There are more and more college graduates entering the workforce that have been denied admission to the top colleges.
I wonder if there will be a backlash against the graduates of prestigious universities as more and more of the
denied group have hiring responsibilities for their companies.
It would be interesting to study.
As long as employers (not HR reps) respect the elite schools – for whatever reason – there will be no backlash. In fact, the growing difficulty of getting into those schools will make those grads just that much more enticing.
Actually, some companies don’t recruit at some of the prestige schools because they find the graduates don’t stick around places where they aren’t automatically fast-tracked.
I’m sure at a few companies that’s the case. Doesn’t change the fact that there are still plenty of prestige-oriented firms that tend to prefer grads from top schools; top school grads also benefit from the long tradition of alums supporting one another.
We’re living in an increasingly stratified society whose upper echelons receive the greatest opportunities. As public schools become more and more competitive (and expensive) this will include stratification among public schools grads. The kid from Berkeley may not get more job offers than the kid from Harvard, but she/he will likely do better (at least initially) than the kiddo from Podunk State.
There are many more high achieving rejects than there are graduates from elite universities.
Elite universities admit that they could fill their classes a number of times with those that applied.
Goes to figure that the majority of “employers” will NOT be graduates of elite universities.
I see elite grads as possibbly less enticing to these “employers” who were passed over for enrollment.
I don’t know. Just a thought.
That’s assuming the rejects hold it against the rejecting school for ions. I don’t think that happens. I think people find their place academically and are usually happy with the place they ended up. At some point where you went to school becomes less important - on-the-job accomplishment usually trumps your degree. None of this changes the fact that elite school grads tend to do very well in the marketplace following graduation. That was always the case, and is the case today.
Others have made the point, but just to underscore it: some fields are stratified by educational credentials, others aren’t. Elite law firms do almost all their hiring from elite law schools, but they don’t care where you did your undergrad, and neither do the law schools; law school admissions is now virtually 100% about undergrad GPAs and LSAT scores. Colleges and universities tend to strongly prefer faculty with fancy academic credentials, but they’re concerned with the candidate’s Ph.D., not the undergraduate degree.
In most corners of the business world, the “prestige” value of the academic degree means little or nothing. Numerous members of my family are engineers, and some do a lot of hiring; to a person, they insist that in engineering the nameplate on your academic degree means nothing, it’s all about your demonstrated ability to get the job done well, on budget, and on time. (On the other hand, more employers interview at the more highly regarded engineering schools–but according to US News 6 of the top 10 and 14 of the top 25 engineering programs are at public universities). And a quick survey of the undergraduate educational backgrounds of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Minneapolis-St. Paul (which has the highest per capita concentration of Fortune 500 companies of any major U.S. metropolitan area) reveals one Harvard and one Sciences Po (Paris) coupled with degrees from an eclectic mix of schools including Fordham, Oregon State, Cal State-Fullerton, Holy Cross, Towson State, University of Manitoba, University of Wisconsin-River Falls, St. John’s (MN), Notre Dame, and NYU. Some very good schools in that mix, to be sure, but I take it as evidence you don’t need to attend an Ivy to make it to the top of the business world.
There are exceptions, of course. Investment banking and consulting are frequently cited as fields that recruit heavily from the elite undergraduate institutions and MBA programs. But again, you don’t need to go to an elite undergraduate institution to get into an elite MBA program.
It already happens without future managers “holding it against” them. I have hired a lot for firms, going through hundreds of resumes at a time and have been told by plenty of firms to cruise by the Ivy league kids. Some figure they have had all kinds of opportunity, are spoiled, and primarily that they won’t want to work themselves up a ladder as hard as kid at non-Ivy U. Not saying I said this, or that it is that way everywhere, but there are many employers with no interest in Ivy students, and agree with @sax, as society becomes more about levels, I can see that bias playing a stronger role and becoming more prevalent. Of course there are people that want them, but it is surprising to see how many CEOs and high level HR people have instructed me to look elsewhere.
@blueskies2day, is it considered a “bias” if it’s evidence based? Once you’ve hired a few Ivy grads who have left the company when they find they have to grind it out with the Western State U grads, you have to start considering whether your recruiting and training dollars are better spent elsewhere.
