<p>^I’m curious…what exactly are the differences between various schools? The only difference I hear about is of admissions statistics/reputation. When applying to schools, I’ve been breaking them down by department for what I want to do to see which one sounds best for me. I also look at AP credit and general requirements. But honestly, the reason I prefer Texas to Penn State or Miami to Pittsburgh is mainly because those are places where I would love to live when taking all the factors into consideration. What you choose to learn definitely matters more than where you go. My mom had to fill a position recently and got 90 resumes…there were people with all sorts of wacky credentials (this is a Statistician position). Hell, there was a guy with a PHD in chemistry from MIT. Do you think he was more equipped to do the job than those who studied statistics? In case you can’t tell, he sure as hell didn’t get the job.</p>
<p>You’re jumping from point to point. I’m not saying that for an individual what you study doesn’t matter, I’m saying that people think about what school a person attends before they think about what they study because the group of students at Brown University are more different from the group of students at SUNY Buffalo than the students at Brown University are different from themselves.</p>
<p>That has to be the claim if school is a better way to differentiate than concentration/major.</p>
<p>Is it true? Probably when comparing a top 25 school to a top 100 school, or comparing one model to another (small LAC versus large state school). Since the vast majority of people are not attending small LACs or elite institutions, the general thinking is first differentiate along that kind of line, then along concentration.</p>
<p>Truth is, you rarely see someone ask about one thing and not ask about the other so I don’t think it’s fair to disentangle the two.</p>
<p>I also don’t think that we can ignore the input filtering that people put their faith in.</p>
<p>I don’t think you should higher unqualified people for a specialized position because they went to a top school, and I don’t think that’s what this conversation has ever been about.</p>
<p>^Fair enough.</p>