<p>Read today's New York Times article on how CEOs used to come from the Ivy League, but no more. Now, U. of Wisconsin has as many CEOs as Harvard (i know it's bigger, but still....). Anyway, the article is about how Ivy League graduates used to have a big advantage in getting top corporate jobs, but that is no longer true and it provides the changing stats over the last 20 years. I thought this might be of some solace to everyone worrying that where they go to school will make a big difference in their job success. The article mentions the huge importance of "people skills" to advance work-wise.
So the good news is that companies care much less today where you went to college. The bad news is that you still have to a white male to have a good shot at the corner office (exceptions, yes, but few). In other words, you have a better chance of being a CEO if you are a while male from U. of
Anywhere than if you are a minority or a female from Harvard or Yale.</p>
<p>I heard that the reason this occured over the last 20 years is because HYPS graduates decided to start their own companies during the 90s due to the whole dot.com thing. Many and most failed. The people who stayed on the corporate track were the U of Wisconsin people (not that it is a bad school) and hence why they are now CEOs. Unless the next 20 years show the same thing and we don't have another dot.com thing, then what the article says may be true.</p>
<p>Of course, a lot of executives who went to UG state schools got their MBAs at Harvard, Stanford, etc. In many fields, it's the graduate school that is really important. Ask poor Harriet Miers--graduating from SMU Law School was pointed out as strike against her.</p>
<p>link can be found here <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/business/yourmoney/27ceo.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/business/yourmoney/27ceo.html</a></p>
<p>Being a middle aged white male -- that is probably an advantage...</p>
<p>But as this is CC.. I think the point is that (and the point of several other threads right now) getting into HYPS is neither that certain (lottery) nor is it a guarantee of future success... Basically whether you get in or don't to a certain school you have to keep performing in any endeavor industry/education/ etc if you want to 'succeed' </p>
<p>The main point of many threads is that we and the kids should 'chill' about the ranking hyper system that has evolved. I can name many people who are very successful who went to school that you would consider substandard (including my alma mater)</p>
<p>one other point, during the dot com boom in in the late 90s HYP educations were looked down on as 'old school' by most of the hot shots at the time ........ i dont think the dot com thing explains the changes</p>