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<p>You say “learned the material.” It’s quite simple – that is the key phrase, because from what I know, employers care less about what you majored in, and more about how well they perceive you can do the job. This is why, for instance, a math major with a strong interest in computers actually can be more successful in the job market than a CS major. Now I am as of now with no interest in such things, and probably would only pick up such skills if I had to, but there are people out there who prepare themselves for careers very well independent of school training. I don’t think it makes sense to judge people based on a marginal difference of a few courses. Most people don’t even remember exactly what they learned in classes even one or two semesters after the courses, only the general ideas. The important thing is having worked with the right things enough to be able to look them up + use them as necessary in the future.</p>
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<p>You place WAY too much value on name, it seems. People in college learn to think in a certain framework, and self-training often is the best kind for career goals. Employers at my dad’s place have been frustrated enough with an MIT grad’s ability to focus on the task at hand (though he’s very smart) that they let him go. And there are plenty of workers from lower tier schools who seem to be doing better than this guy career-wise. Maybe in academia, name actually matters in the sense you say it does, but
it’s kind of odd that you would distinguish MIT and Rice, but not Rice and lower ranked schools as much.</p>
<p>I was once going to force myself to do engineering, and Rice was one school I was accepted to, and I certainly had no idea about the BA.</p>