In reading many I have yet to see one that has asked about a school’s Alumni network and the differences in helpfulness or organization from school to school.
Pretty amazing they will compare course catalogues and how many Phd’s in Physics a school produces but nothing about Alumni support.
you obviously havent been on the U Southern California forum.
Alumni support is so hard to measure. For some people the old boy network probably works quite well at Harvard. It never did anything for me. OTOH my son connected via some sort of non-stop chat room with CMU alumni early on. They turned out to be extremely useful when he was looking for internships, as were friends in the classes immediately above him. My son has found Tufts not very useful for his particular set of interests, but then I find out things like the Tufts Global Leadership has tickets to Carnegie Hall and a bunch of people are going. Amusingly I think he’s actually found his girlfriend’s Wellesley connections more useful.
I think it’s relevant. One school I am familiar with has a mentoring program with alumni that is very organized. Interested alumni submit a bio, students “shop” it online and request a mentor that looks like a good match for their interests. If the mentor agrees they are matched. The career center also maintains a directory of alumni and where they work, what they do, so they can be contacted by students for internships, shadowing, etc.
Programs like that can be very useful and I don’t think all schools have them.
Do a forum search for “alumni network.” The result speaks for itself.
Kids can assume the school name will speak for itself and open doors but anyone who’s struggled to get that first job might know a different situation - even when you carry the parchment. Speaking firsthand as a Oberlin grad being asked to take a typing test in the 80s, not being interviewed for admin jobs simply because my speed wasn’t up to par.