Annual return on degree vs admission rate

[*LC]

IMO, you are mischaracterizing our statements in this thread, I made great pains to point out that admission to top grad school programs and jobs at the Cravaths/Goldmans/McKinseys/KKRs of the world were still possible coming from other schools, but that the odds were longer (in some cases much longer), and the path more difficult, with less flexibility (in terms of geographic reach/ability to change major or industry) or margin for error (higher grades required). I stand by those statements, and I would challenge anyone to refute them. That is not dream killing; it is facing reality with eyes wide open, and making an informed decision.

 

It is okay to disagree. Everyone has different experiences and different opinions; that is normal.

 

These are particular statements from this thread that make it seem to me like the author is saying one must have a degree from a top-ranked school to be hired by company X or in industry Y. The only possible exceptions mentioned are a genuis, a student with connections or a kid who gets lucky or UC or UNC graduates. I simply maintain that in my quick look there are more exceptions than these quotes would indicate. (It is a long quote, because I didn't alter anything from any of the six quotes.)

 

I'm a broken record but again, it depends what field you go into. In certain fields, it matters and it doesn't stop mattering regardless of what amazing career you proceed to have.

 

 

 

That is not what I said. There are employers, in several industries, that hire from approx 5 schools. This is just the way it is.

If you are doing amazing in career track Xa, but really want to move to career track Xb, you might get told, in the same interview, that you're both overqualified and undereducated.

You and I are clearly of different views on this, and throwing down anecdotes back and forth benefits no one. I post this view so it's not one of those "I didn't know one had to study for the SAT" things. What one does with the info is their business. It's not changing the way I guide my own child, for one. But I thought more information was a good thing.

 

 

 

I am going to echo madteaparty comments.

Private equity hires from few selective MBA programs. So if a kid wants to work at one of those top private equity firms, sadly the name of the school one graduates from matters tremendously. I am sure somebody can find an example to contradict my statement, because there is always a genius out there that defies trends, but for people who aren't outliers, this is the reality.

I believe some management consulting firms and investment banks can also be very discriminatory in their hiring. Does that mean every industry is that way? No. Every profession? No. But some are.

 

 

 

if all you have is BA, then UG matters. If you managed to get an MBA from top 5 schools, then UG will not matter. The best combination is often a technical UG followed by top 5 MBA.

Again, very few people will end up working in those companies relatively speaking, so this is not relevant to most of us, but if my kid were to tell me he wants to go work for Goldman after undergrad, I will look at the choice of school.

Outliers live by different rules for sure.

 

 

 

Again, there are always exceptions. I can see that from UCs, from UNc Chapel Hill, kids who have connections, kids who get lucky.

Here is an articlehttp://news.efinancialcareers.com/us-en/218782/the-top-universities-for-the-analyst-class-for-2015-at-goldman-sachs-j-p-morgan-and-morgan-stanley/

I don't want to deal in absolutes here, but the odds are greatly diminished based on school.

Private equity is even more restrictive. Just pick a name and then look at people who work there. What you will often find is they all come from the same school. I know so many people who have tried to crack that market and failed with UC degrees. Many succeed for sure as well, but then again, we are speaking of trends.

If you scroll at the bottom of the article, it gives you 25 schools Goldman hired from in the us.

 

 

 

True, but it's similar for undergrads for those specific industry subgroups. At least in my group of friends that's been the case.

Also, I think geography matters. When you live surrounded by Stanford and Berkeley, it's hard compete for jobs with those grads. Maybe not the case for jobs in Idaho.

[madteaparty]

I think people are stating as "absolutes" their personal experience. I'm not in the business of providing statistics because that's not helpful on a micro level and I personally don't make decisions that way.

This is the pattern in these threads: several posters post very specific personal experience, of industries they know, still work in, have spouse or child that works in, and someone goes on a bio search and posts results. Is that going to make me change my mind on my own experience of family member from top 10 MBA program interviewing in management consulting circa 2007-2008, because you found two Dallas grads at McKinsey?

Edited April 19, 2017 by madteaparty

[Hoggirl]

. As, Hoggirl mentioned only one rising senior from her son’s name-brand school was selected for this internship this year. (Congratulations to your son on being the one; that is a great accomplishment.) The same is true for Harvard, Yale, Princeton and ...

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Um, no. Only he was selected for this particular *office* within this industry. He has classmates working for the same company (and similar companies in the same industry) as he is - just in different offices/locations. So, he certainly isn't the *one*.

 

Sorry if I was unclear or if I'm misunderstanding what you are saying.

Edited April 20, 2017 by Hoggirl