Why do you people worry about school rankings so much?

College Majors Business Major
1

<p>This isnt meant to be an attack or anything but I am tired of seeing posts saying "If its not a top 20 school dont bother" or "If your school isnt ranked high good luck getting a job"</p>

<p>I find this type of thought incredibly obnoxious and naive. I go to a public state school that is far from anything special (Univ. of Kentucky) and am a double major in Finance and Economics. I plan on grad school in 3 years and I doubt I will have much of a problem landing a solid starting job even though I graduated from a "mediocre" state university. </p>

<p>Now I know that this puts me at a huge disadvantage in the job market against people who graduated from Stanford, Duke, Ivy League schools etc. and they will have careers that most would dream to have. But just because you did not go to a top ranked university does not mean your degree means nothing like some of you people are implying. If you are good at what you do then someone will pay you to do it</p>

2

<p>The media brainwashes us to think that college is the ONLY way one can make a living. As of late, they have extended this train of thought to say that you will only succeed from a high ranked school. It has to do with the way people perceive things and sometimes confidence. One may think that going to a “Top 20” automatically guarantees a job if they don’t feel like they can truly succeed in a “mediocre” school.</p>

<p>The rankings did not influence my decision in any way as I feel they are biased to a “certain type” of school. I looked at sources such as Colleges That Change Lives for my information and I feel like I made the right choice.</p>

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<p>UKclassof13,“But just because you did not go to a top ranked university does not mean your degree means nothing like some of you people are implying. If you are good at what you do then someone will pay you to do it.”</p>

<p>You are right, but the thing is that your talent, probably, will not be noticed by the potential employers, for your school might not have direct connections with major companies. And because of that, instead of interviews being offered to you, you will go and ask for them yourself, and if you get lucky to show employers your outstanding resume, then you might have a chance to be hired. By going to a top school, you will have a couple of advantages, in terms of internships, job offers, interviews, but these all does not guarantee you lending a job. I also have noticed that in some careers the school rankings are very important, but NOT in all. For instance, if you look at politicians, almost 90% of them came from top schools. Do you think that Barack Obama would have a chance to become a president if he did not go to Columbia and Harvard? I guess–probably not.</p>

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<p>But in practical careers, such as accounting, medicine, plumbing, etc. the rankings are not matter that much. Still, the top schools give you some advantages, but it is not like for politicians/Ibankers, where you MUST have a degree from a top school. The reason why is that in medicine, for example, if you do not get your licence, then it DOES NOT matter to which school you went to BECAUSE you will not get a job anyway. For accounting it is a little bit different, but still, if you went to an unknown school and get your CPA, then you definitely have more chances than a person who just went to a top school, but does not have a licence. </p>

<p>I guess that I explained everything well :). Does anybody agree with my point of view?</p>

5

<p>I agree with you that going to a top school will definatly open doors and provide better opportunities to get interviews, make connections, etc.</p>

<p>I just dislike the attitude that some members have on this board that say a degree in Economics is worthless if you didnt go to a top 20 school or going into the field of business is just a wasted effort unless (Insert Magazine Here) says its a top university</p>

<p>Business is arguably the most practical field to go into and I believe that as long as you have good credentials it wont be extremely difficult to get a job after college. We all cant be engineers and doctors</p>

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<p>Well I think there is a couple of problems with your point of view. </p>

<p>I think you’re picking parts of statements people have made and taking them out of context like saying “If its not a top 20 school dont bother”. People say this in terms of degrees like Economics, Soc. Sciences, LibArts, and also many business majors besides…well, Accounting (and ,imo, MIS).</p>

<p>This is true, imo. I go to a not very stellar school Univ. of Memphis for financial reasons. Although the schools business school is on the rise, especially accounting (They also have one of the best programs in the country for undergraduate studies on Egyptology). </p>

<p>In each of these lower ranked schools there are a few majors that still stand out. For Memphis it is Accounting, Biomedical Engineering, MIS (VERY strong connection to FedEx, International Paper, and AutoZone in their Tech Dept s).</p>

<p>So what I am saying here is that realistically, as someone who is at one of these low ranked (overall) schools, they are partially right. No it is not impossible to find a job, but if you want a job with a major corporation or a big firm, you better be the best, you better have connections, and you better be able to sell yourself 100x better than a guy coming from a better school.</p>

<p>“I just dislike the attitude that some members have on this board that say a degree in Economics”</p>

<p>I advise you to take a look at your schools placement statistics. This statement that it is pretty worthless is accurate in my experiences. It’s a good major at top 20 schools because several of them don’t have BBA degrees. Coupling it with finance is good, but you’d be better off double majoring in accounting. </p>

<p>“But just because you did not go to a top ranked university does not mean your degree means nothing like some of you people are implying”</p>

<p>Can you provide quotes of these posts (and not from the ■■■■■■)? My guess is they made a statement like "An Economics degree means nothing if not from a t20 school. I don’t mean to step on your toes, but anyone who has done research will agree with this statement. </p>

<p>Your posts sound like you are very much trying to reassure yourself rather than just trying to argue. </p>

<p>What you need to ask yourself is…does my school have any connections to good corporations or firms? Like I said, Memphis does not have the best reputation (and a terrible one in fact outside History, Business, Nursing, and Biomed Engineering) but they have very strong connections to Hilton Hotels Corporate Office, FedEx, AutoZone, International paper, and to a lesser degree Deloitte, Ernst and Young, and a strong regional firm Thompson Dunavant. So, if you do well, graduate with honors, you can get a job at one of these places with ease. </p>

