What exactly makes better colleges...better?

labegg
Mon, 12 Jun 2017 15:35:38 +0000

There are different ways to answer this inquiry that are highly dependant on the student’s intended major and future career aspirations. You wanna be a high powered lawyer, politician, wall street financier? I would say there are some distinct advantages to attending the top 20 or so “prestige” universities/colleges. Engineers may have a bit more leeway and many state flagships are more than sufficient for providing the “prestige” factor for future careers.

Husband is a engineer at a large multi-natioanl petroleum company and, frankly, even in the upper echelon of management, most engineers are products of top 20-100 ranked universities and there really is no distinct advantage to the “prestige” diploma. In his world, it’s the ability to get the job done that carries the weight. I don’t even see the top 20 universities opening the door to employment any easier, in his world, so really there is not that much advantage to it, IMO

I worked as a paralegal and in the legal world, across the board, there is/was definitely a distinct advantage to holding a diploma from a “prestige” university.

I have seen it argued here on CD multiple times that if you are intending medical or graduate school, the place where you get your undergrad degree is far less important than your GPA, so choose the most “reputable” school where you are going to attain the highest GPA. (A quick look at the most recent astronaut class seems to confirm that arguement!)

So OP, if you are my kid and you want to major in an engineering field, I’d say … do not discount the large state flagship, it’s just a likely to get you where you want to go in terms of your career. Chose the school that you like the most and doesn’t put you (or me) in too much debt.