<p>...and after all of "this school is better than that school" and "my 3.992 GPA at this school is better than that 3.993 at that school", did we decide if any of that REALLY MATTERED when it came to the great majority of ENGINEERING careers?</p>
<p>Don't worry....I'll wait.</p>
<p>What???</p>
<p>I don’t get it.</p>
<p>Edited.</p>
<p>I was on the ESPN Boxing message boards at the same time.</p>
<p>so…after ALL of these threads…</p>
<p>here’s another.</p>
<p>1) School matters for the first job.
2) School matters for certain industries (even within a certain major, although this is probably more geographical than anything).
3) School matters “significantly” from a perception standpoint. Generally this is irrelevant because because prospective students are only looking at schools that are reasonably close to each other in quality.</p>
<p>However, MIT >>> CSU Long Beach.</p>
<p>So it’s all perception…or mostly.</p>
<p>Where I am going with this is that after all of that great work in trying be this 3.999 student with degrees from MIT/Cornell/<strong>add your Top-10 school here</strong>* with 100 extra-curricular activities, it’s very possible that the CSU Long Beach grad is grossing not much less than the Top-10 grad after say 5 to 10 years?</p>
<p>I mean, I am here in the Washington DC area and we have John Hopkins and U-Maryland grads side-by-side with Loyola College of Maryland grads…all systems/computer/signal engineers.</p>
<p>your touching controversial grounds here…remember this is college confidential, its existence is built off the human connection to ‘prestige’, ‘fame’, and most of all, the idea of wanting something out of our reach, often time financially. </p>
<p>There is much more substance to CC then this, absolutely, but there is no doubt that CC is built off emotions of ‘prestige’ and ‘elitism’ and that this way of thinking has been, and will continue to be, amplified in the otherwise legitimate and quality discourse we have had.</p>
<p>
I don’t know what your implication about this is. Huge survivorship bias with your sample.</p>
<p>What you would need to do is look at all EE grads from those schools and look at them 5-10 years down the future.
I tend to think top tier universities can help you land better 1st jobs (#1), are more “national” in reach (#2), and have a slight boost on a resume (#3).</p>
<p>I think it has been agreed on that top-tier universities help with the initial employment…but that is where the advantage stops. After that, I personally believe one’s career depends on their work experience and/or the demand of their specialty.</p>
<p>I liked reading some things here. Like, I’m less worried about maybe going to UT over Cornell. I still like CMU but for different reasons but if UT gives more cash then I’d go there.</p>
<p>UT has a major engineering program. I doubt there would be any perceptible difference for most majors between UT and Cornell/CMU.</p>
<p>No, I know it’s highly known but I’m in Texas and here it’s sort of like “okay, everyone goes there” while cornell is “hey…ivy”. Really, they’re both similarly ranked but I worry about being able to get a job within the state, it’s easier to get a job in this state if your education was out of it for some reason.</p>
<p>I just like CMU because they’d let me join theater easier than UT would. I don’t really feel much for Cornell, it’s like “had to apply to an ivy because my teacher told me to so I’ll apply to the engineering one”. I just don’t want to get rejected for some reason even though I’d rather go to RPI than Cornell (and I’m already into RPI).</p>
<p>There was just this stigma about going to Cornell over UT if forced between the 2, but now I wouldn’t, just the whole “5 years later and no one will care about what school you went to”.</p>
<p>University of Texas is a well known school nationally, if only because of the football team.</p>
<p>I love CMU… and i can’t imagine getting a comparable computer science education many other places in the country, but just know that if you come here and all your friends go to UT, then their facebook photos with attractive women on campus will haunt you for four years.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>There’s an incorrect assumption here. You’re implying that since School A and School B graduates work together, that the typical students from School A and B have similar career opportunities. That is not necessarily true. Consider this case (median salary after 5 years from some fictitious degree): School A’s range: $130,000 - $70,000. School B’s range: $80,000 - $40,000. These ranges overlap, but that doesn’t mean that medians are similar. </p>
<p>The point is that students that attend top universities have more high end opportunities than students at lower tier universities. You’re not going to find VC firms, hedge funds, or business consulting firms, or banks hiring analysts from third tier schools. However, you will find assembly plants hiring at both 1st tier and 3rd tier schools (not that they’ll necessarily be paid the same salary or have the same opportunity for advancement).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Those are good points. Top universities do have a national reach, while many others are weak. A good example is the University of Houston, which is well respected in the East Texas / West Louisiana area, but most people think it’s an online correspondence school outside of the gulf coast, so your opportunities are somewhat geographically limited coming out of there, whereas TAMU’s name carries across the country. Even though graduates of these schools might have similar opportunities in Houston, they will not be on par with each other in Seattle. </p>
<p>As for your third point, some schools do simply have prestige. If you’re an MIT engineer, you’re going to get interviews simply because of the MIT name on your resume. It may not be fair, but it’s the case. As you move to management, your pedigree (including colleges) carries more weight.</p>
<p>I am in the land where the first thing asked is:</p>
<p>1) Do you have a security clearance?..and what level…and</p>
<p>2) Do you know <strong><em>insert buzzword skill here</em></strong>?</p>
<p>Many government/defense contracts only specify that the candidate has a degree. They are not checking for the school name…especially for experience positions. </p>
<p>As for “advancement”???..that depends what people call advancement because at least with many of the “beltway bandits” in the DC area, some pure-techie positions are paid more than their immediate managers now. That had to be done because a pure-techie person can just be an independent contractor and cut out the “middle man” (employer).</p>
<p>GLOBALTRAVELER, I don’t think anyone is disputing that for experienced positions it hardly matters. Where it matters is in entry level jobs, where a prestigious school has the advantage. The prestigious school won’t get you more opportunities in the long run necessarily, but it can get you sort of a head start.</p>
<p>I agree with Globatraveler.</p>
<p>As long as you graduate with an ABET accredited engineering degree, you meet the qualifications to work as an engineer. What you decide to do with your engineering degree is up to you. </p>
<p>The MIT on your resume might catch the attention of a recruiter a little easier than a university not well known. You might have to work a bit harder to get that engineering job. But if you have determination and motivation, you can work anywhere you want.</p>
<p>From a value standpoint, I can’t justify spending $80,000 on tuition at a fancy private university compared to $20000 on an inexpensive state university. The extra $60,000 won’t buy a higher salary or better opportunities for most graduates.</p>
<p>I think another way of putting it is the college you choose is the ONE time in your life that you get to pick out what your work environment looks like, what your opportunities will be, and what label you want to give yourself. You get to proclaim who want to be by going to one university over another.</p>
<p>After college, nobody cares what college you went to. What they care about is what projects you were involved with, what you know, how you can contribute to the team. This is especially true if you work at a large company where you may move around every couple years within the company. Then people want to see your history within the company and how you will bring success to their project.</p>