<p>I need both pros and cons to the above statement, which I heard from an anonymous person.</p>
<p>Your life can be screwed at a school of any rank. Top 20 hold no sway on that situation.</p>
<p>Um… no. School is what you make of it.</p>
<p>As time progresses, I think it’s going to get harder and harder in the U.S. to get a job unless you’re from a prestigious university. So in a sense, it’s true.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you fit better at another university, I think it’s better to enjoy your 4 years of undergraduate study at a non-prestigious university than at a prestigious university where you’ll be miserable</p>
<p>Well, you kind of are if you want to go into I-Banking. If not, you should be relatively okay. I mean, even if you want to do I-Banking, going to a non-top 20 will not KILL you. You just really have to prove yourself.</p>
<p>to phuriku,
I heard that in China, if you don’t go to the top five universities in the nation, you will have hard time finding a job anywhere. The different between the two scenarios is that, in the US, there is more capitalism which provides profound opportunities for people from ‘low’ schools and even without college degrees to rise in the social ladder in one way or another. Because there are many successes of people with little institutional education, the society itself begin to weigh less and less on college education as a whole. I truely believe that fifty years or even thirty years ago, people weighed more on prestige of education than people of today.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, I disagree, but only if you plan to go to grad school/remain in the US. This statement holds true if you return home after your undergrad, and particularly if you live in a prestige-crazy Asian country. Of course, a foreign education always raises eyebrows out here, but a well-known school (like Stanford) always draws gasps and almost always wins you the job. Just my 2 cents.</p>
<p>Are you Asian, BobbyJan?</p>
<p>Just about every citizen in Asian countries is into prestige. Many are crazy about HYP. Outside of those three universities, they go, “huh?”</p>
<p>This is somewhat an exaggeration but nonetheless holds some truth.</p>
<p>Look at the “academic ranking of the world” by china and you will know they think berkeley is better than princeton and yale.</p>
<p>I am chinese but I live permanently in the US.</p>
<p>Ooh, I go to number 20! I just made it! YAY, MY LIFE ISN’T SCREWED!</p>
<p>So basically everyone who goes to Bryn Mawr is screwed? Disagree.</p>
<p>BobbyJan - this is a deceiving statement. If you know what you want to major in (or at least an area), you need to get into the school with the most reputable program. Last I looked, HYP don’t offer every major. Certain schools are known for specific programs, and graduating from that program carries a lot more prestige than had you graduated from HYP in certain areas. They are not the be all and end all for every program. If you’re looking at one of the majors that they have solid reputations in, then apply there, but don’t exclude everything else. Why would you go there when you could get better training from somewhere else, that probably has a better networking and better job placement success?</p>
<p>I just think this statement is false, completely. First of all, most people don’t go into I-Banking, there just aren’t enough jobs in I-banking for all the wannabe I-Bankers. Secondly, 9/10 times your GPA, your work experience, and your interview are more important to a potential employer than your undergraduate institutions’ reputation. For graduate students, its a different story, but for undergrad, I really don’t think it matters all that much. Besides, most professionals go on to get some kind of advanced degree anyway.</p>
<p>tokyorevelation - I agree; it’s where you get your terminal degree from that matters. So then you’d want to pick an undergrad school that can best prepare you to get into a grad program. Interviewers aren’t going to care about the bachelor degree if you have an advanced degree, but you want to care about which place has the best placement rate of undergrads into grad schools.</p>
<p>Which isn’t always the top 20 schools… for example, Harvey Mudd ranks 14th out of LACs (certainly not very prestigious in relation to the top 20 non-LACs) but has excellent graduate placement. Same with Reed.</p>
<p>Georgetown is number 23, but is still very presitigous. Number 20 is not a “cut-off” for prestige.</p>
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<p>Ofcourse, most people do not go into I-Banking. I said IF you want to do IBanking. You won’t get an interview unless you atleast go to a somewhat good school around top 30 probably. Some state schools do get good recruitment though. I-Banks will most likely take the student with a somewhat good GPA (3.7) from an Ivy as opposed to some kid with a 4.0 from a top 100 school. Your undergraduate university does matter. I also never said that the undergraduate degree was THAT important if you were to go out and get an MBA at a top institution. HOWEVER, a lot of analysts enter right after undergrad, meaning that their undergraduate degree will be what matters to employers. It truly does affect who they choose to employ. If you were smart enough to get into a top 20-30 university, then they want you. That is how it usually is. I’m sure there are exceptions to this, but generally the people who get hired are from target schools. They are also the ones who get hired for internships, therefore they are the ones who usually have the work experience to get hired later after they graduate.</p>
<p>The top USNEWS schools get you interviews you would never be able to get from lesser schools regardless of GPA.</p>
<p>Its true! Everyone I know in CA who went to Berkeley, UCLA or UCSD is totally screwed.</p>
<p>It’s such blasphemy to go to school no.21, I tell you! Kriti, all those at Bryan Mawr are cursed, they just don’t know it! Oh, the tragedy…</p>