Cornell Reputation/Prestige in Real World

applejack
Mon, 11 Apr 2011 19:06:57 +0000

I’ve never encountered anything but positive response professionally and socially. No one will ever say, “Well, this one went to Cornell, but this one to Penn. I hear they jumped up a few spots this year.” If it comes down to that, your schools will be tossed for more discerning factors. Also, women tend to love hearing you went there because it puts the “smart stamp” on (I don’t know if you’re a male or female, but it applies both ways, and I live in a very educated, school-obsessed city).

What a lot of people on CC don’t realize is that the real world isn’t micromanaged by finite numbers and rankings like high school. School obviously becomes less important with time, but there is a broad range of schools that tend to find camaraderie as “one of the gang” and a whole pile of reasons people end up at one over another.

I’ve had Duke interns who were inept and no-name school grads who excelled, so go where you want. Cornell won’t hurt your odds. People will judge you by your own capacity after your first job.