How Much of An Impact Will College Prestige Have on Future Job Search

<p>How much does the 'name' on your bachelors diploma affect your job search?</p>

<p>I am going to be a freshman in college next school year and will be going to St. John's University in Queens, NY. I am going to STJ because it is offering me over $20K off per year, do you think I will be looked down upon b/c I went to STJ? </p>

<p>I got accepted into the George Washington University but if I do attend that school I may have to pay close to $150K in debt, something I don't want to do. Whereas if I go to STJ, I may have to pay around $40K.</p>

<p>Will I be put aside b/c I didn't attend a school like NYU or GWU? I want to end up getting a job four years in Los Angeles in the business field, so will it look bad if I apply here in the East Coast from a school that those people may not have heard of?</p>

<p>I can opt to go to the better school, but I want to save financial burden for me and my family. Still I want a nice job in the future, and am worried I will be pushed off because of the 'name.'</p>

<p>I used to think prestige mattered but now that I have worked at 2 internships with people from a wide variety of colleges, I would say that as long as the school is somewhat reputable, it doesn’t matter as much. Your grades matter a lot though.</p>

<p>But will the whole ‘me being in NYC and trying to find a job LA’ be affected by rep or location? Or is finding internships and getting good grades the most important things?</p>

<p>It’ll be harder but not impossible. Getting good grades and getting valuable experience that the companies in LA like will get you a long way though.</p>

<p>DONT take out 140 in debt for undergrad. Save that money for grad school.</p>

<p>St. Johns is a good school and you can shine there if you work very hard…and are very disciplined…no partying or extracurricular activities…such as entertainment, spending money in restaurants and carousing around.</p>

<p>The trick with St. Johns is finishing in the top of your class, then you will be fine. </p>

<p>Go there and work your behind off…it pays HUGE dividends at any school when you do.</p>

<p>GW is a great school…famous faculty…but its urban and “very DC” meaning politicos and working for the government or on Capitol Hill. Its campus is urban and large buildings, but the dorms are nice. </p>

<p>St. Johns has wonderful basketball to enjoy at Madison Square Garden, if you find the time. But again, you have to work. </p>

<p>GW is VERY competitive…and the students are not as laid back as St. Johns. St. Johns professors have good contacts…if you find the right mentor and become an exceptional student.</p>

<p>Dumb question, but being NUMBER ONE in the class could be hard, but what about anywhere in the top 5%?</p>

<p>class rank really doesn’t matter in college. You are competing for yourself to get the best possible grades possible (and hopefully for a spot on that Deans and Honor Roll list!)</p>

<p>The difference in prestige between SJ and GW is not great enough for this thread to even exist.</p>

<p>^^I agree. If you are not Ivy, MIT, Stanford, Duke, Berkeley, etc., noone frankly cares where you went to college. Outside of the top 25, people just shrug their shoulders. So, don’t give it a second thought.</p>

<p>It varies. Some industries have a reputation of being very school-prestige-conscious even after many years and jobs after you graduate (e.g. investment banking, consulting, law with respect to your law school). In others, the prominence of your school and its location primarily matter in how many recruiters you will see in the career center for your internships, co-ops, and first job at graduation, but the it becomes less relevant as time passes.</p>

<p>Maybe 2 years at St. johns and then transfer to a CA school which will serve you best if you want a job in LA.</p>

<p>That’s not good, I want to go into investment banking, ‘ucbalumnus’</p>

<p>Do you have any real reason for going into investment banking other than you hear it pays well?</p>

<p>so…if the op wants to go into investment banking, what makes him think that GW would be better than SJ to achieve his goal?</p>

<p>I just figured the better ranking could help me land a better job in the field. I have friends in IB and I am really interested in the field…But I was thinking of transferring to a school in LA after my second year, so in general is it easier or harder to transfer? Does my HS record/tests play any role?</p>

<p>GW will not help you in IB over SJ. You need to check each school to see if HS stats matter after two years in college. Each school is different.</p>

<p>but will going to STJ hurt my chances of finding a job in LA after college if I don’t end up transferring.</p>