Does it matter where you goto college?

[Merkinball]

I dunno, sometimes I wish I would have done the community college thing for two years.

We get a fair portion of community college types in my engineering building, and they probably do better than your average RIT student.

My sister did the community college thing. She learned the same calc. The same chem. The same physics, at less than a tenth of the cost. It sounds like she better professors, who weren't research focused, in smaller classes than what I had for my core math/science classes, and she's doing absolutely fantastic in her chemistry field, has been asked to do research work...

I absolutely hated the process of learning core classes at the big uni. All it was was trying to get people to drop their majors. And it hit the pocket book...

 

[Syterion]

Well I agree with much of the article except I don't think how you get into elite schools is based on "obedience" and I think that's fairly insulting. Of course the person is more important than the school. But the school can be a helpful factor especially with certain jobs or for the notoriety of a certain program there. And better schools can give you more opportunities for research and other things that really impress.

 

[History_Buff]

To #2. If the place gets government money, they have to follow more government rules. That changes the character of the place, whether for better or for worse is up for debate.

What are these rules?

 

[Birdjaguar]

A top 50 private college (or equally good public university) on your resume can keep it out of the trash can until after the interview. Getting good jobs is all about getting the interview and a well-known school can help in that. Just like a crappy school can hurt you. A great interview can offset a lower tier college and get you the job.

 

[Murky]

A top 50 private college (or equally good public university) on your resume can keep it out of the trash can until after the interview. Getting good jobs is all about getting the interview and a well-known school can help in that. Just like a crappy school can hurt you. A great interview can offset a lower tier college and get you the job.

True but the article really isn't about landing a good job. It about running a successful startup. You don't need a pedigree so much as knowledge, motivation and a few other smart people to make it work.

 

[shortguy]

I'd say this. Within reason, I don't think going to a less reputable school closes doors for a person; however, going to a better school makes opportunities that much more likely to come to you. I'm sure, say, McKinsey, would hire you even if you didn't go to the best school; don't expect them to come knocking on your door, though.

 

[LucyDuke]

What are these rules?

Essentially, whatever rules the government feels like attaching to the funding it sends. Specific example, they're bound by all the anti-discrimination laws the apply to all institutions that receive public money. Another specific example, they're required to let military recruiters on campus, while private universities may refuse to allow them. I'm far from an expert on the topic, though.

 

[downtown]

^for what its worth, most private schools get some govt. money, and thus abide by those rule.s

 

[Neonanocyborgasm]

You guys are really misguided if you think that the name of the college you attend has any bearing on anything. I have not found it to have any bearing even on employment opportunity. Take it from someone who has been in academia for way too long. It matters more what your degree is in than who issued it.

If I was to advise someone like an upcoming high school graduate, I would say to go to the cheapest college in your area that offers a degree in the topic you're looking for. You will get exactly the same education as in an Ivy League school but you will spend less money (or be forced to take out smaller student loans). In fact, there is even an advantage in going to a less competitive school, in that it will allow you to get very high grades for less effort. Your GPA will soar and you will graduate summa cum laude simply because your competition in the class is non-existent. Employers and graduate schools have no idea how to offset the differences in grades between one college and another, and so are easily impressed when you mention honors like summa cum laude on your resume/CV. While we're on the subject of resumes, be sure to pad it with as much plausible exaggeration as possible. Employers have no way to check 90% of what you put down and as long as they are consistent and you stick to your story, they will be impressed.

There are some people who look for "pedigree", but even without pedigree, you will still be able to gain access to the opportunities you're looking for simply by appearing to be more important and impressive than you really are.

And if you think I'm exaggerating, I'm not. Fact is that everyone knows these tricks, and I've known people who did them.

 

[Desmond Hawkins]

Well, the Canadian public universities are pretty decent. The private schools tend to be crappy faith-based things. Science in a Christian context and crap like that.

 

[LuckyAC]

North Carolina, Michigan, Texas, UCLA, Berklee, Virgina, Ohio State, Wisconsin, etc are all excellent public schools. Are they NYU or Yale? No.

Well, yes. Many of those are at least as good as NYU (Berkeley, Michigan, UCLA, UVA, UNC). Yale, maybe not. Good trolling for NYU though.

As for graduate school, Berkeley is about the same as Yale, probably a bit better, and Michigan and UCLA are better than NYU.

 

[LuckyAC]

The college you went to only matters for ease of getting your first post-college job of your choice or if your aim is very high (Supreme Court Justice, for example).

Your college doesn't matter at all if you want to be a Supreme Court Justice. All that matters is what law school you went to (better be Harvard, Yale, Stanford) and law schools don't care about your undergrad school.

Your college matters for a few banking and consulting jobs, and can give you an edge in a lot of things, but not much in general.

 

[Fifty]

Well, yes. Many of those are at least as good as NYU (Berkeley, Michigan, UCLA, UVA, UNC). Yale, maybe not. Good trolling for NYU though.

As for graduate school, Berkeley is about the same as Yale, probably a bit better, and Michigan and UCLA are better than NYU.

What the heck does "better for graduate school" mean? That depends TOTALLY on what discipline we are talking about.

 

[LuckyAC]

What the heck does "better for graduate school" mean? That depends TOTALLY on what discipline we are talking about.

It's a general evaluation of the entire institution, just like an undergrad comparison. For example, Berkeley is top 5 in almost every field (types of engineering and science, economics, English, history etc), while NYU is good in only a few disciplines (law, philosophy), so it is considered better overall. If you want to get a degree in philosophy or law, obviously that doesn't matter at all (and, in fact, NYU is one of my top choices for law school). I agree that any ranking of things that are so heterogeneous is fairly useless and arbitrary, but if he can make a baseless comment like "NYU is better", I can at least counter with something objective.

Here is a Newsweek ranking of global universities: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14321230/

Yale 3
Berkeley 5
Michigan 11
UCLA 12
UT Austin 27
UW Madison 28
NYU 39
UNC 41