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Does college name matter when pursuing a career in health?

When health professionals branch out and seek work in clinics, does the college or university matter? When two or more people compete for an open position, will they hire the person with the greatest experience or will they hire the person who went to a better known college? Like, a well known university vs a great community college. #college #health

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Jonathan’s Answer

I can't speak directly to a career in health, I can only speak for my experience for my grad school experience at Santa Clara University for my Masters in Business Administration.


A marketing professor gave a really great talk one day and it went something like this:


"You guys are at SCU. You know what this means?


You have to work HARDER. You have to be BETTER.


Why? Because you have to compete with those two little schools down the street. You know, Stanford and UC Berkeley.


You know what an MBA means coming from those schools?


It means much more than an MBA coming from here. On what? Name alone.


So my job as a professor here at SCU is to prepare you, to work you and make you a better performer than those guys. Because at the end of the day, when they put an MBA from SCU versus an MBA from Stanford, they're going to pick the MBA from Stanford, one hundred percent of the time.


What will give you the edge? The fact that I'm going to put you through the wringer and make you do corporate level work and extremely critical thinking. You're going to get that interview and you're going to DEMONSTRATE that you're better than that Stanford or Berkeley kid.


That's how you're going to compete. Because you're not going to do it by comparing your pieces of paper."


LONG STORY SHORT: All things equal, your school matters. Employers will pick the better school. However, be the better candidate by having more relevant experience. Be the top candidate by having both.


Hope this helps, best of luck, get into the best school you can get into!

Thank you comment icon Thank you so much for your detailed response! This gives me a lot to think about come application time. This is greatly appreciated. Ignacio
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Chloe’s Answer

Hi there! I think this is a loaded question - when employers are looking at prospective applicants, there are many factors that they consider outside of just where you went to school. While going to a more prestigious school may give some the upper hand, that isn't the end all be all factor in deciding upon applicants. There are a variety of factors that can help you land a job - school, major, previous experience, referrals, how you interview / present yourself, if you know anyone at the company, etc. I didn't go to the most prestigious school, I went to a state school and saved money by doing so. And now, I have a job where there are some colleagues of mine who went to Ivy Leagues and others who took a similar route as me. While prestigious schools can provide some advantage, I hope to convey again that the school you go to isn't the end all be all. Do what you can to differentiate yourself from other applicants in your work ethic, taking advantage of opportunities and networking throughout your college career to help get your foot in the door of employers. Best of luck!
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