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<p>Well, let me put it to you this way. Some news channel (I think it was CNN) once estimated that over 90% of all jobs are never publicly posted. How do you get these jobs? Networking. Basically, the vast majority of jobs out there are obtained through referrals from existing employees. And the truth of the matter is that one of the biggest reason - in fact, arguably THE biggest reason - to go to a particular school is to build a network. Surely we’ve all heard the phrase “It’s not what you know, it’s WHO you know”. I agree that there probably isn’t a large amount of difference in terms of what you learn from school to school. But the difference in the quality of the network you can build can be huge. THAT is the real value-add of any top school. You go to a top school because you want to network with top people. </p>
<p>Let me give you some examples. How exactly did Steve Ballmer become the CEO of Microsoft and a billionaire? How did he even get into Microsoft in the first place? I don’t know about you, but I strongly suspect that the fact that he was Bill Gates’s old poker-playing buddy in Currier House at Harvard had a lot to do with it. Let’s be honest. If he had never gone to Harvard, he would never have met Gates, and he wouldn’t be the head of Microsoft right now. Similarly, many of the earliest employees of Google were old Stanford buddies of Brin and Page. Many of the earliest employees of Yahoo were old Stanford buddies of Yang and Filo. The founders of Facebook were all housemates at Harvard. If these guys had gone to different schools, they would never have had those opportunities. These guys are surely all laughing their way to the bank. </p>
<p>Like it or not, most companies, especially small ones, continue to hire through networks. If you want to get a chance to get in, you have to be a member of those networks.</p>