Where you go for undergrad does NOT matter

Applying to College Admission Stories
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…unless you’re the type of person who plans to simply attend class and maybe join a few clubs or intramurals. Then I suppose having an elite school’s name stamped on your degree might be helpful. But listen to me, high school seniors, and listen to me closely:

Where you go to college does not determine your future; what you do while you’re in college does.

Let me tell you about my university: It accepts 1000 SAT scores. The dorms are intermixed with the bars. The average time it takes a student to graduate is six years. Our school made a bigger deal about our win over the Florida Gators than the two students who were awarded Fulbright and Barry Goldwater scholarships.
Obviously, this school was not my first choice. In fact, I remember walking by their table at a high school college fair during junior year and whispering to my friend, “I am NOT going there.”

But here I am, and I wouldn’t transfer for anything.

Let me tell you about my freshman year: I spent a good deal of time moping around due to the fact that I wasn’t at Emory, or any of the other top schools I was accepted to and could not attend due to cost (even with financial aid), but I spent an even greater amount of time taking full advantage of what my safety school had to offer. I joined the honors program, got a role in Hamlet (an item checked off the bucket list!), wrote for two student publications, and got published in the school’s literary magazine. My hard work didn’t go unnoticed: I was nominated for (and won second place!) my school’s writing department’s annual scholarship award, I’ll be assistant editing our award-winning honors magazine next year (and I’ll be chief editor junior and senior year), I’ll be editing another student-run publication next year, and several professors have expressed interest in me, offering their help with everything from research, finding magazines for publications, to getting funding for grad school. And the icing on the cake? I went to Ireland this summer with ten other students from our honors program (practically for free, I might add) for a research project that’s focused on migration from southeastern Ireland to the southeastern United States. We did primary research in several archives, and somehow, I got chosen, along with two other students, to present our research at a conference at which Rory Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy’s youngest daughter, was seated in the front row. I got to talk with her afterwards, and we were all given a personal tour of the Kennedy homestead by JFK’s closest Irish relative because he liked our presentation so much. Oh, and I got to experience Dublin on Bloomsday, which I’ve been wanting to do since I first discovered James Joyce.

Now let’s imagine for a minute that I had gone to a private school. I don’t doubt that I would have joined the staff of some publication, and I like to think that at least one professor might have been impressed with me, but I know for a fact that I wouldn’t have received the attention from professors that I do now, nor would I have been given an essentially free trip to Ireland, and I definitely would not have presented research in front of a Kennedy.

I didn’t write this to brag about my accomplishments; I wrote this to show you all that it’s entirely possible to be successful at a regular state college–and maybe even more successful than you would be at an elite school. I’m debt-free, my 4.0 is fully intact, and I’m okay with the fact that I don’t go to an elite school. I don’t need the satisfaction of telling someone that I attend somewhere like Vanderbilt or Rice because my accomplishments speak for themselves. An elite school is not going to make you a smarter, more successful person–that’s on you, and you can find success anywhere if you try hard enough.

So, for those of you who can’t afford your dream schools, don’t fret! If you were smart enough to get accepted, then you’re smart enough to succeed on your own.

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You are not into a top grad school or a great job after graduation yet. Come back in 5 years and post again. I don’t completely disagree with you, but you are at the top of the heap in a “small pond” and still don’t have a lot of perspective yet.

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Yep, and alumni connections from top schools are priceless.

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Thank you, alenya, four a thought-provoking, well-written story. It’s certainly part of the truth, but you might have overstated it when you put the “not” in all caps. But I thought it was so valuable that I just shared it with my HS senior, who’s tensely awaiting word about six apps out to selective liberal arts colleges.

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I was curious about this as well. I saw a study that Google did that showed zero correlation between school and career success. I also did my own study. My son is going into engineering (top student but upper middle class non-URM so he’ll be full pay if he decides to go to any elite school). For my study, I looked at the top ~30 engineers at Intel (where I happen to work). You can take a look for yourself at http://newsroom.intel.com/community/intel_newsroom/bios

You’ll see that the list of BS schools for the Senior Fellows and Fellows is completely random (mostly public schools). However, if you look at the list of grad schools, you’ll definitely see the top schools start to matter. You’ll also see many examples where they don’t but the overall trend was pretty clear.

As for me, I went to Clemson (BSEE) and I am a Principal Engineer at Intel (top ~2%). These comments are my own and in no way reflect the position of Intel.

Connections and networking do matter, but I had no trouble making them even though I didn’t go to a Ivy school (last time I looked for a job 15 years ago I had 3 offers within 2 weeks). I suppose you could get lucky and happen to room with the next Bill Gates at Harvard but the odds are similar to the lottery.

So for me it makes more sense for my son to get a fully paid tuition to a state school and save the money for a top notch graduate school. Paying out $250k for a BS when you can get one at a mid tier school for <$50k simply does not make sense.

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I think @howlermonkey‌ comments are interesting and I’d like to hear of more experiences. My son has full ride offer plus extras at NMF school but is also waiting on reach schools which notify at end of March. None of these will be full ride and it seems to me that saving for grad school makes sense since money and finances are big issue. I can’t help but feel there’s less pressure when one can graduate undergrad debt free.

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Thank you for your insight. :slight_smile: I agree completely because I’ve taken two years of community college coursework and now I am blessed to be deciding between multiple university admission offers.

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Where you go to college DOES matter for many, if not most people - especially those for whom cost is a determining factor. Those who get great financial aid at top-tier schools and will graduate debt-free, with more open doors down the road are better off than those who incur significant loans while attending mid-level schools.

