<p>I graduated from a 4th tier Podunk State University in California. So far I have out-earned, out-prestiged, and just left my friends who went to Stanford and Berkeley in the dust. Currently I work as a supervisory tax consultant at a national firm in a major city. The only friends I have that out earn me are not the Ivy grads but the state school engineering grads. All I have is a Bachelor’s degree and a CPA license and I work with a few ivy league attorneys in my tax practice group. They couldn’t find jobs in big law so now they work for a national accounting firm earning about 5k more per year than me. Adjusted for student loan repayment and opportunity cost they are considerably poorer than I. </p>
<p>The person matters not the degree. I know a few franchise owning clients that have high school diplomas and earn more than your top 10% ivy leaguers. More McDonald’s franchise owners are millionaires than medical doctors. Just saying…</p>
<p>IMO attitude and work ethic is most important. Some Ivy Leaguers I have interviewed for jobs have rotten entitled attitudes. Communication skills are typically more important in my profession than intellectual acumen. So there is my rant…</p>