<p>I rather get into an Ivy than AA.</p>
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Even mid and third-tier colleges will give preference to degrees from "super selective" colleges over their own graduates. Tells you something how much they believe in their own cookin', doesn't it?
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It doesn't necessarily mean anything like that. Could you really blame a school like Bowling Green for hiring a Harvard grad over a BGSU grad?</p>
<p>Is is really true?</p>
<p>The truth about having a degree from a top school is somewhere in between what people say. It's true that it is most valuable at the beginning of your career for opening doors. However, it's not true that it doesn't matter at all later--it can. It will sometimes help open doors later on, too (i.e., with alumni of the same school or similar schools).</p>
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It will sometimes help open doors later on, too (i.e., with alumni of the same school or similar schools).
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<p>Not-so-selective schools have alumni too; the "old days" thing works everywhere.</p>
<p>We live in Podunkville, VA and I'm amazed at how many of my neighbors (who are teachers, accountants and other white collar professionals) have never heard of many of the schools which carried a great deal of cachet where I grew up in upstate New YOrk. Schools which carry zero name recognition out here in the sticks include: Barnard, Bard, Bowdoin, Colgate, Bryn Mawr, UCLA and so forth. My impression is that if you go to one of those 'lesser Ivy' schools and your goal is to move back home to settle down near dear old mom and dad in Podunkville, and maybe be a teacher , you'd be better off going to Virginia Tech, or Auburn University or Randolph-Macon -- something which has high local name recognition while perhaps not having the same national status. It's more likely to get you an interview around here for that first teaching job. (By the way, I was not aware of this phenomenon until I moved out of New England.)</p>
<p>Boy, that's really true about Virginia in particular: "Why would you want to go to Yale when you can go to U.Va.?"</p>
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Barnard, Bard, Bowdoin, Colgate, Bryn Mawr, UCLA and so forth
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<p>Nobody here in AZ knows of those schools actually (minus UCLA because we're so close to it.) My friend doesn't even know most of the Ivies; she called Cornell "Cornwall" and hadn't even heard of Dartmouth (my dream school.)</p>
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The name on the diploma matters for one and only one thing - the first job. With the exception of a few lines of work, nobody will give a rat's a** where you graduated from when you start looking for your second job 3-5 years later.
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<p>There are many exceptions. My S graduated from Wharton, worked in IB with a top firm in NYC immediately after graduation. He did very well and was invited to stay for a third year. After 3 years, he had an offer from a hedge fund but they wanted to see his college transcript also.</p>
<p>What you put on your resume is subject to close scrutiny and verification.</p>