<p>Upon graduating 10 years ago and reflecting back unless you go to a top 25 school; I do not think an employer really cares where you go. I would hope they care more about that I am a CPA and not what the US News Rankings say because in my mind there is very little difference between the 50th rank school and the 150th school except 100-150 points on the SAT which I am not confident really shows intelligence. I was just curious on how others felt.</p>
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I do not think an employer really cares where you go
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They don't. Not usually. </p>
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I would hope they care more about that I am a CPA
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They do. </p>
<p>My dad is the division head of a major corporation, and I've spoken to some of his friends as well (who are high up at Fortune 500 companies). The things employers care most about are work experience, talent and ability, dedication, positive attitude, good people skills, etc. The name of your college usually isn't a factor at all.</p>
<p>Prestigious schools may have the benefit of initial recruitment, but aside from that, it really doesn't matter.</p>
<p>Unless you go to a school with less than 5,000 living alumni, ANY school you go to will be beneficial over your lifetime if you can connect, meet and stay in touch with alumni (who hopefully had a good college experience). An employment interview, meeting someone at a party, getting a referral to a sales contact (or good dentist) can be enhanced IF that person went to whatever alma mater you did. Graduating from Middlebury will not help you if you are interviewing with someone who went to Princeton and thinks they are better than you. Meeting someone at a party in Los Angeles who graduated from your school (whether Georgetown or George Mason) can open doors if you truly liked your college experience. Go where you will be happy and don't worry about prestige...it's only good at your first high school reunion.</p>
<p>"unless you go to a top 25 school"
yes, that's exactly what everyone here wants to do
and college can be a great experience, but that depends on where you go. You can hang out 4 years with a bunch of dope heads who party their brain cells away or you can go to someplace with phenomenol people and professors surrounding you.
My U Chicago interviewer said that chicago opened doors for him. if you go to a top 25 schools, it definitely will open doors for you. It WILL help you as far as getting a job, maybe not for the average job, but if you're aiming for top jobs, it helps to have a prestigious degree.
sure, standardized tests aren't perfect, but they still not bad at predicting intelligence.
I'm not say you are like this, but usually people who say "oh college doesn't matter and test scores don't tell you anything" are people who aren't smart enough to do well on tests and won't be getting into any decent college. That's not to say those ppl can't succeed later on, but don't be "the fox and the grapes"</p>
<p>JohnC613 do you know what CPA stands for? So, I think I am somewhat intelligent and I did not do so hot on my SAT's which have never had an impact on my career what so ever. At seventeen I think you will be surprised on how hard and competitive it is to keep those top jobs you speak of. My friend who worked with me at HSBC Bank sat right next to me and he went to Middlebury, so it is always not about a prestigious degree and more about your work ethic and you ability to get along with others.</p>
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do you know what CPA stands for?
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<p>I think we all know that a CPA is a certified public accountant. And it's not that hard to become one. It's much harder to become an FSA (do YOU know that is?), and much harder to be a working physicist, engineer, or a whole host of other things.</p>
<p>No offense, I think that's a pretty narrow-minded viewpoint, JohnC613. And in the future, before talking about how other people aren't "smart enough" to succeed, maybe you should grammar check your own post.</p>
<p>i think initial recruitment is really important...and being around many top and future leaders is also important too...</p>
<p>Tarhunt
Are you a CPA? You are correct I do not know what an FSA is, unless it relates to a Chartered Accountant in the UK which I will admit is a difficult test or could be something related to Forensic Science Accounting? If FSA relates to anything financial or accounting you would be fooling yourself if you thought it was top of the line because the CFA is probably the most difficult. As far as becoming a CPA not being hard I saw a lot of people fail out of accounting as a major, so it must be somewhat difficult. I cannot compare being a CPA to the other jobs you mentioned because I have never performed any of those jobs. I think it would be hard for you too, unless you performed all these jobs. A lot of people have difficulties reading financial statements and their meaning, so it is not that easy. "ENRON" for an example which fooled alot of smart people.</p>
<p>The top 25 schools are known for more than their academics. You wont see the same cultural diversity at, say the University of Arkansas as you will at Harvard. I realize it's an extreme example. The top students are most likely going to be culturally aware and will want to attend schools with similar students. I realize that not all top 25 schools are very diverse, and that all of the tier 4 schools, etc. aren't. However, from what I've noticed, this is the case.</p>
<p>albpace:</p>
<p>Before you start intimating that you're some sort of genius because you're a CPA, you might want to think about what a CPA actually requires. It requires very fundamental mathematics and a knowledge of accounting rules. You pass one test, I believe. That's all. </p>
<p>An FSA (Fellow in the Society of Actuaries), on the other hand, requires that one pass a series of ten tests that are multi-part. Typically, it takes ten years or more to do so. The math is brutal.</p>
