<p>I did not attend a good undergraduate school so I wanted to go to a better ranked university for grad school. I'm only doing it to put my best foot forward and have more access to better jobs since top companies tend to recruit from top schools. The geographic location of the university is also important since I plan to settle down there. But I mean, does it make someone looks like a status whore? Do you guys feel that way? Some people feel that... but I'm only trying to do what's best for my career. Not trying to show off... but I do have it added on facebook
is it wrong to show that??</p>
<p>most of the world admires people aiming for prestigious universities. this online forum creates a bubble where you need to feel embarrassed about it, or you need to come up with excuses or something. there’s nothing wrong with wanting to go to a prestigious school. there are many, many reasons why it will help you for the rest of your life. unless you hate the environment (since many times a prestigious name might also come with a cut-throat atmosphere).</p>
<p>none. unless you hate the school.</p>
<p>most of the world admires people aiming for prestigious universities. this online forum creates a bubble where you need to feel embarrassed about it, or you need to come up with excuses or somethin. there’s nothing wrong with wanting to go to a prestigious school. there are many, many reasons why it will help you for the rest of your life.</p>
<p>You are wise to seek a prestigious name school. The name reflects the quality of education.</p>
<p>
Oh, yes. This forum practically reeks of humility. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>
Take out “ranked,” and I would agree with you. Top universities have better professors, resources, and networking opportunities. </p>
<p>That said, there is no hard and fast rule. For people interested in academia, even some of the best universities could be absolutely horrible choices for certain fields.</p>
<p>
And you’re shallow.</p>
<p>there is probably some correlation with prestige and quality…</p>
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</p>
<p>I didn’t say he was wrong, I said he was shallow. The quality of education you receive in college, to a large extent (larger than what many people suggest on this forum), is what YOU make of it.</p>
<p>You are paying for the brand name and the reputation. Verbatim what my Harvard friend told me.</p>
<p>If you study the “prestigious” schools you will see that they have more capable students, more successful students, more accomplished faculty, greater resources.</p>
<p>Aiming for brand-name schools because they’re prestigious is like buying some designer dress even if it looks terrible on you. There’s probably nothing “wrong” with it, but that doesn’t make it smart.</p>
<p>Yes because it means you’re selling yourself short. You’re not going tot he college because it’s a fit for you; you’re not going to a college because it has what you’re looking for in a college. You’re going to a college because of it’s name and that’s short-selling yourself. </p>
<p>As a member once said here before in a topic similar to this, “In short, you’re selling yourself short.”</p>
<p>is it so wrong to try to go to “prestigious” name universities? </p>
<p>If it were wrong, everybody on collegeconfidential would already be burning in Hades.</p>
<p>“Aiming for brand-name schools because they’re prestigious is like buying some designer dress even if it looks terrible on you. There’s probably nothing “wrong” with it, but that doesn’t make it smart.”</p>
<p>Allow me to translate this into guy-speak: Sometimes it’s like buying a 12-pack of Heineken when a 6-pack of Pabst would suffice.</p>
<p>A “prestigious” graduate degree provides significantly more value than does a “prestigious” undergraduate degree. Once you graduate from college and go into the workforce for a few months, the undergraduate name has a lot less influence on how folks see you than what you do on the job. Furthermore, the recruiting/placement weight of a prestigious graduate degree can frequently be infinitely more than that provided from a prestigious undergrad.</p>
<p>Go to the most prestigious school you could get yourself into. </p>
<p>My sister, graduate of Stanford law, has been in and out of work force in the last 30 years, but it is always of her choice. Each time she’s able to get interviews when other people couldn’t. When her name came up to be admitted to her firm’s board, her credential also helped.</p>
<p>My sister in law, a graduate of Barnard and U. Chicago, never worked after she married my brother. 6 months ago (worst time to look for a job) when she wanted a job, she was able to get a job that paid 6 figures. She had nothing on her resume except for volunteer work she’s done and her schools. I don’t believe they would have interviewed her if she didn’t go to those schools.</p>
<p>My daughter goes to a top 20. I’ve used my contacts to get her some internships. But it’s been a lot easier because of the school she is attending is a target school for those firms anyway.</p>
