<p>Again with the prestige? And that Gallup poll is a load of nonsense. Know why those schools are there? Harvard is obvious, but the majority of those schools are on there because of their sports.</p>
<p>And as for your bit about the employers not knowing, I beg to differ. Employers will get a different view because they can directly observe and evaluate the products of those schools, as opposed to knowing their sports teams like your Average Joe. </p>
<p>One example that comes to mind is how I got my summer internship. I mentioned to the guy who hired me that I will be going to Rice, and he mentioned how he knew a couple of grads from there and knew that it was a good school that produced smart graduates. The only other person who knew Rice (not for its baseball rep) here in my SoCal town was another engineer, working for Chevron I think, a Cornell grad. A small sample, to be sure, but then again, that poll surveyed 1000 people nationwide.</p>