<p>As for physicist, I have an undergrad degree in physics. Do you seriously believe that the math (if you can call it that) used in accounting matches up to the math used in theoretical physics, quantum mechanics, and the like? Do you think you can calculate area electromagnetic vectors with the math CPA's use? If so, you know nothing of physics.</p>
<p>I'm glad you got your CPA, but the fact that you think having a CPA makes you some sort of genius is offensive. I took an accounting course in college just to see what it was about. Mostly, it was about doing fundamental addition and subtraction and making entries on the right line. I never went to class, read the book once, and got an A. I know that advanced accounting gets into such esoteric math as amortization (and whoa, how can anyone understand something THAT difficult?), but that's hardly on par with numbers theory, I think.</p>
<p>My own work is in social science research techniques, and the math I use is fairly pedestrian by physical science standards, but it still involves heavy statistics, research theory to obtain decent data, and techniques for meta-analysis. It's more advanced than accounting math.</p>
<p>Tarhunt
First, you are putting words in my mouth; I never said anything about being a genius. I am not one and as for knowing what an FSA is; I bet 99 percent of the people in the country would not know what you are talking about. I was just questioning your qualifications about how you judged the CPA exam, obviously, they are very light. For your information, the CPA is four tests (3 parts in each exam) and you only took Financial Accounting which is easy. Only foolish people call accounting math and most people know accounting has very little to do with math. It is not MATH and I am insulted on how off base you are on this subject matter related to accounting. Is my A in chemistry, which is harder than Physics by the way in my opinion, make me qualified in saying "oh your MD is a joke because I got an A in the entry level class of Chemistry?" I never took Organic Chemistry whom I am to judge. You are comparing apples to oranges look at all the CFO's in this country they are CPA's; they must be really dumb people to get that type of position. I am glad you are good at math I think it is difficult subject, but I would not put down someone's career because you took the entry level class and got an A, big deal. Actually, I think it is laughable that you base your opinion on an entry level class that is so narrow minded.</p>
<p>Here's the thing, one can get a headstart up the ladder if one went to a more presitigious school. </p>
<p>A student is more likely to get a high-paying job if he graduated from Harvard than if he graduated from a community college. Sure, the guy from the community college might get that job later on, but the guy from Harvard has the obvious advantage.</p>
<p>Plus, at H, everyone else's dad is a CEO of xxx corp...you meet your friends parents at dinner, and BAM internship! You graduate, and the guy offers you a job.</p>
<p>At a CC most kids parents aren't powerful people.</p>
<p>Its just sooo easy to connect with the right people when almost everyone around you is a "right person"/</p>
<p>Sometimes I think that CC really does people more harm than good - the plane of thinking around here is so far off from everyday society. </p>
<p>Intelligent people have the potential to be successful. Period. Qualified, hard-working people will get hired. Period. The name of your school is one of the least important factors in job interviews. Period. </p>
<p>I can guarantee you that the vast majority of employers will not have the Top 25 list memorized; yes, even at top companies. They don't care. They have more important things to worry about. </p>
<p>Sure, making "connections" at HYP is helpful initially, but then again, you could say the same thing about the alumni networks at schools like Penn State or Texas. In the end, prestige really doesn't matter as much as CCers seem to think. Why can't people just worry about being happy for once?</p>
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The name of your school is one of the least important factors in job interviews. Period.
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<p>That's BS. So you're saying it doesn't matter if you graduate from a school like Temple or somewhere else like UCB or UMich? </p>
<p>School name does matter. It will help you get those coveted elite jobs. After that, I agree...its all about the work experience.</p>
<p>In Temple's defense they do have a pretty good MBA program.</p>
<p>It's sort of like a Catch 22. </p>
<p>UCB and UMich grads have high success rates in business because their students are highly qualified - not so much because of the name. If a student of UCB caliber were to go to Temple, they'd still have plenty of opportunity because of their strengths as an individual.</p>
<p>"If a student of UCB caliber were to go to Temple, they'd still have plenty of opportunity because of their strengths as an individual."</p>
<p>This is partially true. An intelligent individual will do well no matter where they go. However, they will only maximize their potential in the right environment. Generally, top schools provide better academic environments than lower tier schools. If I want to study with someone, I would want to study with someone on the same level as I am. I wouldn't want to waste time going over remedial crap or wait for the other person to get his hangover from last night's drinking.</p>
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This is partially true. An intelligent individual will do well no matter where they go. However, they will only maximize their potential in the right environment. Generally, top schools provide better academic environments than lower tier schools. If I want to study with someone, I would want to study with someone on the same level as I am. I wouldn't want to waste time going over remedial crap or wait for the other person to get his hangover from last night's drinking.
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<p>Thank you so much for saying that. I couldn't have said it any better.</p>