<p>Hi parents,</p>
<p>There seems to be so much competition to go to a ‘prestigous’ undergraduate college Ex. Ivy leagues, but does where you go for undergraduate school matter as much as going to a ‘prestigous’ graduate program? </p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>IMO, the last degree is the most important.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply!</p>
<p>Sorry, I just realized I posted this message in the wrong area…</p>
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<p>It’s only a big deal on this site and among competitive students in high school. In the real world, outside of academics and entry level positions, the school name on your degree means very little.</p>
<p>It may be somewhat easier to get in at a prestigious grad school if your undergrad college is well-known and respected or if your recommending professors are well-known in their fields. But excellent grad schools also accept strong students from non-elite colleges and once you get a graduate degree from a prestigious grad school, no one cares very much where you were an undergrad.</p>
<p>Your undergrad degree puts an imprint on you that will last the rest of your life in ways that no graduate or professional degree will. It will influence how you think, how high you’ll reach, and whom you’ll see as social and intellectual peers. Don’t underestimate its impact.</p>
<p>“There seems to be so much competition to go to a ‘prestigous’ undergraduate college”
There is even a higher level of competition to be admitted to a prestigious graduate program and success as an undergrad is essential.</p>
<p>The blue blood fans of George W. Bush must be simply clamoring to get into Phillips Academy in Andover, MA for prep, Yale for ug then Harvard for an MBA. 
Yes, all you northeastern liberals - he’s all yours educationally - lock, stock and barrel.</p>
<p>I dislike this notion of intellectual permanency. It flies in the face of the American Dream. So we have a class of intelligentsia and everyone else is an animal slightly less equal? Why don’t we just have it all done by birth? Certain families will be set apart for special honor and privilege and everyone else will drive Fords and eat trans fats. That way, the true patriots will have an easier road into college and the rest of the great unwashed are simply serfs suitable for tilling fields and fodder for cannon. Then the true patriots will be able to make decisions for all the rest of the people and Peace Will Be At Hand.</p>
<p>While there is a certain element of truth to this educational imprinting business, I sincerely hope it is merely the opening of doors into which the person may walk, rather like this board.</p>
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<p>^I’m with audio on this one. I’ve worked for 24+ years in a large national concern with highly educated employees from every educational venue. It matters little where one went to school; what matters is what one does when in the field. </p>
<p>Schools only seem to come up then at sports time.</p>
<p>I must admit, I do have a preference for those who have served in the military and especially the Marines. The attitude such alumni bring tends to be extremely positive and infectious.</p>
<p>Tourguide,</p>
<p>Here’s where the Fortune 50 CEOs went to college. The
University of Texas system is as well represented as Harvard:</p>
<p>COMPANY CEO COLLEGE
Exxon Mobil Rex Tillerson University of Texas at Austin
Wal-Mart Stores H. Lee Scott Pittsburg State University in Kansas
General Motors Rick Wagoner Duke University
Chevron David O’Reilly University College, Dublin
Ford Motor William Ford, Jr. Princeton University
ConocoPhillips James Mulva University of Texas
General Electric Jeff Immelt Dartmouth College
Citigroup Charles Prince University of Southern California
American Intl. Group (AIG) Martin J. Sullivan N/A
Intl. Business Machines Samuel J. Palmisano Johns Hopkins University
Hewlett-Packard Mark V. Hurd Baylor University
Bank of America Corp. Ken Lewis Georgia State University
Berkshire Hathaway Warren Buffett University of Nebraska
Home Depot Robert Nardelli Western Illinois University
Valero Energy Bill Klesse University of Dayton
McKesson John Hammergren University of Minnesota
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Jamie Dimon Tufts University
Verizon Communications Ivan Seidenberg City University of New York
Cardinal Health Robert D. Walter Ohio University
Altria Group Louis Camilleri University of Lausanne (Switzerland)
Kroger David Dillon University of Kansas
State Farm Insurance Cos. Edward B. Rust, Jr. Illinois Wesleyan University
Marathon Oil Clarence Cazalot, Jr. Louisiana State University
Procter & Gamble Alan G. Lafley Hamilton College
Dell Kevin Rollins Brigham Young University
Boeing W. James McNerney, Jr. Yale University
AmerisourceBergen R. David Yost U.S. Air Force Academy
