5 answers
raina
Student
5
Questions
Asked
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How important is it to get into a "good"/prestigious college?
I'm a junior in high school, and I'm preparing for my college applications. With many college acceptance rates dropping a considerable amount, I want to know just how much the college you attend can affect your job/internship opportunities.
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5 answers
Owen Chesemore
Teaching
2
Answers
Lexington, Kentucky
Updated
Owen’s Answer
Hey, Raina!
I am currently a freshman in college. As someone who has undergone the process of determining which college to attend, I understand how difficult the decision can be. One of the main questions I had was, “if I got accepted into an ivy-league school, should I attend?” Let’s assume you got accepted into Brown university. Yes, it’s a prestigious college, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should attend.
First, ivy-league schools are usually quite expensive, and unless you get scholarships or have wealthy parents, you will drown in student debt. Depending on the degree you intend to get, the college might not offer the return you’d desire based on how much money you invested. Some people are still paying off their college debts a decade after they graduated. It isn’t worth it. There are, however, some exceptions. Students on the pre-law track, for instance, don’t worry about debt because—with the amount the job pays—they can easily pay it off later on. Brown university, for example, has an average cost of 30k after aid.
For the second reason, I’ll bring in a personal story. I am majoring in English and journalism. I am quite thankful I did not attend an ivy-league school. First of all, I would be drowning in debt. Second of all, I’ve received an excellent education without it. My local university has top-notch professors and plenty of internship opportunities. I can easily apply to interships at plaves like the Wall Street Journal, among others. Don’t let other people fool you: sure, there might not be as many opportunities if you don’t attend an ivy-league school, but if you take advantage of what your school offers, that might not hinder you in the slightest. So my second reason is this: you might get just as good opportunities at a non-ivy-league school.
I hope this was helpful!
I am currently a freshman in college. As someone who has undergone the process of determining which college to attend, I understand how difficult the decision can be. One of the main questions I had was, “if I got accepted into an ivy-league school, should I attend?” Let’s assume you got accepted into Brown university. Yes, it’s a prestigious college, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should attend.
First, ivy-league schools are usually quite expensive, and unless you get scholarships or have wealthy parents, you will drown in student debt. Depending on the degree you intend to get, the college might not offer the return you’d desire based on how much money you invested. Some people are still paying off their college debts a decade after they graduated. It isn’t worth it. There are, however, some exceptions. Students on the pre-law track, for instance, don’t worry about debt because—with the amount the job pays—they can easily pay it off later on. Brown university, for example, has an average cost of 30k after aid.
For the second reason, I’ll bring in a personal story. I am majoring in English and journalism. I am quite thankful I did not attend an ivy-league school. First of all, I would be drowning in debt. Second of all, I’ve received an excellent education without it. My local university has top-notch professors and plenty of internship opportunities. I can easily apply to interships at plaves like the Wall Street Journal, among others. Don’t let other people fool you: sure, there might not be as many opportunities if you don’t attend an ivy-league school, but if you take advantage of what your school offers, that might not hinder you in the slightest. So my second reason is this: you might get just as good opportunities at a non-ivy-league school.
I hope this was helpful!
Baljit Gill
Lawyer paralegal
127
Answers
Milpitas, California
Updated
Baljit’s Answer
Hi Raina,
Rankings for schools is seen as a competition on how you see your future. The person that went to a high ranking school does most of the time have the upper hand when in a pool of candidates for jobs/ internships and volunteering. I have always kept on eye on rankings to see why it happens. It's basically CAN YOU AFFORD THE SCHOOl and how will that particular school serve you. It's just like real life i.e whether you have a high end job that you land after graduating. Personally I think its hard for students because it starts at an early age and continues all throughout high school on where are you studying. The top ranking schools are ranked that way to see how the school best serves the students.
