<p>If OP is looking for validation on his/her choices, that comes from within. And from context- region, what you major in, how boldly you go forth and how well you work. </p>
<p>I’m glad sorghum pointed out that income isn’t the sole measure of success, since we get posters who insist it is. </p>
<p>Any MANY thinks high level of public service jobs are for crooks. Think IRS. </p>
<p>But high paid CEOs and IB folks aren’t susceptible? C’mon.</p>
<p>Well that is the point. There are crooks everywhere. Bashing one over the other is plain biased.</p>
<p>I am so sick of this “lesser Ivy” thing.</p>
<p>I’m a Cornell graduate, parent of another Cornell graduate, and spouse of someone who got his graduate degrees at Cornell.</p>
<p>None of us spend our days asking people “Would you like fries with that?”</p>
<p>Daughter of a Cornell grad. It’s a great school. People just want to believe in HYPS so dearly that something has to play second fiddle. Silly.</p>
<p>Savvy people get the “extra edge.” Maybe more savvy, driven kids end up at certain highly respected schools- not the other way around, not that the schools themselves magically endow life skills and career successes into a less ambitious kid or one who doesn’t get what it takes to master real life challenges.</p>
<p>As my kids get older and their circle of friends expands, I’m continually impressed by the smarts and drive of young adults who went wherever, even some of the schools routinely dismissed on CC. And since I work for a well known college, I can tell you not all recent grads are magically starting fabulous careers. That’s a persistent myth, when it assumes the college name is all it takes. Not very aware.</p>
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<p>Sometimes. Sometimes not. People make choices for a variety of reasons. </p>
<p>Here I am thinking of a young woman I know who wanted to become a physician and who could have attended a top-ranked college for her undergraduate education. She chose instead to attend a lower-ranked university because she was offered a full-ride merit scholarship. This meant that she would enter medical school with no undergraduate debt. She made it to medical school and will soon become a doctor – with far smaller financial burdens on her than many other young physicians face.</p>
<p>I’m not saying that this is the optimal choice for everyone (or even every pre-med). I’m just saying that ambitious people (and I think we can agree that people who successfully make it to and through medical school are ambitious) may have varied priorities – just like anyone else.</p>
<p>Caste system in a college? Maybe the smart ones, the average ones and the not-so-smart ones? Or the Greeks, the non-Greeks and the what’s a Greek? Or the I never game, I game sometimes, I game everyday. Or I’m a carnivore, I’m a vegan, I’m a vegan sometimes?</p>
<p>@Marian:</p>
<p>I would say that it really depends on your career goals.</p>
<p>For med school, if you are cost-conscious, taking merit money at an honors college or LAC may be best, though some elites known for great pre-med advising are great options if cost isn’t an issue (due to fin aid or being rich), but other elites and top publics with a crush of pre-meds aren’t so much.</p>
<p>For Wall Street, going to a Street target is most straightforward, though you can get to the front office other ways as well.</p>
<p>For CS, a top CS school (which includes several publics) or Harvard (or other Ivy/equivalents) is ideal. Many LACs (and even at least one elite) are not due to limited offerings.</p>
<p>Most engineering seems to care very little about where you went to school (so long as it’s ABET), but some niche areas favor the top schools in that area.</p>
<p>MBB consulting seems most particular about what school you went to (and where they recruit).</p>
<p>So it really depends on what you want to do and where.</p>
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<p>The OP did, and that’s who I was addressing.</p>
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<p>From what I’ve seen, unless one attends Princeton, Cornell, or Columbia, an Ivy graduate would not have a leg up and sometimes even be regarded dubiously in the techie skills department compared to counterparts from schools like MIT/CMU/Caltech/Berkeley or UMich/GTech/UIllnois/UW-Seattle. </p>
<p>In fact, some engineering/computer tech firms I know of feel the need to mandate Ivy grads…including sometimes the PCCs jump through extra hoops to ensure their techie cred is up to snuff. </p>
<p>As for LACs, some LACs don’t have an issue getting their CS grads hired. One older HS alum friend who I’m about to meet for a BBQ has had no problems getting hired as a CS major from an SWAR LAC or getting promoted since. </p>
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Where did you get that? I’ve never heard anyone who graduated from any Ivy League school majoring in CS had any problem getting employed, or were second-guessed/discriminated because they got a STEM degree from any Ivy. And top students are <em>routinely</em> hired by the big tech companies in Silicon Valley or snatched up by WS. What’s your source for the claim that “tech firms mandate ivy graduates jump through extra hoops”?</p>
<p>It’s still about the individual. “Up to snuff” means more than the college name. We’ve been over and over this, with input from hiring folks or managers.</p>
<p>You have to prove yourselves over and over again anywhere, even with top degrees. I’ve recently read a thread on Quora, one kid at CMU/MIT/Stanford school, schools that are known for CS, he specifically didn’t want to call out his school, was having problem at a software internship. He couldn’t make it work or whatever he wrote, he bombed it.</p>
<p>^^Of course, but the way cobrat put it makes it sound like somehow a degree in CS from most of the Ivy League schools becomes some sort of disadvantage, “compared to counterparts from schools like MIT/CMU/Caltech/Berkeley or UMich/GTech/UIllnois/UW-Seattle.” (direct quote)</p>
<p>@Benley:</p>
<p>I know that the BA in CS curriculum at some elites (both private and public) can be really soft, requiring half as many courses as the BS in CS curriculum of top CS schools and not requiring some classes which I consider essential for a CS major to have taken. I have a friend who says he knows a Dartmouth CS grad who he says can’t code.</p>
<p>What kind of stinks is that a BA in CS from some other schools requires just as much coursework as a BS in CS from that school.</p>
<p>OK @purpletitan. I personally haven’t heard of anything like but it could be true. As far as you know, does the high tech industry or certain companies have a process in place to vet ivy CS majors only (or together with other “usual suspects”) because of their reputation for inadequate preparation? I am genuinely curious. (None of my kids are studying CS or related majors)</p>
<p>@cobrat will have to say what he’s talking about. In my experience, Ivy grads tend to get the benefit of the doubt (at least in terms of general intelligence). Of course, if they turn out to do shoddy work, that reflects badly on them and their education. In the end, being able to do a good job is more important than getting a job.</p>
<p>@LasMa I don’t mean success later in life, but sucess specifically in job opportunities. </p>
<p>for example a law or business grad from an ivy league would have a noticeable leg up over people from state flagships, or the average private college</p>