<p>Yeah, state university students are real stoooopid. The only schools which are decent are the "ivies"</p>
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elite colleges are very much favored in the job market. there are not a lot of cases of people getting jobs on wall street due to their 'character'
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<p>Then I guess a lot of people are going to have to work at McDonalds then. Not everyone can get into an ivy, regardless of SAT or GPA.
Plus, a great quantity of the CEOs, politicians, doctors and lawyers attended average colleges and seem to have done "okay"</p>
<p>After college, most individuals have to get...you know...a JOB! Is a prestigious company going to hire someone from Average University over Harvard, Stanford, or another prestigious institution?!</p>
<p>yes, and a lot of times an HYP student might get a job over a state U kid. A common misconception on this site is you'll make more money as an HYP grad than a StateU grad doing the same job. Which isn't true at all. The company my dad works for hires grads from Umich, Mit, caltech, cornell, etc... and ocassionally they'll hire kids at local schools like wayne state and MSU. And those MSU and WSU grads make just as much as the Caltech and MIT grads.</p>
<p>I do think we are overestimating the value of a diploma from an elite college. Unless one is planning to enter a highly-exclusive field, for example, i-banking, hedge funds, communications and media, national government/ politics, and top grad programs, the diploma isn't worth that much. In fact, even with some of the fields I listed, such as communications and media, that diploma isn't automatically going to open the door for you. There are many dead-broke communication graduates out there who graduated from brand name schools. Much of success depends on networking and outshining your peers. </p>
<p>Most majors at top colleges are unmarketable. Unless one is planning to attend professional school or grad school and work in academia or teach, forget trying to make it with a major, like Classics, biochemistry, Anthropology. There are majors that are marketable, for example, computer science and engineering, but the rest is a hard road to sell. Harvard can only do so much for a student when they're competing among hundreds of other students from other colleges, and other elite colleges, not to mention other students from Harvard.</p>
<p>Well, it depends since if you want to compete for a job then going to a well rated school is for you. Lets say there were 2 guys that were interviewed for the same job. One went to the University of Michigan and one went to Harvard. It is most likely the Harvard guy gets picked for the job.</p>
<p>While choosing colleges I didn't focus on prestige at all. However, I did look heavily at the difficulty of the schools; the sole reason for this was that I wanted to challenge myself as much as possible. That was my only motivation for going to a good school; it had nothing to do with employment or grad schools. I was fortunate that I found a school that, for me, had all of the above attributes and many more.</p>
<p>^Then those are not worthy reasons, IMO. You may bring "pride" to the family by attending an ivy or presitigious university, but that "pride" comes with an exuberant price tag. That "pride" can put a family into serious debt all for a piece of paper. No thank-you!</p>
<p>don't think about a person trying to hire you.</p>
<p>How do you know if somebody running for state representative is hard working and will do a good job?
Well, prestige of undergrad/grad school is a start.
State representatives are probably not well known and the college they go to can influence ballots greatly.</p>
<p>There have been plenty of politicians who attended "average" colleges. The voters, fortunately, could care less about the college attended but for the "promises" of the politicians. Prosperous times, strong economy, you know the drill.</p>
<p>Rudy Giuliani went to Manhattan College and he seems to be doing pretty well in the political world and Reagan was president and he didn't even go to college.</p>
<p>Unless your running for Surpreme Court Justice, I doubt the institutions of higher learning candidates attended matter. My mayor didn't attend an ivy. A number of my State Reps didn't attend prestigious schools. In fact, among others, the youngest State Rep, a 25 year old, in my state's house of Representatives graduated from a local State College, not even from our flagship.</p>
<p>In summation:
Do you need an prestigious degree to be successful: No.
If you have a degree from a prestigious school are you GUARUNTEED success: At the undergrad level: No.
Does having a degree from a prestigious school help in becoming successful: Definitely.</p>
<p>Ok, Robert Lee, I'll go ahead and respond to this thread, although I had no idea my comments would stir up so much anger from you.</p>
<p>First of all, I have a very good idea of what companies look for. You know why? My dad sometimes does interviews for hirng for a very big company (one of the biggest in the world). Companies want to see that you have an education, and that you have real world experience.</p>
<p>Let me apologize that I didn't take the time to explain further my previous post. I want to go to academia, which requires a different route than getting a traditional job. </p>
<p>Also, note that at the moment I don't plan to go to an Ivy league school. So please don't make that assumption. Now when I say that 99% of people don't know what they are talking about, I'm talking about research. Most people don't want to go into research. Not knowing what you are talking about is nothing to be ashamed about, indeed I generally don't know what I'm talking about. However, it is important to realize that often times, these more prestigious universities naturally garner more opportunities and do more cutting edge work. Also, in academia, often times what school you come from does have an impact.</p>