<p>I know that Michigan degree is very sought after in states like, Ohio, Illinois, and of course Michigan. But how much merit does it hold in the northeastern states like NJ or NY? Would it make any difference if I just went to Rutgers as opposed to Michigan for getting a job in NJ?</p>
<p>Is Rutgers even considered a good university? There’s likely more recruitment for NJ jobs there than at Michigan but I imagine even the people of NJ think of Michigan as better than Rutgers.</p>
<p>It’s true, we (at least I) do.</p>
<p>A Michigan degree is thought of very highly in the northeastern states like NJ or NY. Most employers would value the Michigan degree more highly than a degree from Rutgers. There are a large number of Michigan alumni in New York and northern New Jersey.</p>
<p>I live in NJ and my dad (very successful man) did well at Rutgers. However, and while Rutgers has become A LOT better over the past 5-10 years, UM is much more highly regarded around NY/Northern NJ for sure.</p>
<p>rutgers is [practically] my entire high school’s safety choice. just sayin’.</p>
<p>I’m out in California and everyone I have talked to has been very impressed when I tell them that I will be attending Michigan next year. A degree from Michigan commands just as much respect as Cal or UCLA in my opinion.</p>
<p>In real life, the name on your degree doesn’t matter that much unless it’s from Harvard, Yale, MIT, etc. When they’re going through resumes, they’ll sort the kids from name schools into one group - that’s one thing I’ve done time after time - and the ones from schools you’ve never heard of into another. The hope is that the name on the degree means the kid has a good education, is competent, motivated, etc. but you evaluate that based on interviews (and that’s a guess because so many don’t work out). So having Michigan on your degree will help you get through some screens but it won’t compensate for not having the right degree for the field, for not doing well, etc. </p>
<p>If the question is whether Michigan is worth $50k a year OOS rather than Rutgers in-state, the answer is likely no, especially if the kid is likely to live in NJ or elsewhere in the east. Everyone in any state knows that some kids go to state schools - whatever they are, whatever quality - because that’s what they can afford, because that’s what their family would support. If the kid is going to move to Texas or Oregon, odds are that Michigan’s name is more helpful getting interviews there. </p>
<p>Remember that life rapidly becomes what you do in it, not where you went to school. You can get an interview but you have to get the job and that job then becomes your top thing on your resume. Odds are that you’ll change jobs more than once, maybe many times, and you may well change areas in your field or even careers so what you do after school becomes more and more important. That is your story.</p>
<p>“If the question is whether Michigan is worth $50k a year OOS rather than Rutgers in-state, the answer is likely no, especially if the kid is likely to live in NJ or elsewhere in the east.”</p>
<p>Do you ever come to this forum to say anything nice about U-M? Why do you hang out here at all?</p>
<p>That’s uncalled for rjko. She expressed her opinion, and it was good advice as far as I’m concerned.</p>
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What do you mean “nice”? That’s a fairly objective analysis of cost-effectiveness of schools. I’d LOVE to attend NYU, George Washington, or Northwestern, but they’re 40-60K a year. Why would I spend that much when I could go to U of M or MSU, get a fairly equivalent degree, and have money left over for grad school when it really matters?</p>
<p>My husband went to U of M, in state. I went to UC Berkeley, in state. We both changed jobs several times since college and have been hiring managers for years.</p>
<p>I agree with Lergnom’s post. The name of your college will get you interviews when you are looking for work after college. Once you start working, your job performance and work experience matters much more than where you went to school.</p>
<p>So to pay about twice as much for an OOS school than in state, one must think long and hard if it is a wise choice in the long run. We are talking about $100k over 4 years! That is a lot of money.</p>
<p>Where (and what field) you get your professional or master’s degree is becoming more important than where you attend undergrad. </p>
<p>I expect most hiring managers will concentrate on my Michigan graduate degree rather than my bachelor’s degree.</p>
<p>“The name of your college will get you interviews when you are looking for work after college. Once you start working, your job performance and work experience matters much more than where you went to school.”</p>
<p>Please tell KKR, Blackstone and Carlyle the same thing. Half of my family are in IBD and they have seen many top bucket analysts lucky enough to make it into IBD from state schools being passed over for middle buckets from ivies. Your statement only applies for ordinary, non-elite companies. When it comes to elite firms, it’s 90% pedigree and connections, 10% performance when everyone is the creme of the crop.</p>
<p>A Michigan degree is great, and as many posters said can open some doors, but those doors could also open at other schools, you’ll just have to seek out for some of them yourself.</p>
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I agree with this statement, your undergraduate school tends to be overshadowed by graduate school. Those overall what experience do you want in a university, where to study, what to study, quality etc… that will be important factors in choosing a undergraduate as well, especially if you plan to attend graduate school.</p>
<p>Bearcats, did you mean ‘top bucket’ and ‘middle bucket’ on a universal scale (generally speaking) or not? Because technically an average student at one school could perform better than the best at another school…</p>
<p>bearcats, why do all your posts seem to imply that everybody should base their college decisions around the required qualifications for a job like 10 people a year will get (kkr and the like) and which a lot of highly intelligent people don’t even want. stop making everything about finance.</p>
<p>even then, on wall street a michigan degree’s never going to hold you back. people know the difference between michigan, along with a handful of others like berkeley, uva, etc., and your generic “state school”. go get top bucket at goldman tmt and i somehow doubt anyone’s going to take a mediocre ivy grad over you.</p>
<p>I was talking about how people are saying going to a generic state school or mediocre school like Rutgers (this thread) and BU (a previous thread) and doing well is somehow the same as going to superior schools like the ivies or even Michigan “Once you start working” and saying things like “your job performance and work experience matters much more than where you went to school”.</p>
<p>It is true for the generic jobs, but elite jobs is going to care about your pedigree one way or another. My uncle had a top bucket analyst at a top group at MS got passed over by every single good PE firm just because the guy went to Wisconsin. One of the headhunters even told him that the instruction he was given was “top bucket, top group, ivies or Berkeley, Michigan or UVA” and advised the analyst to do a top MBA because “the name of his undergrad school is always going to be a package now or later”. I remember this very well because it was discussed over dinner and I was still a kid wondering what the hell they were talking about.</p>
<p>I certainly don’t know enough about the finance industry to make any comments. Perhaps bearcats is correct that in finance a name brand school is important even after years of working experience.</p>
<p>I am in a different industry, computer software. I didn’t hear this from an uncle or anyone else. Husband and I worked in various companies (not sure which software companies are considered “elite”) and we personally made many hiring and layoff (unfortunatly) decisions without even putting weight on what college one is from.</p>
<p>There is no doubt that going to top colleges will provide opportunities. But there are other factors that should be considered when choosing a college. Being a top perfomer at a job is important no matter what college you are from. Business/corporate world is all about the bottom line.</p>
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<p>Does those elite jobs consist only in finance-related jobs?</p>