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Ask HN: Have you ever felt inferior for not being from a name-brand college?

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Re: Ask HN: Have you ever felt inferior for not being from a name-brand college?

#31

Post by GavinB »

It never ends. Even at a "Name Brand" school you're still looking up at Harvard-Princeton-Yale. If you're there, you're looking up at the Rhodes scholars, valedictorians, and the "stars" of each department.

You have to remember that once you go to some top-rated school, you're suddenly in an environment where everyone goes to that school, and it stops being special.

Set goals that will get you to a place where you can do the kind of work that you really want to be doing. If you can achieve that, you're better off than most Ivy grads. A top school brings a few advantages, sure, but nothing that a little success can't cure, and certainly not happiness.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever felt inferior for not being from a name-brand college?

#34

Post by alexgartrell »

I go to a "name brand" college (Carnegie Mellon, you can disagree if you'd like) and there are LOTS of CS majors who don't know anything. Likewise I've worked with people from state schools who know exactly what they're doing. Anyone who associates eliteness with where an undergrad degree was obtained is wrong.

The only plus side to name-brand colleges is well known professors, but most of learning is self-motivation anyway.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever felt inferior for not being from a name-brand college?

#35

Post by J_McQuade »

rg wrote: post #25
J_McQuade wrote: post #15

Well, it may be a little different in the UK due to our many-tiered higher education system (Oxbridge, redbricks, ex-polytechnics and a moderate spectrum in between), but I'll chip in my two copper pence either way. Actually, this is a question I've thought about a little too much, I'd wager, because, as a prospective undergraduate, I actually turned down an offer to read mathematics at Cambridge and decided to study…

Having lived in both the US and the UK, I'd observe that the prestige of one's university counts for MUCH more in the UK. To an American it is unbelieveable how much Brits focus on where they went to school (at all levels) rather than their abilities--and they are correct to do so, because other Brits use schools and universities as vital credentials. It's an aspect of the class system in the UK which doesn't exist i…

Oh, I agree whole-heartedly. To be honest, I didn't even know how important the class system had remained in this country until I went to university - I had never met a privately educated person in my life, and suddenly I was surrounded by them!

However, I do think that the emphasis on the prestige of one's university in this country (these days, at least) largely stems from a good decade or so of policies pushing perhaps less-than-ideal candidates into higher education. The replacement of vocational training with degree-level equivalents has in many ways depreciated the whole university process, leaving employers necessarily needing to look for the 'value' of a degree anywhere they can.

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever felt inferior for not being from a name-brand college?

#36

Post by zaidf »

I hardly goto an inferior college(UNC-Chapel Hill). But I am studying what is considered an inferior major(communications).

I love it! When I tell my friend of my major, they roll their eyes in disbelief. But then I tell them of all my classes with the basketball players and they are quickly envying me:) That aside, I am studying rhetorical studies and truly enjoy it!

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever felt inferior for not being from a name-brand college?

#37

Post by joeyo »

johnnybgoode wrote: post #5
rdr wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what do you mean by "thanks to state support"? please clarify, thanks.

The state confers special privileges on degree holders that are denied to everyone else. It also regulates, funds, and grants degrees itself. Examples include credential requirements for many different occupations, licensing laws, and job eligibility. Of course, there are also the more "unofficial" effects of these policies. Credentialism is widespread in society thanks in no small part to the massive, state-funded s…

This is an interesting argument. Do you have an alternative method in mind for aiding people to figure out who might be qualified to perform certain types of skilled labor?

For example, imagine that universities can no longer confer the noble title of medical doctor. How shall I determine who to select to remove my gallbladder?

Re: Ask HN: Have you ever felt inferior for not being from a name-brand college?

#40

Post by grandalf »

It doesn't matter at all where you went to college, or even if you went to college.

Sure, graduating from Harvard offers some short-term advantages, but if you're motivated you can take the lead.

Consider how much time in college is wasted studying minutia for a competitive exam that has no impact on learning.

Consider how much of college is often spent stressing about stupid deadlines that really don't matter or fawning over prestigious faculty who did something noteworthy 30 years ago and have coasted since.

My advice: Do something that really matters, and take the initiative to teach yourself as you go. You are (and should be) your own harshest critic. Make it your responsibility to find others to join you in your quest (if necessary). A college campus might be a good place for you to recruit.

But certainly don't hang your head!

note: most students at top phd programs didn't go to major name brand undergrad programs... they went to small (not well known) schools and accomplished meaningful research that would have been harder to accomplish in a cutthroat name brand atmosphere.

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