So many correlation and causation errors all over the place.
Does it matter where you go to college?
21–30 of 67 posts
Re: Does it matter where you go to college?
#22There 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…
> 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.
Re: Does it matter where you go to college?
#23It not only matters where you go to college but which professors you study under. Got one that doesn't care? Sorry, their research is more important than effectively teaching you. Got one that carries out favoritism and/or discrimination? Sorry, your grade and chance of getting a good first job out of college just got lower if they don't like you, and you still get to pay thousands for that. I see MOOCs as a step in the right direction to solving many problems within education.
Re: Does it matter where you go to college?
#24I think that we idealize that it doesn't matter, but at a certain level, it does matter - even decades later. I went to no-name university and graduated with a high GPA in CS in '95. My work experience since has been solid, and I have some respectable accomplishments, but places like Google and Facebook don't even notice me. The only "black mark" on my resume that I can imagine would be holding me back is "graduated…
My impression was that that they spam every CS grad over LinkedIn trying to hoover up as many engineers as they can. I'd be surprised your school even comes into play. Usually it's more like, if you're from a top30 school +5 otherwise they don't even have an opinion.
I suspect I'm kinda in the middle, UC Davis represent! Great school, glad to have attended, but not really seen as a Stanford, Berkeley, UIUC, or CMU tier either.
Re: Does it matter where you go to college?
#25My anectodal experience tells me no. I went to a CUNY (NYC system college) school with a 99% acceptance rate and sub 20% graduation rate. It was more important that I lived in New York than that I went to this specific school. I was able to find internships which got me into the industry, network with folks from different industries, and generally have a lot of opportunities available to me. Also, I graduated in 4 years with no student debt and low overall expenses, I was able to pay my way with a part time job and government subsidies. I've given way more in taxes than what it cost the city and federal government to send me to school.
It may not be an elite Yale or Stanford education, but most folks don't have that anyway.
Re: Does it matter where you go to college?
#26There 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…
This is at best a half truth. Going to these schools helps, but it is not necessary. There are an abundance of people who are qualified to get into elite universities at less-than-best schools in a given state. There are three main issues that I see: 1. They self-select out of applying. They know lots of smart people, but they don’t know anyone else who applied, so those elite schools must be impossible to get into.…
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.
Re: Does it matter where you go to college?
#27This is not what these studies measure, but people in Academia are much more likely to have gone to elite grad schools (in their respective fields, which is not the same as undergrad rankings of course). And, in my experience (Stanford undergrad, MIT PhD, currently UChicago postdoc), elite grad schools predominantly select people from elite undergrad institutions. It's possible to get into a great grad program from a…
Networking is one of the main reasons when going to college.
While education, the courses and knowledge is really really, really important. Networking is just as important as that.
Your social skills really matter in your life after college and it might help you paying your student debt.
Re: Does it matter where you go to college?
#28There 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…
> 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.
Having money to throw around makes it a lot easier to be a "good" parent.
I grew up helping my dad with every project around the home. Economics improved over the course of my childhood and my much younger brother spent his after school time playing sports and musical instruments. He got to put that on his college applications. "Dig's a good fence post hole" is not something you put on a college application. I went to the state school that gave me the best aid. He got an almost full ride at an exclusive liberal arts college. His side projects during college were audio related. My side projects involved parting out vehicles. When you're interviewing for an entry level job at FAANG and they ask you to tell them a little bit about yourself talking about how you do custom speaker enclosures is probably a good choice. Talking about your side gig selling used car parts will get blank stares if you're lucky and make you look like white trash if you're not. We'll see what he does after college but I suspect he'll be doing better than me by the time he's 30.
Having enough money to give your kids a marginally higher class upbringing from day 1 makes a world of difference.
Re: Does it matter where you go to college?
#29They should run a location effect study to accompany this.
Is it better to have a high SAT score and go to San Jose State vs low SAT score and go to (say) UVa (University of Virginia which is a good school far away from Silicon Valley) to get a job in Silicon Valley.
Re: Does it matter where you go to college?
#30I think that we idealize that it doesn't matter, but at a certain level, it does matter - even decades later. I went to no-name university and graduated with a high GPA in CS in '95. My work experience since has been solid, and I have some respectable accomplishments, but places like Google and Facebook don't even notice me. The only "black mark" on my resume that I can imagine would be holding me back is "graduated…
I don't think this is always the case. I graduated in 2014, from a small state university with a CS degree and a decent GPA. Last year after only have a couple years in the field with a big US based Tech company, and I landed interviews with Amazon and Google while searching for jobs after being laid off. I think it really just depends on location, and probably a million other things.
The big difference is 2014 vs. 1995.