I live in Palo Alto, hometown of Stanford University and highly ranked public schools for children. Thus, intellectuals move to our city, 50% of the residents have graduate or professional degrees, many students are pushed by their parents to excel in academics. And these days, legacy doesn’t mean much, most don’t attend their parents’ alma maters. Kids of Stanford professors are the exception. Or kids whose parents have donated buildings. But they still need to have decent applications. What I have noticed over the years (when there was a college list available, ended recently) is that a LARGE portion of the acceptances are D1 athletes who were recruited to these top, elite colleges. And there may be 1-2 others who just get accepted on their own, but could have been that they were doing research there, or parent pulled some strings, or they won a huge, national award.
I can tell you this: Brand name colleges mean nothing after your first job, and maybe even for your first job, depends on the major. We have many students who are losing their teen years to schoolwork and extracurriculars in preparation for the perfect college applications to elite schools. Kids are socially inept because they don’t hang out with friends enough (besides the “popular” partying crowd). They are sleep-deprived and have poor social skills.
And their parents? I no longer respect Ivy and elite degrees. It just means they are good at academics, does not lead to success (financial, which is most people’s definition of success). Many of these people are not very smart with common sense or life skills, they are only smart academically. Top 15 school graduates are overrated. Malcolm Gladwell’s book claims that the top percentage at any college is equal, no matter which school. About half the residents here are renters. With Ivy League degrees, they still cannot afford to buy a house and they make stupid decisions. My husband has worked with MIT, Harvard, other elite school grads and says they are no different that top students from elsewhere.
That said, you asked about brand names that are not Ivies. My answer to that is: choose where you want your career and attend that school because your college friends and job recruitment will be in that area.
There are oftentimes students who have gone to brand name schools such as Northwestern and other elite colleges and they come back home to CA but can’t find jobs because the networking was in their college area.
Finally, the job interview is more based upon whether the interviewer likes the person and if the interviewee is qualified. Work on those soft skills, your personality and communication skills by hanging out with people in college. Most jobs are on-the-job training, unrelated to what is taught in college.
