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<p>You’re not obligated to care about what other people think, though. As you grow older, you’ll find that a) other people think about you a lot less than you think they do, and b) caring what other people think is just not a terrific lifelong strategy. </p>
<p>I was a gunner for grades in both high school and college, and loved academics, but it was entirely self-imposed and for <em>me,</em> not because I cared what someone else thought of me.</p>
<p>Very simply, it is because they are selective. If you get in, you are one of the very select choosen. It does not guarentee success. But it does guarantee prestige as far as resume and casual conversation.</p>
<p>However, I do think that students that attend elite schools tend to be smart. But, all three of my kids attended very selective schools (one an Ivy) and each said that they didn’t understand how some of their classmates got in.</p>
<p>People all over the world (unless they are starving (this is meant to be a jibe incase you didn’t get it)) are into showing their wealth and superiority. McMansions, prestige cars (BMW, Mercedes, etc), LV stuff, Rolex watches, etc. Elite colleges are also necessary to show how superior you are.</p>
<p>To be honest, I would rather go to a large state school than a prestigious school any day. The “elite” schools that everyone on CC yaps on about are usually small, non-NCAA Division I, not as wild and fun, and too strict. What I like about large state schools is that you get a good mix of people. At an extremely selective school, let’s say UPenn, they only select the best of the best students, whereas at a state school (Depending on the selectivity), you have your geniuses and your average students. Plus, the parties at state schools are superior to college parties at selective private institutions. Finally, I don’t want to go to a school with under 15,000 undergrads. I’m a really social guy, so I want to have a large, diverse group of friends. That is why Penn State, UDel, UMD-CP, Temple, Rutgers, and Ohio State are on my list as opposed to all the smaller, more selective colleges that I could get into with my 3.8 GPA.</p>
<p>Why exactly are parties at state schools better than parties at private schools?</p>
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<p>Actually, the Ivy League is an NCAA Division I athletic conference, although the sports scenes at those schools are unlikely to be as big as at schools in some other NCAA Division I athletic conferences.</p>
<p>A few other “prestigious” private schools are in other NCAA Division I athletic conferences (e.g. Stanford in the Pac-12, Duke in the ACC, Vanderbilt in the SEC, and Northwestern in the Big Ten which has 12 schools).</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus You’re right, there are some Ivies in the NCAA Division I. What I actually meant was the other thing you said: Those schools are unlikely to have big sports scenes.</p>
<p>@barrk123 I guess I can’t really say anything because I haven’t been to college yet, but I assume that state schools have better parties because people at elite schools may be too busy studying to party, they may care too much about their academics to party, and since prestigious schools tend to be on the smaller side, they my not be as big as a state school party.</p>
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<p>Actually, the entire Ivy League is by definition in NCAA Division I.</p>
<p>[The</a> Ivy League](<a href=“http://www.ivyleaguesports.com/landing/index]The”>Ivy League)</p>
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<p>This would be a great comment you can make to a potential employer during the interview as to why you chose to go to a large state university over a more prestigious/top school!</p>
<p>Except that employers don’t actually ASK you why you didn’t go to a prestigious/top school!</p>
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<p>Yeah, they just assume that you couldn’t get into a better one. ;)</p>
<p>^Oh, for the love of God. Please tell me you’re joking.</p>
<p>For the young, impressionable students who might be reading this–and getting a VERY skewed idea of the real world overall from CC–most employers do not care where you got your degree. They care how you present yourself on your resume and in interviews. They care about your skill set and your work ethic. And the fact is, most employers have not heard of 99% of the colleges that get the most discussion on this site, nor would they be impressed by them–particularly if they do not share an “elite” educational background themselves.</p>
<p>Several factors for our D:</p>
<p>Financial Aid - large endowments allow these schools to provide enough financial aid to make more affordable than mid-range schools</p>
<p>Size - she doesn’t want a huge university, though she has one on her list as a safety school (she would be in their honors program, a smaller subset of the student population).</p>
<p>Fit - she is a serious student, and is not terribly interested in the party scene, and idolization of athletes. She doesn’t want to share dorm space with students where are only there because they had nothing better to do, because they will be a distraction. While there will be some of those students at any school, the numbers are more likely to be smaller at a prestigious school - why would they have spent their time writing decent supplemental essays if they didn’t really care?)</p>
