I know this is kinda vain, but let’s say I want a job after college besides Wall Street Finance, MBB management consulting, or Silicon Valley (or other places where the employer obviously understands the strength of the 2 universities).
Would an employer elsewhere (let’s say at any of the other F500 Companies) understand the strength of UChicago or UPenn and (all else equal) would it give me an edge in the hiring process?
Based on some web research I’ve done on, it looks like UChicago and UPenn are often confused to be public universities because of the ‘University of [Geographical place]’ format. And let’s assume I don’t do Wharton for Penn.
I like the academic programs of these 2 schools plus the fact that they’re both in big cities. I also like the no nonsense approaches among the students at these 2 universities (compared to let’s say hippy dippy Brown).
Could any Chicago or Penn grads chime in on this?
Here is the transcript of a conversation between me (Me) and another person (AP) on Ivy League schools.
Me: Harvard
AP: That is where you go if you want to be President
Me: Yale
AP: That is where Mr. Burns from the Simpsons went to school
Me: Princeton
AP: That is a good school in New York
Me: Columbia
AP: I am wearing one of their jackets
Me: University of Pennsylvania:
AP: That was a tough loss to Ohio State last year in football
Me: Brown
AP: What can Brown do for you?
Me: Cornell
AP: My grandmother liked their bakeware
Me: Dartmouth
AP: crickets
Me: That is what I thought
AP: Hey, you forgot about MIT
Me: MIT isn’t in the Ivy League
AP: Yes it is. You are a dumb …
Me: walks away
I have a friend who is a smart guy who works in high-level IT management for major corporations. Had no idea that Upenn and Penn State were not the same school. The reality is that beyond Harvard, Princeton, Yale and, I think, sometimes UC Berkeley and Stanford, people are clueless. I am pretty worldly about schools and pay attention because I used to work in college access and I still get fuzzy on whether Northwestern is competitive or not (or is that Northeastern?). Even people who would be your bosses in their 40s would have been in college in a completely different landscape. Schools that used to be pretty much open admission are now pretty competitive. They just won’t know.
My brother went to UPenn and I had no idea that Penn State and UPenn were two completely different things until about a year ago. I still think most employers that went to college would know this though, but maybe not for UChicago.
People who work at companies don’t arrive in some vacuum sealed packaging. If they are senior in the org they will know all the basic nuances of schools and people to some degree.
The job process is not another college admissions process. They aren’t looking to build a mosaic. They do want diversity so all things being equal that can help. But they want the best person to full that particular role.
In the first one or two job interviews your school and gpa will make a difference. In landing the interview. Only.
Chicago and penn will be equally impressive.
If you are Wharton it will help in business first impressions. Chicago right there too. If you are math or quant oriented. Say an analyst for a mutual fund company. U Chicago is a big dog in that hunt.
Remember After the first two minutes you are on your own. The great school gets you an interview. You win the job.
Random folks on the street may not know the difference. But your question is about work.
If you are looking to work as an example at 3m. A degree with super achievement and personal presence coming from u minn can be just as strong. Or a large diary or cheese cooperative like Cabot or Ben and Jerry’s in Vermont loves uvm kids. Or an international oceanographic concern knows the kids from URI are world class. There’s so many variations on this theme to illustrate the point.
If you want to impress at a dinner party both Chicago and Penn will be impressive for a moment. Then people start wondering what’s for dinner.
In corporate America it’s really more about you.
I went to Wesleyan, which has far less name recognition and far more name confusion than either Penn or Chicago and I’m going to tell you what we were told and what I found to be absolutely true. The people who have to know, ie, grad schools and employers, know.
When it comes to corporate hiring, if the company cares about which school you went to, the people who will need to know, will know.
Also, plenty of employers will show up on campus to recruit.