<p>If you are “into” the world of college applications, I think that where you graduated from for college is still just that one step up on the stairs in a line of applicants. Hopefully you get in because you have an awesome work ethic and a stellar brain between your ears. If it translates into the real world (which high school is not), then great.</p>
<p>College is not about the “prestige,” or hearsay about a particular school. There are idiots at every college, both state funded and private - from Ivy league to community college. Your value and contribution to capitalism as well as a company will depend in part on your educational experience (degree and field of study - valued to a greater extent depending on the job position), correlated experience to the job position (technical skills and experience with equipment is more valued than your degree), the last thing you should be thinking is that you are qualified because you went to a well-known university (this thinking should have its own fallacy).</p>
<p>This is not good to generalize. I’ve seen different cases for different students, and it also depends what the student does.</p>
<p>At the end of the day, “better job opportunities” depend on how you define better.</p>
<p>If you can get into a prestigious university, they think that you will succeed. You have no reason to believe otherwise if you are willing to work very hard. Don’t assume you will be in the bottom half of the class.</p>
<p>This decision really depends on the industry. Medical School will put you more in debt, you probably want to save more now. Engineering is often just as strong at state schools as at top schools. Business is the exception. If you want to be an investment banker or a consultant at a top company, a prestigious degree is often necessary.</p>
<p>If you are talking about this from the perspective of getting a job, I can give you my opinion as a someone who is involvled in hiring. </p>
<p>For experienced hires, the majority of what we see, I mostly will look at previous job experience in deciding who to interview. I dont usually look at the degree. </p>
<p>For new hires I look mostly at GPA and relevant skills. Some of the applicants are from colleges I know about, but many arent. Certianly if I saw a prestigous name like MIT or Harvard I would view that as a big plus. I would want to interview that candidate unless I saw something else concerning on their application. </p>
<p>In the end though we hire using an interview panel. To get the job you need to win over the panel.</p>
<p>Major publics.</p>
<p>[Best</a> Colleges & Universities - Ranked by Job Recruiters - WSJ.com](<a href=“Best Colleges & Universities - Ranked by Job Recruiters - WSJ”>Best Colleges & Universities - Ranked by Job Recruiters - WSJ)</p>
<p>mitchklong, it is good to hear this from someone who is involved in hiring. When we were faced with the decision between duke and harvard for my DD, my husband insisted on harvard, saying that it would be viewed as a huge plus to at least get her foot into the door when she was looking for jobs. Of course, going to an ivy league is no guarantee that you will be hired, but at least they will take a second look at the applicant.
She ended up in consulting and was interviewed by the big 3 and works for one of them now.
I am sure that kids that attended Duke are also doing amazing stuff. I think it finally depends on the kid. At that time, I was in favor of my DD attending Duke on a full ride</p>
<p>Wow! Some really awesome answers! I am debating between a business major such as finance, business administration, or something of the like and political science or criminal justice for pre-law. I am currently a community college sophomore with a 3.7 GPA. I got a 29 on the ACT but I would like to retake it (as well as the SAT ~1900 I believe) to improve my scores since some schools still put emphasis on the test for transfer students. I didn’t study for the test when I took it in high school which wasn’t a smart plan. </p>
<p>Anyway the schools I am looking at are:
UNLV (very affordable)
UNR (very affordable)
UNM (very affordable)
ASU (affordable)
University of Arizona (affordable)
USC (co-top choice, difficult admissions, cost)
UNC-CH (co-top choice, difficult admissions, cost)
Vanderbilt (I read that they accept around 33% of transfer applicants and are very generous with financial aid, however this school is probably even harder to get into than USC and UNC-CH because of the strength of the applicants)</p>
<p>I was also looking at some middle of the road privates such as Seattle U, U of Denver, & DePaul and some good privates like Boston and Miami. Should I even bother with these schools? At best they will probably only cover half of my tuition with grants and scholarships and it just wouldn’t be worth the cost.</p>
<p>Dave Aronberg is the guy who suggested to me attending a state university might be better for young aspiring politicians. I was a page for a few weeks in the Florida state senate about 6 or 7 yrs ago while a high school student when he was a Florida state senator. Aronberg told a group of us pages once he kinda wishes he had gone to Florida State Univ. or the Univ. of Florida instead of Harvard…would have been able to build a better network earlier to help run for statewide office. He eventually ran for Florida Attorney General office and was defeated. In the long run though, I doubt his Harvard education is going to hurt him.</p>
<p>[Dave</a> Aronberg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Aronberg]Dave”>Dave Aronberg - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Engineering-- It does not matter where you go as long the school is ABET accredited; and trust me on this because I have been at it for 35 years. I have worked with grads from top and bottom ranked engineering schools.