<p>Many firms do use schools for the initial weeding out. It is a lot easier to go to those few top schools to recruit than to go to hundreds of schools(as each school has top candidates). It is true, after you start work it is your performance that matters, after a while no one is going to care what school you went to. It is getting those first few jobs that’s difficult.</p>
<p>Prestige is awesome for telling people where you go, and it may help you get into a top grad school or land a good job. But when it comes down to it, you have to spend 4 years of your life there, and you shouldn’t be suffering just for that name. So pick the most prestigious school you can get into that you genuinely like.</p>
<p>
Please read the original post before adding your $0.02, however well-intentioned. The OP has already graduated from college and was referring to graduate school.</p>
<p>
Agreed. Sakky summed it up quite nicely. </p>
<p>*I’ll give you an example. I know a Turkish guy who is getting his doctorate at Harvard. However, he has stated that frankly, he thinks the program at Harvard that he is in is probably not the best for his field and he got into other programs that are probably better in his field. But, he has no intention of becoming an academic. Instead, his plan is to go back to Turkey and work for a government ministry and perhaps one day run for political office, and perhaps one day try to become Prime Minister of Turkey. And the truth is, Turkish voters don’t know which academic program is better than another, and they don’t care. All they will know is the brand-name “Harvard”. </p>
<p>So he is going to leverage the Harvard brand name to make himself more marketable when he goes back to Turkey. Furthermore, he is spending a lot of time meeting other top government officials, especially (obviously) Turks, but also Greeks, Russians, Arabs, Americans etc. who are also studying or teaching at Harvard. Hence, he does a lot of hobnobbing and socialization around the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. For example, he has already met some high government officials of various Arab states who are studying at the Kennedy School and who will return to their countries afterward. He met an American who finished at the Kennedy School and is contemplating running for Congress in 2008 or 2010. {Kennedy School has a long history of producing grads who later get elected to public office}. This is how you build your future network. </p>
<p>I can’t fault the guy. He seems to know exactly what he’s doing, even though he’s not really in the “best” program for his particular field of study. What it shows is that the definition of ‘best’ is in the eye of the beholder. It all depends on what you want. Even if we’re talking about a doctorate, if you don’t really intend to work in your field anyway, then what does it matter if your specific program isn’t the “best”?*</p>
<p>If you study the “prestigious” schools you will see that they have more capable students, more successful students, more accomplished faculty, greater resources.</p>
<p>Not true, and definitely not true at the graduate level. Many of the best graduate programs are at public universities that don’t have ‘prestigious’ names. That said, this is impossible to measure or study because there are no objective measures of “capable” or “successful” or “accomplished.” Greater resources, I’ll give you that, but when you go to a brand name school that is essentially what you are paying for.</p>
<p>For every anecdotal story of a brand-name school graduate that got great opportunities because of the name of their school, there’s a matching story about a graduate of a less-prestigious school that got great opportunities despite not going to an amazing school.</p>
<p>That said, part of my choice in going to Columbia was because I’m not sure I want to stay inside of academia (I’m in a PhD program) and Columbia does have a well-known name inside and outside of academia. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with desiring a prestigious school, as long as you go in with the acknowledgement that doesn’t mean the school is “better.” And I have to admit that it does feel pretty good when people are impressed when I tell them where I’m earning my PhD (especially since a lot of people have never heard of my undergraduate alma mater). For better or for worse, people automatically assume that I am “very intelligent” and a competitive candidate because I go to Columbia, regardless of not knowing ANYTHING else about me.</p>
<p>There’s nothing wrong with wanting that kind of leverage. Before I went to an Ivy League school I used to say that prestige doesn’t matter; since being here, I’ve realized that prestige DOES matter - not as much as people on CC claim it does, but seriously, it does have an impact upon the way people view you as a student and a potential worker.</p>
<p>“it does have an impact upon the way people view you as a student and a potential worker.”</p>
<p>Especially if you drive by a building and see a sign that says “Prestige Whore Wanted.”</p>