<p>There is a difference in content and academic caliber of students overall (allowing for individual exceptions). Most jobs, however, end up doing the bulk of their training “on the job” so all one really needs is the basics combined with good people skills. People skills are not limited to top colleges. Many will argue that they tend to be better at lower level schools (that match more of the population). ;)</p>
<p>Even med school does the bulk of the training at med school, not from undergrad… one only needs the basics from undergrad and you can get the basics almost anywhere. Med schools are looking for top students but opt to use the MCAT and GPA to find those students (and interviews, of course), not the name brand of the undergrad chosen. It really doesn’t matter how deep Bio 101 goes.</p>
<p>Those jobs that tend to depend more upon undergrad learning do tend to have their preferences for hiring. That don’t always mean Top 20 (in general) though. It only means Top 5 - 10 (give or take) in the employer’s eyes. The vast majority of engineers around here come from Penn St or Va Tech…</p>