Pre Med – Again I don’t think it matters too much. Just make sure the school is among the best public schools in your state and not in the lower tier.
Business – My dad was a business prof and Harvard grad. When I asked him where I should get my MBA. He replied" It doesn’t matter unless you have money for one of the top 5 schools". I think Dad’s advice rings true 30 years later if a top job on Wall Street is you objective.</p>
<p>Not including any financial factors, it is best to graduate from the university where you will be the happiest in.</p>
<p>I second OrbInfinite.</p>
<p>Graduating at the bottom of your class won’t get you anywhere. Employers don’t want to hire someone with a 2.0 GPA, even a 2.0 from Harvard.</p>
<p>I don’t agree with BrandeisBoy; the order depends on what kinds of graduate schools you are applying to. For PhD admissions, standardized test scores are definitely not #2 on the list of criteria. In fact, I would argue they are only number two for certain professional schools like med, law, and dental school.</p>
<p>What is your career plan?</p>
<p>Many employers hire directly from elite colleges. To get in, you have to be in. </p>
<p>On the other hand, it is relatively easy to get into a Ph.D. program in science, regardless of the college and grades. MBA, Law, and Med - different story.</p>
<p>I can do 1000 things that make me happier than any college.</p>
<p>Burgermeister how do you think that affects liberal arts (I’m a history major). I ask because I’m planning on definately going to graduate school & I worry about where I get my undergraduate degree. Of course for graduate school I’d like to shoot high but I’m wondering if I have to graduate from a Tier 1 university (in my case Texas I’m looking at UT, TAMU, & TT) or would a decent, solid Tier 2 (such as Texas State or St. Mary’s) might do.</p>
<p>University of Virginia is a state school.</p>
<p>@franko5150: I’m not sure if going to grad school for liberal arts is a good idea, depending on your field. I was actually advised by MANY, including professionals not to attend grad school for a journalism. What specific major are you in, or is it general LA?</p>
<p>@OP:
If you apply as an incoming junior, they usually do not take your SAT/ACT into too much consideration, if at all. They focus in your 2 years at college mostly.</p>
<p>OP, is money a problem at all? From your last post, it seems that it is kind of a concern for you. If it is, I’d consider looking at UNLV because of the Millennium scholarship and they are pretty good with financial aid/grants. I pretty much pay almost nothing for school thanks to Millennium+aid. For engineering and business, I know that we have tons and tons of opportunities for jobs here for the motivated students (moreso for engineering IMHO, and depends on what kind of business you want to do) due to the casinos. For law, we have a pretty good law program but not sure how our law school ranks nationally. UNR is better for science majors so I wouldn’t recommend it lol.</p>
<p>If money is not at all an issue, I’d opt for going to a more prestigious/OOS school with a better program fit for your major.</p>
<p>My advice would be to go where you can shine. As others have noted, if you graduate from the bottom of the class anywhere, you are going to have a hard time convincing others that you are an achiever.</p>
<p>Graduating near the top of your class at a state school sends the opposite message.</p>
<p>@lullabies</p>
<p>Money is still an issue since I’ll be a transfer and its more difficult to get financial aid as opposed to a freshman. At UNR I would be getting a $2500/year scholarship on top of the Millennium which is $1980/year. At UNM my tuition would be covered thanks to a transfer scholarship I can get. ASU and UA have the WUE program and scholarships available for transfers as well. I didn’t see and definitive scholarships for transfer residents on the UNLV site. </p>
<p>Both USC and UNC-CH would cover half my tuition based on my family income (105k) through grants. Vanderbilt would cover 3/4ths. They would still be more expensive of course. I was looking at some publics in Cali such as UCSD and UCSB but my financial aid would be like $6,000 according to their net price calculator. Considering tuition is around $36,000 that would not even be worth looking at.</p>