@Tampitump OK, I am going to take one more shot at this to address your last 4 posts and then I will REALLY be done. This is old ground and you have received similar advice from wiser CC members than me in your other threads. However, your mind is made up and no one is going to convince you otherwise (as you stated elsewhere). But to tie up loose strings for future readers, here we go…
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I did not write that you don’t think Vandy is an elite school. I said that Vandy was not elite enough for you given your supposition that “Elite schools won’t touch you if you come from run of the mill state schools like the University of TN” (your words). A quick review of the Vanderbilt EE&CS faculty bios from pages shows your statement to be false. No fewer than 14 (and probably more since I did not check all of them) got their initial degrees from what you would call “run of the mill state schools” including directionals and the dreaded UT. Many of them went on to earn advanced degrees from elite schools; others went to “lesser” schools but they all ended up on faculty at Vanderbilt. If Vandy does not show elitism in hiring their faculty, what basis do you have for claiming they would do so in their acceptance of grad students? Perhaps there is data showing where Vandy grad students are getting their undergrad degrees, but I don’t have time to search for it.
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Your links to recent research on the relative importance of elite undergrad programs is interesting; thanks for the links – essentially, two separate articles citing the same research study (done by a Vanderbilt prof, btw). I question some of the assumptions inherent in the approach, but need to review it further. Many rankings suggest the undergraduate teaching experience, faculty engagement, and research opportunities are better at Tier 2 institutions than at Tier 1 or 3. If true, how does that impact these findings? I don’t know.
There is plenty of ink on the other side too, such as this one: http://www.nber.org/digest/dec99/w7322.html. It suggests that there is virtually no difference in the career path and earnings potential between those who were accepted to and attended a selective college vs those who were accepted to a selective college but chose to enroll elsewhere. Thus, college choice was not the primary driver of success. Educational, economic, and sociological factors (all determined pre-college) played larger roles. College fit and environment were also important. I recommend the book “David and Goliath” by Malcolm Gladwell for further discussion of college environment’s role in future success.
Obviously, there is much debate on this topic here on CC and we are not going to resolve it definitively any time soon. Nor am I going to further the debate in this thread, since it is already pretty far afield. You are to be commended for your determination to succeed in college, and I hope you find success in your educational pursuits.
Over and out.