Does Location of School Matter?

Marian
Mon, 27 Aug 2012 10:40:29 +0000

In my experience, yes, if (1) you will not be attending one of the top schools in the country, and (2) your intended career field is one that uses on-campus recruiting.

At top schools, on-campus recruiting is national. But at less prestigious schools, most on-campus recruiting is local. (Local, though, doesn’t mean that you have to attend a school that’s actually in Washington, DC to get recruited for a job there. Schools in Maryland and Virginia are plenty close enough.)

On the other hand, not all employers use on-campus recruiting systems. Some of the ones that don’t are concentrated in Washington, DC (e.g., the White House, Congressional offices). So if that’s the kind of employer you would be applying to, the geographic location of your college won’t matter. You would be applying directly.