<p>So, after all this blabber…just go talk to your career services center and see how well they place students.</p>

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<p>Ha Im not reassuring myself of anything, I go to a tier 1 university and the best school in a growing state economically. Both my majors are practical and a background in Economics will only strengthen my resume. I know Accounting is very practical and always in demand but I dont want to be an Accountant for the rest of my life</p>

<p>Thats why I am double majoring in something practical like finance so Im not just falling back on a major like Economics (Forbes 2nd most lucrative major)</p>

<p>I doubt I will have a difficult time finding a job after college and my planned resume will hopefully stand above most in the area of those just finishing college</p>

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<p>A rising sophomore is telling a bunch of of 20-40 year olds that the real world isn’t as harsh as they make it out to be? Irony?</p>

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<p>where did I say the real world isn’t harsh? there is a difference between the real world and the viewpoints held by many on this board that if you dont go to an elite school you will have trouble finding a quality job. </p>

<p>I also didnt mean to say practical so many times in my last post I now feel stupid</p>

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<p>Well I’m going to a top 50 (at least I think its in the top 50, could be lower).</p>

<p>With that said, it has one of the best connections out there. Rank is overrated, networking is not</p>

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<p>I haven’t read any of your posts in this thread because you don’t have enough experience for me to take you seriously. You seem to think that there is a fixed, high number of good positions out there. This is something that you’d realize is foolish if you opened your eyes for 5 minutes to see the socioeconomic squalor that a large number of young college graduates are facing today. If you’re going to tell me that this is not what you’re claiming, and defer to being an Internet GPA Snob, claiming that, say, a strong GPA in a business major at a low-ranked school makes one competitive in the job market - which at the end of the day is the equivalent to saying school rank matters- then, well, there is no point to you.</p>

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<p>Because a business degree by itself is completely useless. Unless you’re majoring in accounting, going to a school that isn’t in the top 20/30 is probably a waste of time.</p>

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<p>I think you saying I don’t want to major in accounting because I don’t want to be an accountant forever is all I need to know about you. Tell that to most of the CFOs out there. </p>

<p>Economics classes at state us are easy. The only classes that will impress an employer if you get through it with As are accounting and engineering. </p>

<p>You don’t have a strong grip with reality. I didn’t either as I started out as economics. It came eventually and I switched.</p>

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<p>To answer the OP’s question . . . </p>

<p>1- Anxiety, much of it not connected to reality . . . with about 50,000 frosh slots each year at the Top 50 schools there are MANY jobs and opportunities for the Rest Of Us . . . but the anxiety is that if we do not do everything we can do to maximize all our opportunities that somehow a critical opportunity will be irretrievably lost . . . best way to think about it is that there are many ways to increase opportunity, and choosing to attend a “Top” school is one of them </p>

<p>2- Brand consciousness . . like wearing Abercrombie or Hollister, going to an annointed “Top” school is a shorthand way to be sure that others are impressed </p>

<p>3- laziness . . . a “Top” school, but for what purpose? If what one is after is a Top school for one’s own interests, then going to Grinnell (writing) or RPI (game design) or Oberlin (music and math) or Cal Poly SLO (engineering) or UCSC (Marine Biology) or football (OSU) or Enology (UC Davis) or Environmental Science (Clark) would be your own “Top” school</p>

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<p>Ha so because I dont want to be crunching numbers and balancing budgets for the rest of my life means I am dumb now? There is nothing difficult about Accounting when you compare it to majors like engineering and anything pre-med</p>

<p>thank you pandem for supplying the silly attitude I have been talking about. Over 75 percent of business school grads from my college are making 55k plus a year after graduating. There are so many jobs in the business sector that to say you need a degree from a top school is insane.</p>

<p>I am talking about getting a job in KY here not on Wall Street</p>

<p>and whistleblower I (hopefully) wont be done with college for another 5 years. I hardly expect America to be in the same economic climate it is now</p>

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<p>UKclassof13, basically, a lot of people here are idiots.</p>

<p>Most of the people here try to aim high. They are over achievers. They are narrow minded. They are gullible as hell and will believe anything they are told on these forums. I post on here to enlighten some of those idiots. I should be awarded for being here and putting some sense into them. </p>

<p>If I could, I would definitely enter their dreams and create inception to alter their thinking. But other than that, I would definitely love to kick their asses.</p>

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<p>

And that’s the difference. If you want a job in your local area, local schools are probably fine. They may even be better than top-ranked schools. But if you want to move a long distance away and seek highly competitive opportunities in industries like IBanking or elite management consulting, top-ranked schools have a broader range of recruiters.</p>

<p>CC has a disproportionate number of members interested in such status-conscious fields. That’s why so many people worry about school “name”.</p>

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<p>so a business degree isn’t completely worthless? whew, I want to party in college but I still need a fighting chance to get a job.</p>

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<p>It’s not hard to believe that you thought you wouldn’t have a chance at a good job when you read the crap people said on here. Those people are straight up LOSERS and you should not listen to them.</p>

<p>I am just concerned about all the other people who still think that not going to a top 20 or whatever school will never land them a decent job based off of what the ignorant people have said on these boards. And I am also concerned about the people who think that Accounting is the only option at a state school. It is a life impacting decision.</p>

<p>I am also worried about any kid who has contemplated doing something drastic like suicide because of the crap they have read on this board.</p>

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<p>sp1212… Well said.</p>