<p>Here's my thinking. If you are good enough to compete with the group of students at NYU for med school (top 5%) then you are good enough to finish at the top of 1% your class at USC. If you do not end up at the top 1% or so of your class at USC, you would not have been top 5% at NYU either.</p>
<p>You see, it's all in your hands, or your genes, depending on perspective. </p>
<p>If you are truly med school material, (top 5% at NYU, top 1% at USC) it will likely work out well for you at either school. At USC, you will have to make a true effort additional to that at a prestigious school -- you will have to cultivate relationships with faculty who will help guide you into appropriate research as an undergrad, and eventually recommend you to med school admissions committees. The faculty will not find you. Ther IS NO medical school admission counseling . Without the faculty help USC will not work out. Are you willing to do what is necessary to get the faculty on your side at USC?</p>
<p>So, USC requires a little more work... let's call that 2 hours per week additional time working your faculty network. Well worth the $42,000 in annual savings if you ask me.</p>
<p>Five years ago I would’ve said the same thing – that it doesn’t matter where you go, that what matters is what you to do there.</p>
<p>Now, I think it sort of matters where you go. What you do when you’re wherever you go is far more important than where you go, but there is some truth in the idea that the name of your school opens many many doors. For example, I go to Columbia for graduate school. When that name comes out of my mouth, it impresses people. They assume certain things about me that they wouldn’t assume if I said I went somewhere else. There are recruiters that come here that don’t go to Hunter College or the New School…not that those aren’t terrific schools, but when McKinsey is trying to convince a client that this 22-year-old with an English lit major knows how to reorganize their company, saying “He’s a Harvard grad” or “She want to Wharton” can help to reassure them for whatever reasons.</p>
<p>There are also assumptions about me when I tell people the name of my undergraduate alma mater (Spelman College). Spelman is a top 100 LAC but not a tippy-top school. However, because it is the top HBCU in the country we got a lot of the same recruiters I see at Columbia all the time to get top black talent.</p>
<p>Honestly, I’m glad that I went to Spelman for free rather than paying Emory the money they were asking for (they only gave me $7,000 in aid). Emory is definitely a more prestigious school, but I’m at exactly the place I would’ve wanted to be anyway – Columbia was my dream, and in the end Spelman was the perfect place for me. So I think it’s more important to find that great fit than to chase the prestige.</p>
<p>“McKinsey is trying to convince a client that this 22-year-old with an English lit major knows how to reorganize their company, saying “He’s a Harvard grad” or “She want to Wharton” can help to reassure them for whatever reasons.”</p>
<p>Right. But who holds the power in that situation? The client that McKinsey who is trying to impress. Who might not have gone to Wharton or Harvard or anything fancy – who might just have had an original idea and built a successful company and now wants McKinsey’s help. </p>
<p>Anyway, having been on both sides of that client / consulting divide, McKinsey isn’t really trotting out “oh, look, our 22 yo’s went to Harvard.” It’s rather tacky. I’m working on the client side with a similar consulting firm, and I happen to know that the junior people that I’m working with went to Dartmouth and Harvard respectively because I googled them, but the consulting firm surely isn’t bragging about that to me, because that would be gauche. And anyway, they have to impress me as the client and do what <em>I</em> want, not the other way around. So if a Harvard or Wharton degree gets you into having to do the bidding of your client, how prestigious is that anyway?</p>
<p>But realistically, a lot of people cannot help but consider prestige while making desicions. Its a pride thing and it may give you more bragging rights, especially for the parents. It is quite annoying, to be honest.</p>
<p>Where you go to school indeed does not matter. Your actual genetic make-up coupled with life experiences are much better indicators of where and how far you’ll go instead of your academic institution. Oh and of course, having a wealthy family background doesn’t hurt either.</p>
<p>There are more than 3000 institutions of higher learning in this country. Surely, they are not all equally “good”. Now, what does “good” really mean for any given individual? That can be a difficult question. However, as a simple practical matter, using the USNWR or some such rankings is not a bad way to filter your choices, initially, if you want to broaden them beyond the public schools in your own state. At the very least, it will help you identify the most competitive schools where you have a more or less good chance of being admitted.</p>
<p>Now, is it a good strategy to automatically choose the very most selective school that accepts you? Not necessarily. However, for most good students, some version of that strategy probably will result in a better college experience than simply choosing the school that is the closest or the cheapest. It will at least put you into classrooms with other students whose ability and motivation is matched to your own. That can be important, unless you view the learning experience as a closed loop between teacher, student, and subject matter.</p>
<p>Would it be advisable to join a CUNY college (Hunter for eg) as a dayscholar instead of a SUNY ( Buffalo) as a boarder for the comfort of attending collegefrom home?</p>
<p>I practically have a full ride in both, Texas A&M and the University of Notre Dame. I want to study Chemical Engineering. What would be the best choice considering Texas A&M has a better rank in the Engineering Schools, but Notre Dame’s reputation for a well-rounded education and its networking potential seem to be more recognized?</p>
<p>BMW is correct. Please nobody argues after that.
Where you go for undergrad does matter. A 2.0 from Harvard & Columbia will take you more places than a 3.5 from ohio state.</p>
<p>Last time I checked, it’s almost impossible to get a 2.0 from Harvard. (It’s one of the hardest school to fail out of)</p>
<p>And it does matter where you go to college. Yes, you can get similar education at the colleges, but the students you spend four years with make a huge difference. Not to mention the differences in resources these colleges can provide to its students. </p>
<p>Can you succeed (whatever your definition of that is) without going to a top 50 school? Yes. Is it just as easy? No, most definitely not.</p>
<p>Yes, connections are important. However, ask around. Most of the connections that people have used in furthering their life pursuits (business, academic, social service, whatever) are NOT from their undergraduate institution. I’m going to guess that less than 10% of a person’s useful connections are from undergrad.</p>
<p>You guys are living in a fantasy world. I can’t blame you really… what are you, all of 18 years old? Blind leading the blind is the phrase that comes to mind.</p>
<p>as has been mentioned earlier, where you go DOES matter. it’s important because of hwo you are surrounding yourself with, not because of prestige. if you are academically gifted, have 2400 SATs, and have some wonderful EC’s… you are probably going to be happier being surrounded by academic peers at an elite school than by straight B students at the local state school. it’s not the fact that the elite school is elite that is important, but that you would be surrounded by those who think “on your level.” </p>
<p>sure, there are intellectually gifted students that go to “lesser” schools and thrive, but one wonders how much faster they would swim if dropped into a bigger “pond”</p>
<p>“Yes, connections are important. However, ask around. Most of the connections that people have used in furthering their life pursuits (business, academic, social service, whatever) are NOT from their undergraduate institution.”</p>
<p>Not completely true. Lots of students get connections not only from classmates but classmates’ parents.</p>