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Does it matter where you go to college?

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Re: Does it matter where you go to college?

#51

Post by fhbdukfrh »

raptorfactor wrote: post #48
devilmoon wrote: post #35

It matters especially if you're not from the US. You could've gone to the best university in your country, but if it's not a top institution in the US or a handful of others (ETH and a few more in top positions according to Qs Rankings) I feel like most big names in tech won't even look at your resume. Anedoctal example, but I graduated with a decent mark from the top CS department in my country (106/110) as an UG, I…

I'm an Australian with no degree who got poor marks in high school, and I got a job at Microsoft (software engineer doing C++ dev and some light reverse-engineering) after about 5 years of freelance work, with zero qualifications. IIRC my education history came up once in the interview process (I was interviewed by 6 different people that day and only one brought it up), and that part of the conversation basically co…

The GP was talking about going to grad school after finishing an undergrad in a different country; you're discussing getting a job without a degree.

All either of these anecdotes illustrate is it really depends on the circumstances.

Re: Does it matter where you go to college?

#52

Post by devilmoon »

raptorfactor wrote: post #48
devilmoon wrote: post #35

It matters especially if you're not from the US. You could've gone to the best university in your country, but if it's not a top institution in the US or a handful of others (ETH and a few more in top positions according to Qs Rankings) I feel like most big names in tech won't even look at your resume. Anedoctal example, but I graduated with a decent mark from the top CS department in my country (106/110) as an UG, I…

I'm an Australian with no degree who got poor marks in high school, and I got a job at Microsoft (software engineer doing C++ dev and some light reverse-engineering) after about 5 years of freelance work, with zero qualifications. IIRC my education history came up once in the interview process (I was interviewed by 6 different people that day and only one brought it up), and that part of the conversation basically co…

I feel like the problem lies in getting your feet through the front door, after that how you got your education really doesn't matter anymore. You were lucky enough to get an interview with Microsoft thanks to your past work experience, but other people (especially the ones who try academia before going into the private sector) don't have that chance and most of the time won't even be invited to an interview, that's the problem.

I am confident that if big companies actually interviewed people coming from different universities they would find that most top-uni grads are worse that people coming from different institutions who always feel like they have to perform 110% just to level the playing field.

Re: Does it matter where you go to college?

#53

Post by devilmoon »

kamarg wrote: post #50
devilmoon wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did mean FAANG companies, yeah. At the same time I feel what s/he's saying is also right; in fact I am slowly building up repos on github while I work on my masters and hopefully I'll start contributing to librabries I use so that I can show all of that off to potential employers. I also feel like having a website in your name works wonders, but I am not too sure companies are really interested in that.

I can't speak for the "big names" but as someone who has done tech hiring for multiple SMBs, having a website that shows off your abilities absolutely makes a difference. I don't care if you hand coded the website or it's a bunch of articles on Medium. Showing that you know what you're talking about and can explain it well in English (or the company's language of choice), puts you at the top of my list of people I wa…

Thanks for your input, I definitely want to set it up asap so that I can start blogging about stuff I'm interested in or ramblings I want to go on about after tackling some of the bigger assignments.

Re: Does it matter where you go to college?

#54

Post by raptorfactor »

devilmoon wrote: post #52
raptorfactor wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an Australian with no degree who got poor marks in high school, and I got a job at Microsoft (software engineer doing C++ dev and some light reverse-engineering) after about 5 years of freelance work, with zero qualifications. IIRC my education history came up once in the interview process (I was interviewed by 6 different people that day and only one brought it up), and that part of the conversation basically co…

I feel like the problem lies in getting your feet through the front door, after that how you got your education really doesn't matter anymore. You were lucky enough to get an interview with Microsoft thanks to your past work experience, but other people (especially the ones who try academia before going into the private sector) don't have that chance and most of the time won't even be invited to an interview, that's…

Actually my work experience had almost nothing to do with it, as pretty much all of it was done under NDA. What really helped me was having a set of public personal projects which demonstrated competency in relevant areas (I know because I had a discussion about it with my hiring manager after I'd been working there for a couple of months - I was curious about how much the lack of a degree mattered when they were filtering candidates).

Re: Does it matter where you go to college?

