the “boost” that people like to think it does.</p>
<p>Look at it this way: you only have to impress the people who are reviewing your resume. Depending on the size of the organization, that could be a recruiter and the hiring manager within the department, or an all-purpose HR person. Those people are often graduates of the “known” local schools and think they’re just great, even if by objective measures they are not the most excellent institutions.</p>
<p>Of course there ARE companies that recruit nationwide for entry-level positions (and thus may care more about national “name-brand” schools) but they are in the minority.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>funny!
where do you get this stuff from? </p>
<p>yep, them thar fancy schools in those far away places just ain’t learnin their students the way our local respectable school does. yep.</p>
<p>Where I get it, fluffy, is from decades of real-world experience–something you don’t have. There is no need to be dismissive just because you want to believe your persistent myths.</p>
<p>I feel sad about the kids spending their evenings responding to parents on a message board, when they should be with their friends enjoying their last year of high school.</p>
<p>As an aside, EK, not everyone find enjoyment being out with friends. To some, interacting with electronic “friends” is much more relaxing and enjoyable than being with friends IRL. (Note, I’m talking about students who might be on here responding to parents… not trolls.) It’s an introvert trait. 
</p>
<p>What emeraldkity4 said. Plus, don’t feed the trolls.</p>
<p>Edison, my two kids, my husband and I do NOT have stories about going to higher ranked schools. Believe it or not, my husband and I are very happy with the educations we received at, what YOU would view as very low ranked schools. We both have very successful careers. </p>
<p>Our kids did NOT go to top 20 colleges. Both received excellent educations, and we make NO excuses about their choice of colleges.</p>
<p>Your implication that those attending colleges out of,the top 20 being unhappy with their choices, or career outcomes is…well…as offensive as your comment about Uconn being a “grimy public university”. </p>
<p>^FGS, thumper, people from those schools aren’t “successful” - you’re just living the life of delusional denial rather than face the fact that you were “sorted out where you belong” - somewhere mid heap with the rest of the plebes. Now bow down and pay homage like you’re supposed to.</p>
<p>;)</p>
<p>I understand that it might be easier Romani, but you don’t become skilled or even comfortable without practice.
Some people are at a stage in life where they should listen more than they speak.</p>
<p>You don’t “practice” a trait. I’m speaking as an introvert. People exhaust me. I legitimately don’t find it relaxing or fun to be around people. It is what it is. I can do it when I need to for work/school/whatever. I’ve been fairly successful so far IMO. </p>
<p>Anyway, it was just an aside. I stick by it though. </p>
<p>I understand that, I am an introvert also who is hard of hearing and it is easier to communicate with a keyboard.
But I also am not looking to going off to college and live in a dorm and if I was, I might think learning how to get along with others while taking care of myself to be more important than to get in arguments over the internet about things I dont know much about.</p>
<p>Something to consider – There are still careers where they actually don’t care about your resume. At the State Department, there’s this story they tell about a guy who self-studied for the foreign service exam while driving a taxi. He never went to college! And yes, he’s a foreign service officer – the same as the guys with the Princeton degrees and six figure debt.</p>
<p>So much for the “sorting” hypothesis . . . </p>
<p>So are we saying there is no need to go to college? Our kids could do self study or do it online. It would save me 250K.</p>
<p>Momzie…the very very vast majority of foreign seevice officers have college degrees. I’m not sure how old your story is, but we know foreign service officers, and the only ones earning six figures have been FS officers for a LONG time. I believe new folks must be college grads. </p>
<p>There is absolute truth that certain professions require better undergrad programs. Anyone planning to enter law school should plan to attend a top law school. Folks should look at recruitment practices on college campuses…and see what companies recruit for those campuses. That can be an advantage in some professions as well.</p>
<p>But back to the OPs question…how do you pay for an Ivy or private university? Your family pays, the colleges give you financial aid (need based for the Ivies and some top schools, merit at others), or your family takes out loans (since you can’t GET $250,000 in loans in the student name only).</p>
<p>Sally305, I work for a company with 9000 employees and we only hire folks from top engineering schools all over the country (for 10 years I was an engineering recruiter so I know the process) . We do hire engineering staff from the local state university but for the most part we go out of state. Also, from the mid-level managers on up probably about 75% come from the top 25 engineering/science schools.So if you want to advance in a company going to a private university will likely end up making you more money over a 30+ year career. Parents are probably paying the big tuition but our sons and daughters will reap the benefits. I guess it depends how you look at it.</p>
<p>@thumper1 - interesting point. “anyone planning to enter law school should plan to attend a top law school”.</p>
<p>Getting into most grad schools is more about your GPA and your entrance exams. This underscores the point that going to one of the prestigious schools is pointless as an undergrad. A student who enters Harvard or Stanford Law from PoDunkU rather than from Harvard or Stanford has the same law degree. Getting a job at a pretentious firm will be the same for both (all else being equal). Oh, except the person who went cheap in undergrad will actually be able to invest or spend that salary right away rather than paying on student loans.</p>
<p>To practice law, you just need to pass the bar. You don’t have to go to a ‘good’ school to argue before the Supreme Court. While there are certainly a narrow group of firms that focus on where you went to school over what you actually know…it only matters if you care about the ‘brand name’ of the firm. Individual attorneys can do much better working at a smaller firm anyway rather than being a lackey for one of the ‘big boys’.</p>
<p>
You need to get hired first or have paying customers.
Few years back, when the information was available, I checked where HLS and YLS students went to UG. It appeared both of them had high % of students from top tier schools, and most of them were from their own schools (HY). I believe they no longer publish such data. They only list UG schools, not how many students from each school.</p>
<p>oldfort, you are right that they don’t publish the numbers, but for the benefit of others reading here’s where Harvard Law students came from–171 institutions, many of them “regular”:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.law.harvard.edu/prospective/jd/apply/undergrads.html”>http://www.law.harvard.edu/prospective/jd/apply/undergrads.html</a></p>
<p>Yale Law School students came from (scroll down within the article):</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.law.yale.edu/admissions/profile.htm”>http://www.law.yale.edu/admissions/profile.htm</a></p>
<p>Plenty of “regular” colleges represented here as well. The point is, it CAN be done and going to Average State U or Ordinary College as an undergrad does not mean the end of someone’s chances at a top-tier law school if they have the grades and GPA.</p>