After a few years, it evens out again - “even” Ivy grads with strong work records can get hired by the firms that might not have taken them right out of school.
Re #167
The “fast track to consulting and banking” in some of the super selective schools may actually deter other employers from recruiting there, even if they otherwise consider the students desirable. Yield might be too low in the face of competition from the consulting companies and banks.
I am sure the administration at Harvard will be happy to know that eventually, with hard work and perseverance, some fortunate few of their students will be able to work themselves out of the hole dug by attending such a school.
No one should believe that attending HYPSM is an automatic Golden Ticket, but let’s not pretend that attending one of “those” schools is an actual detriment either.
Only on CC do we worry about the poor slugs graduating from Cornell and Princeton’s engineering school, or the Poli Sci majors from Yale, or the Comp Sci/Applied Math majors from Brown, who are likely unemployable due to employers perceptions of their second rate yet elitist degrees.
I have hired for a living for over 30 years and I have never seen an instance where graduating from an elite school is a negative. That doesn’t mean that a degree in sociology from elite school X is “better” than a degree in aerospace engineering from Georgia Tech. But nobody looks at the kid from Cornell and wonders, “Why the heck didn’t he go to SUNY Albany or Hofstra for god’s sake?”
But only on CC can we say- with 100% assurance- that employers get deterred from hiring at elite schools due to the competition. I got a lovely email from career services this week from Stanford introducing a bunch of new programs targeted to employers who may not have recruited at Stanford recently (or at all) and I gotta say- they know how to run a career services organization. Anything a company might need- they’ve got it.
There are other fantastic career services teams also- and not always at the “generally thought of as elite” employers. But if you think your kid is accessing top notch advising and advice at random college that nobody has ever heard of… guess again.
Is your kid a go-getter? Than it doesn’t matter. He or she will do the networking, reach out to alums, get the foot in the door for interviews. Is your kid a “do it at the last minute” or “it will work itself out” type? He or she may need a more structured and proactive approach to getting launched.
I’m advising a recent grad right now (favor to a friend of a friend) who is absolutely clueless. A string of random internships and volunteer jobs with no coherent pattern; has never darkened the door of career services so seemed baffled when I said “get a list of recent alums who are working in places you’d like to work and send them an email introducing yourself”; cannot articulate “why me” when asked why a particular organization would be interested in hiring her. Her U has a mediocre career development team but it’s still no excuse for never having “dropped in” to find out what they could or could not do for her.
I’d be pulling my hair out if this were my kid.
As always, a dose of sanity from Blossom. (Humor, too.)
Why would someone hold a grudge against a school with single digit admission rates that they wanted to attend, and then look down their noses at the graduates from there?
@jym626 , sour grapes.
I understand. I just think its ridiculous.
Do people really hold grudges from when they’re 17 well into their adult lives? That seems like an unnecessary waste of brain property.
@jym626, it is ridiculous, but it’s why I really only mention where my kids go to school and apply here, and of course with family and good friends. I don’t have a decal in my car back window, even though I previously had their high school decal and ice hockey team decal – if the neighbors want to know they can ask. I won’t lie about it, and won’t jump through hoops to hide it, but IRL (ie not on CC), it’s just not worth the awkwardness.
People don’t care where others went to school. Do they? Do they really?
I think most people and when I say most, almost everybody cares where there kids go, maybe, but they don’t care about other kids. People are a little more self centered than we give them credit for. 
@IxnayBob, I like you and I like your posts so I am going to ask you, do you care where my kids went to college? Do you care where the kid who lives down a street or two from you goes to college? I have no idea where your kids go to college or went to college. I like you so, I wish the best for you and your kids, your family, but really I would still like you if your kids didn’t go to college.
My son used to play soccer. I would stand on the sidelines with parents of other kids on the team. I would think, "Wow! Look how good my kid is. The other parents must be looking at my kid. He is so freaking good. So, then I looked around. The parents were looking at their own kids. They weren’t looking at my kid.
The other parents missed out! LOL
See. I just wrote something nobody gives a crap about but me. I have videos of my son playing. 
@IxnayBob, If you want to put a bumper sticker on your car, put the bumper sticker on your car. Really.
This made me laugh… and then realize that it is true.
I think some on CC think that others think quite a few things that never really cross their minds.