#55

Post by raptorfactor »

fhbdukfrh wrote: post #51
raptorfactor wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an Australian with no degree who got poor marks in high school, and I got a job at Microsoft (software engineer doing C++ dev and some light reverse-engineering) after about 5 years of freelance work, with zero qualifications. IIRC my education history came up once in the interview process (I was interviewed by 6 different people that day and only one brought it up), and that part of the conversation basically co…

The GP was talking about going to grad school after finishing an undergrad in a different country; you're discussing getting a job without a degree. All either of these anecdotes illustrate is it really depends on the circumstances.

I was responding directly to: "You could've gone to the best university in your country, but if it's not a top institution in the US or a handful of others [...] I feel like most big names in tech won't even look at your resume."

Definitely agree that it's very circumstantial.

Re: Does it matter where you go to college?

#56

Post by honkycat »

thrwthrw93223 wrote: post #5

There is a lot of talk about elite universities offering full-tuition to those that make under a certain income, but what this ignores is usually you have to be in a certain income bracket to obtain certain SAT, AP scores along with the right ECs and upper division college prep courses. This usually means attending the best private, public, or STEM magnent school in your state, which sadly most families in those inco…

Harvard legacy acceptance rate is 33%

Re: Does it matter where you go to college?

#57

Post by malmsteen »

raptorfactor wrote: post #48
devilmoon wrote: post #35

It matters especially if you're not from the US. You could've gone to the best university in your country, but if it's not a top institution in the US or a handful of others (ETH and a few more in top positions according to Qs Rankings) I feel like most big names in tech won't even look at your resume. Anedoctal example, but I graduated with a decent mark from the top CS department in my country (106/110) as an UG, I…

I'm an Australian with no degree who got poor marks in high school, and I got a job at Microsoft (software engineer doing C++ dev and some light reverse-engineering) after about 5 years of freelance work, with zero qualifications. IIRC my education history came up once in the interview process (I was interviewed by 6 different people that day and only one brought it up), and that part of the conversation basically co…

Education is not the same as work. Plus the point is that in most top uni there are a lot of competion some some criterias are always "unfair" because u need to lower the pool size quickly

Re: Does it matter where you go to college?

#58

Post by randyrand »

kaitai wrote: post #44
randyrand wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> have to be in a certain income bracket Have to be? Or tend to be. I think we often overlook that richer families tend to have a lot better parenting. It's not just about money. Good parenting is arguably more important than being wealthy.

Richer families can outsource the parts of parenting they're crappy at.

Like...?

Re: Does it matter where you go to college?

#59

Post by war1025 »

groth wrote: post #8

tldr; "The simplest answer to the question “Do elite colleges matter?” is: It depends on who you are. In the big picture, elite colleges don’t seem to do much extra for rich white guys. But if you’re not rich, not white, or not a guy, the elite-college effect is huge. It increases earnings for minorities and low-income students, and it encourages women to delay marriage and work more, even though it doesn’t raise the…

To be honest, that sounds like going to an elite school gives women the short end of the stick. You get paid the same, but put off vital life events.

Re: Does it matter where you go to college?

#60

Post by csa »

bilbo0s wrote: post #32
fiftyfifty wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In addition access to exclusive and expensive sports, if you have the money, some easy tickets into the Ivy League include: fencing, sailing, rowing (crew), lacrosse, golf, tennis and equestrian.

And if you don't have the money, being elite at any other sport will do. Soccer, basketball, football, track, etc. A run of the mill guy or gal with a straight A record and shooting 60% from three will find a ready welcome at Stanford. That same run of the mill straight A student would be laughed out of the room if they applied without the elite basketball skills. Your daughter might not have much of a chance as a si…

> Problem is, you kind of have to be elite to make it work. Four year varsity starter, state champion level basically.

Maybe at Stanford. Maybe at Ivies in certain highly competitive sports (e.g., rowing).

In most sports, simply being a recruitable athlete at a level lower than “power conference” but higher than NAIA (maybe?) is possible depending on the sport and/or specialty. In terms of skill, any high school with 1000+ students probably has 10-50+ students in this category — grades and/or lack of desire are often holding them back from a tertiary education of any kind. Said another way, that’s much lower than “state champion” level.

Again, knowing how to get recruited and having a coach who knows how to showcase talent for recruiters goes a long way. That said, it only helps, but is not required in most sports.

I’m really glad you mentioned running as an example. There are a ton of good track & field and cross-country folks who: 1) can improve significantly just by training well, and 2) are very recruitable at the Ivy League level. Want-to goes a long way.

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