Rankings for schools is seen as a competition on how you see your future. The person that went to a high ranking school does most of the time have the upper hand when in a pool of candidates for jobs/ internships and volunteering. I have always kept on eye on rankings to see why it happens. It's basically CAN YOU AFFORD THE SCHOOl and how will that particular school serve you. It's just like real life i.e whether you have a high end job that you land after graduating. Personally I think its hard for students because it starts at an early age and continues all throughout high school on where are you studying. The top ranking schools are ranked that way to see how the school best serves the students.
Sean Harb
Lawyer
4
Answers
Seattle, Washington
Updated
Sean’s Answer
Hi Raina,
I think that one way to think about this is that the better the college you go to, the easier it will be to get a good internship/job, all other factors being equal. That DOES NOT mean, however, that you cannot get an excellent job after graduating from a less prestigious school. You will just need to work harder to stand out (i.e. by getting exceptional grades, letters of recommendation, awards, extracurricular activities, etc.). Many incredibly successful people don't go to schools that are considered prestigious, and yet their hard work leads them to have promising careers in a variety of fields!
I think that one way to think about this is that the better the college you go to, the easier it will be to get a good internship/job, all other factors being equal. That DOES NOT mean, however, that you cannot get an excellent job after graduating from a less prestigious school. You will just need to work harder to stand out (i.e. by getting exceptional grades, letters of recommendation, awards, extracurricular activities, etc.). Many incredibly successful people don't go to schools that are considered prestigious, and yet their hard work leads them to have promising careers in a variety of fields!
Brandon Dang
214
Answers
Seattle, Washington
Updated
Brandon’s Answer
So, talking about my personal experience it isn't that important to get into a prestigious college UNLESS you are trying to get into a career that specifically requires having a degree of a certain level (i.e. doctor). That being said, getting into a prestigious college does help in most cases, showing that you have an advanced understanding of the career/job you are trying to go for. There are many jobs (and maybe internships) that will require you having a degree as a prerequisite in order to be considered for a position.
For a lot of the places where I applied, they look more for real world experience in the field rather than the education of the person. If you can show the value of the work you can do, and have good recommendations from prior jobs, that can make you stand out much more. This can heavily depend on the career you are trying to get into though. For example, say you are trying to go for a sales career and trying to become a sales manager for a store. You will most likely not need a degree for this position, but you do need experience in the sales. The position will require you to at least develop the skills required for the position like communication and persuasion. If you have a person from a prestigious school also apply, and they DON'T have the experience, they will be less likely to get the position since the store will need to train them from scratch, while the person with the skill set already knows the basics of what to do for the position.
I hope this helps! Feel free to reach out if you want me to answer more questions!
For a lot of the places where I applied, they look more for real world experience in the field rather than the education of the person. If you can show the value of the work you can do, and have good recommendations from prior jobs, that can make you stand out much more. This can heavily depend on the career you are trying to get into though. For example, say you are trying to go for a sales career and trying to become a sales manager for a store. You will most likely not need a degree for this position, but you do need experience in the sales. The position will require you to at least develop the skills required for the position like communication and persuasion. If you have a person from a prestigious school also apply, and they DON'T have the experience, they will be less likely to get the position since the store will need to train them from scratch, while the person with the skill set already knows the basics of what to do for the position.
I hope this helps! Feel free to reach out if you want me to answer more questions!
Sherry Ren
Auditor
8
Answers
Seattle, Washington
Updated
Sherry’s Answer
It really depends on what you want from career goal perspective. As mentioned earlier by other answers, some companies specifically only hire from prestigious schools so if that's the route you would want to go then it could be important. Other than that, most of the time what job you land and what your career trajectory looks like will depend on your own capability and performance instead of the school you go to. Apart from job's perspective, what also would be very different is your network. If you go to a prestigious school, your network, friends you make, will mostly be people attending or people who have attended those schools as well. If we believe that generally people who attend prestigious schools land better jobs, have higher average earnings, it will like mean you will have friends who are of that background. Either way you can have fantastic life in different ways.