<p>She only has one Ivy remaining on her list of 14 - the others did not feel like a good fit, and it’s not worth applying just for the prestige. The one that remains is highly regarded for her chosen major.</p>
<p>Wow, that is definitely not true about 99% of employers. The more elite of a job you are looking for, the more elite of a school the employer probably went to. Obviously there are exceptions but this is true for the most part. Going to an elite undergraduate program not only helps your education overall, it opens up doors for internships (and eventually job opportunities), and graduate school if you choose. </p>
<p>Wanting to go to a state school because it has better parties and more of a sports scene is an awful reason to choose a college. It also says that you obviously haven’t done research on many schools, or have any idea what college is really like.</p>
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Play hard and work hard at many elite schools. You may meet a rugby player who you would assume to be a dumb jock, only find out he has close to 4.0 in engineering.</p>
<p>I am at a tech company now. We are looking for an analysts (not a programmer). I found someone who I thought was very analytical and could be good doing data analysis. I made that determination from the interview, even though his current job didn’t reflect that. Some others questioned whether he was smart enough to do the job. I kept on pushing for this candidate, then the CEO said, “Well, the guy graduated with an Econ degree from U. Chicago, how bad could he be? I approve.” In this case, the fact this guy went to Chicago was the tipping factor.</p>
<p>oldfort - that’s an important point, given the current economy. Gone are the days when employees spent their entire career with one employer. Many are likely to not only change employer, but careers as well. If you’re applying to a job, trying to get back into a former career, and competing against others still employed in that field, you educational background may be the tipping factor in an employer taking a chance. The fact that you’re not working in that field may work against you, even if was simply due to working for the wrong employer in at the wrong time. </p>
<p>People often think of your degree getting your foot in the door at your first job, but in this climate you may have several “first” jobs.</p>
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<p>What is an “elite job”? And do you have evidence for the percentage of employers (and who, the CEO? hiring manager? department head?) who also went to “elite schools”? You fail to realize that the overwhelming majority of people in business were educated at non-“elite” institutions. The CEOs/senior VPs of the past few organizations I have worked for went to places like Aurora College, UW-Eau Claire, Slippery Rock, and Bradley University. These are people who are enormously successful and have built multi-million-dollar businesses employing hundreds of people. The most recent addition to the Forbes “richest Americans” list from my town went to Dickinson College before getting her master’s from UW-Madison and founding her own company, which is now one of the leading employers in the region. The company hires dozens of new college graduates every year, but what they seem to care about most is GPA and overall commitment to academic excellence, not the name of the institution someone attended.</p>
<p>As for graduate school: in many cases small LACs do a better job placing students into graduate programs, because their focus is entirely on undergraduate research and students have more opportunities to work closely with faculty in their areas of interest.</p>
<p>The last line of this Op-Ed says a lot…</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/29/opinion/nocera-the-silly-list-everyone-cares-about.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/29/opinion/nocera-the-silly-list-everyone-cares-about.html</a></p>
<p>The CEO at our company went to a City College in NY, but where he went college has nothing to do where he wants to hire. The analogy is “Just because I grew up poor doesn’t mean I want my kids to grow up poor.” </p>
<p>I think “elite” jobs are jobs which pay close to 6 figures first year out.</p>
<p>The “sexiest” jobs are at start ups.</p>
<p>To all you people who say that employers like to hire students from elite schools, consider this: Penn State ranks #1 in recruitment. They come to Penn State in drones on a special recruitment day to recruit students. Plus, Penn State has the LARGEST alumni base in the world, so if you’re a Nittany Lion, there will be other Nittany Lions out there in every profession willing to help the other. This is one of the reasons that Penn State is #1 on my list.</p>
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<p>You are assuming that “going to a non-elite school” is equivalent to “growing up poor.” That’s just crazy, and in my experience could not be farther from the truth. People who have had to work hard to achieve success appreciate others who have too. They are not going to be impressed by someone’s fancy pedigree or the fact that by accident of birth their parents could pay for their entire college education so they never had to work or contribute on their way to a degree.</p>
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<p>Oh, so investment banking and MAYBE a few tech companies. Well, that I agree with, except for the part that the jobs themselves constitute “elite” work. In the tech world some might, but the work of a first-year analyst in an IB firm is hardly glamorous or, in many cases, worthy of the talents of the person doing it.</p>