Costco Wholesale James Sinegal San Diego State University
Target Robert Ulrich University of Minnesota
Morgan Stanley John J. Mack Duke University
Pfizer Henry A. McKinnell University of British Columbia
Johnson & Johnson William Weldon Quinnipiac College
Sears Holdings Alan J. Lacy Georgia Institute of Technology
Merrill Lynch Stan O’Neal Kettering University
MetLife Rob Henrikson University of Pennsylvania
Dow Chemical Andrew N. Liveris University of Queensland
UnitedHealth Group William W. McGuire University of Texas at Austin
Wellpoint Larry C. Glasscock Cleveland State University
AT&T Edward Whitacre, Jr. Texas Tech University
Time Warner Richard D. Parsons University of Hawaii
Goldman Sachs Group Lloyd Blankfein Harvard University
Lowe’s Robert Niblock University of North Carolina
United Technologies George David Harvard University
United Parcel Service Michael L. Eskew Purdue University
Walgreen David Bernauer North Dakota State University
Wells Fargo Richard Kovacevich Stanford University
Albertson’s Larry Johnston Stetson University
Microsoft Steve Ballmer Harvard University
Intel Paul Otellini University of San Francisco
Safeway Steven Burd Carroll College</p>
<p>Okay, thank you all for the replies! :)</p>
<p>It definitely clarified a couple things. Orginally, I posted this thread because I had a biology teacher at my high school who went to NC State for undergrad and Harvard for grad school. I was really impressed, but most of the other students in my class didn’t think much of it.</p>
<p>Oh wow…audiophile, interesting list.</p>
<p>I’m not saying if you don’t go Ivy, you’ll be nothing. Or if you go Ivy, you’ll be a success. But there is much talk on this site about how your undergrad school doesn’t matter AT ALL, and I don’t think that is true. Whether it’s your first military assignment, your first fast-food job, or your first love, your first experience at anything often puts a strong imprint on the way you see subsequent things. It’s no accident that it’s usually only the undergrad school that is your “alma mater” and that you are usually only a “Yale man,” a “Michigan man,” or a “Clemson man” if you got an UNDERGRAD degree there.</p>
<p>I am reacting to the opposite opinion I get from these boards, that the name on the undergrad degree means everything. I agree it means something (and I’ve certainly put my money where my mouth is), but that “something” is vastly overrated here.</p>
<p>Tourguide,
Are you more concerned with your doctor’s undergrad degree or medical training?</p>
<p>I’m not saying the undergrad degree necessarily has a DIRECT impact on “training.” The impact can often be more subtle. If the undergrad institution is very strong in math and science, then the imprint of problem solving might be more prominent; if the udergrad school was Jesuit, then the graduate would certainly have had a thorough exposure to philosophy and the humanities, which might color the way he sees the world. Somebody who goes to an urban school in a rough neighborhood might be less idealistic about social problems. Somebody who goes to a school with grade deflation might better understand the role of hard work. Somebody who goes to a school with a lot of rich kids might end up loving or hating the material benefits of wealth. If you go to one of those small intimate colleges where professors often have students over to their houses, then maybe the students learn what’s expected at a genteel meal or at “tea.” There are all sorts of ways the undergrad college can affect a person, and what I’m saying is that the imprint might be longer-lasting that some people think because it is generally the FIRST college they go to…its imprint is on a relatively blank piece of clay. To say the undergrad degree is everything is wrong, as is the idea that it means nothing.</p>
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<p>By that logic, preschool and early childhood experiences are probably the most important. I actually do believe this.</p>
<p>I agree with what you wrote. However, I interpret it to say that the undergrad “experience” is important. The name on the degree may or may not reflect it.</p>
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Excellent distinction!</p>
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<p>Definitely undergrad. My H developed his mind at his undergrad school (Michigan–majored in philosophy). He learned the exact same information and procedures at the not well known local state med school he went to as he would have learned at Harvard Med School.</p>
<p>Definitely medical training. The doc who delivered my oldest son was an undergrad English major. ;)</p>
<p>By that logic, preschool and early childhood experiences are probably the most important. I actually do believe this.</p>
<p>No, I think colleges are different enough from high schools that the imprint you get is in many ways fresh.</p>