<p>Consider this information from this morning’s news about Nebraska governor Mike Johanns, just nominated for US Secretary of Agriculture:</p>
<p>**Johanns graduated with a bachelor’s degree from St. Mary’s College in Winona, Minn., in 1971. He earned a law degree from Creighton University in 1974 and was a clerk for Nebraska Supreme Court Judge Hale McCown. He practiced law in the mid-1970s and became a partner in the Lincoln law firm of Nelson, Johanns, Morris, Holdeman & Titus in 1977. </p>
<p>First a Democrat, Johanns was elected to, and served as chairman of, the Lancaster Board of Commissioners in 1982. He left the board in 1987 and became a Republican in 1988. Before becoming mayor of Lincoln, he served on the Lincoln City Council in 1989 as an at-large member. **</p>
<p>In other words, Johanns attended a small local Catholic collge - one you won’t see discussed on these boards - then went to a local law school, was a good enough student there to be able to become a clerk for a state supreme court judge, joined a law firm in Nebraska’s capital city, became a partner, and went into politics at the local level. 22 years later he becomes a national figure.</p>
<p>This is a very typical route to success in both law practice and politics. The initial choice of college did not indicate or fail to indicate ultimate success. What was more important was what he did. </p>
<p>Of course, if being nominated for a Cabinet post isn’t success in your eyes, or if he didn’t achieve this success soon enough for you, feel free to have a different opinion.</p>
<p>President, George W. Bush - Yale and Harvard
Vice-President, Dick Cheney- Yale
Secretary of Energy, Spencer Abraham- Harvard
Former Secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge- Harvard
Secretary of Defense, Don Rumsfeld- Princeton
Attorney General of the United States, John Ashcroft- Yale/University of Chicago
Secretary of Labor, Elaine L. Chao- Harvard Business School; also studied at: M.I.T., Dartmouth College, and Columbia.
Secretary of Agriculture, Ann M. Veneman- UC Berkeley
Secretary of Transportation, Norman Y. Mineta- UC Berkeley
Secretary of the Treasury, John W. Snow- University of Virginia
Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Anthony Principi- U.S. Naval Academy
Former Secretary of Commerce, Don Evans- UT Austin</p>
<p>What actually makes it easiest is wealthy, powerful parents. Coincidentally (or not), the children of such parents generally make it into the top schools for reasons other than intelligence.</p>
<p>Obviously, there are successful people who did not graduate from Harvard or a similar institution. But it sure as hell doesn’t hurt.</p>
<p>Carolyn, Ms. Rice never attended Staford. She is the product of second rate universities. Even if she wanted to attend a top university, according to people I know at Stanford, she does not have the intellectual capacity to make it at that level. And given the content of her interviews/speeches, I must agree with that analysis.</p>
<p>I’m an MIT grad, and it irritates me no end the elitist attitude of so many on this board. I’ve worked with <em>plenty</em> of “mere” state-school grads that can run my butt into the ground in many areas.</p>
<p>“Prestige degrees” may be important in high-profile careers like politics…but in technically-oriented positions, it really matters very little. And I speak from years of experience in that regard.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for contributing this pov, especially as some of our children undoubtedly face disappointment in the coming weeks.</p>
<p>I’ve posted elsewhere on this board that Dizzy-husband, so smart that his high school gave up on him and sent him to math class at the state U. for his senior year, applied to only two colleges, both elite institutions, and was denied admission by both. His parents weren’t paying attention and no one mentioned anything to him about ‘safety’ schools. One of the schools that turned him down was Stanford; they admitted a girl from his graduating class, one with much inferior grades and scores to his, who went on to major in Home Ec for a semester and then dropped out to come home and get married.</p>
<p>In the meantime, Dizzy-husband scrambled and found a very non-elite school to attend at the last minute. In the last twenty years, he rose through the ranks of his company to manage several hundred employees, many of them Ph.D’s from elite institutions like the ones that rejected him as a student.</p>
<p>Given the bottle-neck of baby boomer babies clamoring for entrance to college right now, this story will undoubtedly repeat itself over and over in the next quarter century. Where you go to college can undoubtedly make a difference, but you make your future. </p>
<p>I just hope I can say this with conviction if we don’t get the right envelope mid-December…</p>
<p>Why don’t these elite schools (HYPS etc.) just double or triple the size of their incoming classes?? They only accept less 20% so the market would be there.</p>
<p>“Carolyn, Ms. Rice never attended Staford. She is the product of second rate universities. Even if she wanted to attend a top university, according to people I know at Stanford, she does not have the intellectual capacity to make it at that level. And given the content of her interviews/speeches, I must agree with that analysis.”</p>
<p>This is absurd. Do you think that Notre Dame is a “second-rate” school? The University of Denver is a great school, and not only that, she didn’t have many choices in the 60’s as an African-American female. She could have probably gotten accepted to Stanford, but she was only 15 and couldn’t afford it. </p>
<p>She is extremely intelligent, no matter what your political leanings are. Considering the fact that she is one of the most prominent professors at Stanford, if she is not intellectually capable, then her students(which obviously aren’t) wouldn’t be.</p>
<p>Because part of the whole point is that they are supposed to provide you with opportunities to interact with professors, do research, etc. that you might not be able to get at large state schools.</p>
<p>Don’t discount the fact that many well-connected students are at the top tier colleges and universities…those who rub shoulders with them can only benefit…this person’s dad’s a big shot somewhere…gets the roommate an interview, etc…</p>
<p>rich kids make it into top schools so the school can get full tuition, not have to give a scholarship, and be assured that the students will continue donating to the school after they leave. but, back to the topic, a top-tier education cannot hurt you, it can only help you. of course, it is NOT the only route to success. lots of people from small schools have made it big in this world. your potential as a person ultimately determines your success in life. unless you have fabulously wealthy parents who leave a whole lotta moolah for you…lol</p>