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It does matter, but not in regards to rankings. It depends on where the student can do best. For some kids, a big public school just isn’t the right fit, and they could do better at a small school like Harvey Mudd or Caltech (those are just the first two small STEM schools that popped into my head).

But you do have to make sure that the school also has the necessary resources for the student to use - something that big publics have no problem with, but a smaller school may have issues with.

It’s a case by case basis, just go where you’ll do well and fit in (money permitting, of course).

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I think it does matter quite a bit especially in terms of finding the right fit in a college. where you go for undergrad definitely does matter for a lot of people. there are probably very few people who have truly no preference between different colleges

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It depends. For STEM and business incl. accounting majors, state schools are better. But if you want to do liberal arts or get into law, investment banking or politics, having a prestigious school on your resume will open doors for you.

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It’s an inspiring story and I remember how miserable you were last year. I’m glad it turned out okay, more than okay, - that you’re thriving.
However, college does matter… not ranking or prestige, but “fit” - some students will be better served at some types of colleges depending on their needs; your family had a high EFC they couldn’t pay, so the full ride was better, but if you’d happened to be lower income and first gen, other universities could have worked better.
All in all, we know that your undergraduate college doesn’t matter for future success unless you’re first gen, lower income, urm, or immigrant; and some environments can lead to more or less growth or make one more or less happy, satisfied with life, than others (residential college > commuter school, for instance.)
I hope you keep updating your thread every year so that we know what happens to you - the “2 years later/5 years later” thread are always wonderful.

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“Where you go to college DOES matter for many, if not most people - especially those for whom cost is a determining factor. Those who get great financial aid at top-tier schools and will graduate debt-free, with more open doors down the road are better off than those who incur significant loans while attending mid-level schools.”

3puppies, I think the key question is the other way around from how you’ve stated it. Many students are forced to choose between attending college at lower cost at a less-prestigious private school or a state school or to rack up significant student debt (and often family debt) by attending a more prestigious school. Are the open doors and the opportunities waiting beyond worth the high amount of additional student debt that is incurred? The answer will depend on the student and their

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  • their future prospects.
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Oh my god, I forgot I wrote this. Holy hell. To the person who asked me to come back when I gained some perspective in five years, well, it hasn’t quite been five years yet, but I guess I’m coming back a little early, perspective in tow. I’m about to start my senior year, which means I’m also starting graduate school applications, and the question of whether or not my school was sufficient enough for me has risen yet again. There’s a very bitter, prestige-obsessed part of me that wants to say no, but my practical side knows better. What I couldn’t have known while applying to colleges that I know now is that your relationships with your professors are everything (at least if you’re looking to enroll in a creative writing MFA like me–for writers, mentors are incredibly important). In addition to maintaining a 4.0, serving as editor-in-chief of a publication, founding a literary journal, interning as a manuscript reader for an independent press, winning several scholarships and awards in both my majors, serving as president of our writing department’s writing club, being published 8 times in both creative and academic journals, among other accolades (sorry, the prestige-obsessed part of me just took over) the most valuable part of my college experience has come from working with my writing mentor, who, it just so happens, had an op-ed published in the New York Times today. Going into college, I had no idea I was going to get to work with a great writer who not only devotes extraordinary amounts of time to helping me edit and shape my work, but has also introduced me to several of his colleagues and given me all kinds of great connections in the literary world. They don’t exactly tell you that in the brochures. Come May, I won’t be picking up a diploma with some fancy name printed on it, but I’ll be leaving for graduate school (fingers crossed for Iowa) with the kind of preparation I can’t help but doubt I would’ve gotten anywhere else. Maybe I just got lucky. Things worked out. In any case, perspective has shown me that I was definitely onto something two years ago.

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The OP is right in both my opinion and experience. Am glad to see the update, and congratulations!

Companies actually need something done; getting hired because someone believes in your ability to do the job is far FAR more common than because of the alma mater.

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I got accepted to Johns Hopkins’ MFA in creative writing program today. They only take four fiction writers out of several hundred applicants. Just thought you all might like to know…

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Congrats.

That said, not just name but location, the particular profs you meet,
and students you meet are all part of the college experience. Location of my college introduced me to an industry and career I had not considered before attending my uni. Met great profs who inspired me.

I think my undergrad uni had a huge inpact on my life.
I would not say other schools could not have had a positive impact too,
but the idea that they are all the same and makes no difference, is not true.

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Congratulations. Research has shown that where you go to college doesn’t matter IF you are an elite school caliber student. You made the most out of a situation that you did not want, which is commendable. That doesn’t mean that everyone else will have that same experience.

“Now let’s imagine for a minute that I had gone to a private school. I don’t doubt that I would have joined the staff of some publication, and I like to think that at least one professor might have been impressed with me, but I know for a fact that I wouldn’t have received the attention from professors that I do now, nor would I have been given an essentially free trip to Ireland, and I definitely would not have presented research in front of a Kennedy.”

You probably would’ve received way more attention at a private school, probably would’ve had access to university funding for a free trip to Ireland, and its not like the Kennedy’s went to your school. You went to a conference that other universities had access to in which the Kennedy’s attended and they were pleased with your presentation, not your school.

All in all, you chose your undoubtedly unique college experience to make widespread claims about college and I just don’t buy it.

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You accepted your circumstances and thrived. You don’t really know what would have happened at Emory though, do you?