<p>This touches a larger point in that at ANY name-brand school, there are some people who are there just for the name. Harvard College, Harvard Law, Harvard Med, and Harvard Business Schools are verifiably excellent schools, but let’s face it, those schools (especially HBS) have plenty of students who are there just for the name. The same thing is true at MIT, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, and every other name-brand school. The public schools are not immune to this by any means. A lot of people who are at Berkeley are there just for the name ‘Berkeley’. </p>
<p>Nor is this irrational. This is a perfectly logical and reasonable response to the world we live in. The fact is, brand-names act as market signals to indicate general levels of quality. Let’s face it. If you’re going for a high-end job in business or politics or law, it’s useful to have the name ‘Harvard’ or ‘Yale’ or ‘Princeton’ or ‘Stanford’ backing you up. If you’re going for a job in technology, it’s useful to have the name ‘MIT’ backing you up. One might say that a Harvard degree in engineering will only fool employers who are stupid, but the fact is, there are a LOT of stupid employers out there. Whether you agree with it or not, those brand-names look good on a resume and hence do open doors.</p>