<p>It matters, but only in a few high-prestige fields, and only for the very most selective colleges. </p>
<p>"We found little evidence to suggest that measures of institutional quality [most commonly defined as selectivity of students] have more than a trivial and statistically significant, direct impact on overall occupational status. [Pascarella and Terenzini, 468,]</p>
<p>However, evidence suggests that attending a selective a selective college enhances occupational attainment in specific professions such as medicine and law. [one study, after controlling for various factors, showed] the academic selectivity of the college attended had a statistically significant, positive influence on admission to medical school. [another study showed] attending one of the 74 most selective private colleges in the United States significantly increased ones likelihood of completing a high-status professional degree (that is, M.D., J.D., M.B.A.). In both studies the effect is nonlinear and generally accrued only to those students attending the most selective or elite institutions in the country. Such institutions, at most, educated about 1 or 2 percent of all four-year college students in the national postsecondary system. For the remaining 98 percent or so of all four-year college students, the selectivity of the institution made little or no difference.[Ibid., 469]</p>
<p>How did this thread about BYU and Kentucky get turned into yet another one about elite colleges and elite investment banking and consulting employers?</p>
<p>^^^ I thought it was about BYU vs UK - or at least about #75/69 vs #120…</p>
<p>I can think of several students who would rather work locally than at an elite “anything.” Students kind of self-select (or should) based upon their goals. When kids ask me anything related to college at school, the first thing I ask them is what their goal is (second is rough finances) - then we discuss some places to consider. I’ve never met one who HAD to go tippy top due to wanting a top consulting job. I’m sure those are out there, but not here. Many will have BYU vs UK types of questions.</p>
<p>People always conceptualize this as a prestige thing; it isn’t. I just want to be surrounded by very smart people. BYU and UK, no offense to those schools, just doesn’t promise this as much as Harvard and Yale do.</p>
<p>Some do, some don’t. Not everyone defines “success” the way you seem to. ;)</p>
<p>Yes, there are more on cc than in the average world. Birds of a feather flock together. There are FAR more future college students than those on cc. Even on cc, when lists are made for the Class of ____, there are more non-Ivy than Ivy.</p>
<p>Students should select their schools based upon their abilities, fit, finances, and goals. My middle son had stats that would have put him in the top 25% pretty much anywhere, but chose not to even consider Ivy schools. He’s quite happy where he is now, and I’ve no doubt he’ll be successful in life with what he wants to do. He has peers in college with him who were accepted to Ivies and turned them down and they weren’t all due to finances.</p>
<p>That is true. The whole BYU/Kentucky story in my first post was just an anecdote. The main idea was to compare two schools that were not in the top 10 of all Universities in the US. Schools that are not targeted by BB Strategy Consulting firms, Investment Banks, law firms, or VC firms.</p>
<p>It should be pretty obvious by now, those schools are in a different caliber than the schools I am talking about. We could have said University of Tennessee or UW-Madison–both of these schools are really strong, but neither of them are target schools for BB IB’s.</p>
<p>Anyways, I think that I have my answer. If you want to go into a “prestige” field–then you want to go to a top target school in the field (i.e. Stanford, UPenn, Harvard, Yale). </p>
<p>Outside of that, usually the local schools win out when it comes to local employment. For firms in Knoxville, Tn, the UTenn grad has an edge over the UW-Madison grad. </p>
<p>If you are going for a job outside of your state. Then the reputation of the program can give the candidate an edge (i.e. a Purdue engineering grad might have an edge over a UTenn grad if they were both applying for an engineering job in Oregon). </p>
<p>That is what I have heard so far. Thanks for everyone’s replies btw.</p>
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I agree with you 100%! Outside of certain areas of the country, the mentality is very different. In the high school I went to in Kentucky, the Valedictorian and Salutatorian both went to Kentucky. Hell, if you asked most of the kids (99%) in my high school what Investment Banking is, most would tell you they have never heard of it. My high school was in the richest area of Louisville, too!</p>
<p>Even if you’re looking into going into a “Prestige” field, if it requires a graduate degree, you can still go to a “lesser” institution (meaning top 50 rather than top 10, or comparable difference) for undergraduate, and go to a better graduate school to save money.</p>
<p>Your coworker is wholly misinformed. Many top 25 universities (i.e. those generally considered ‘elite’) have reputations that falter in some regions. UCLA is particularly weak in the South, and probably isn’t that strong in the midwest; Vanderbilt is weak in the west coast, and so on.</p>
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<p>the degree is one small factor in the applicant’s overall essay. What determines which applicant will get the job, if that’s what we’re talking about, will be which one has the more accomplished resume, and which one does better in the interview.</p>