If most careers require grad school does where you get your 4 year degree really matter?

[Anonymous]

Other than Ivy schools, why does it matter what 4 year you attend if most people need a graduate degree?

Also, if you don't go to grad school what benefit does a higher ranked college get you? Really curious because I feel like I am missing something?

[Anonymous]

Only on DCUM would someone posit that you "need" a graduate degree.

[Anonymous]

Not that much. State school, then JHU for my PhD. My spouse did ivy, then JHU, colleague did Columbia then JHU. We’re all the same.

[Anonymous]

^^ all the same except for the outlay of cash during undergrad

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Other than Ivy schools, why does it matter what 4 year you attend if most people need a graduate degree?

Also, if you don't go to grad school what benefit does a higher ranked college get you? Really curious because I feel like I am missing something?

61% of all CEOs have nothing more than a bachelor's degree. Most people get to very senior levels without a graduate degree.

My kid works for a tech start-up where 1/2 the company doesn't even have an undergraduate degree including one of the founders (and of course there are tons of famous founders without an undergraduate degree).

[Anonymous]

Eh, not all schools are equal.

A top honors degree from third rate undergrad may not get you into prestigious graduate school, especially if their programs suck in your field of interest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eh, not all schools are equal.

A top honors degree from third rate undergrad may not get you into prestigious graduate school, especially if their programs suck in your field of interest.

There's a lot to be said for being the big fish in a small pond. I ended up at a third rate undergrad for financial reasons and had no problem getting into a top grad school and top law school. Leaving undergrad I had tons of awards, glowing recommendations, and perfect grades. I don't know that my application would have been as stellar from a more competitive school.

[Anonymous]

OP, your premise is wrong, therefore your question is moot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh, not all schools are equal.

A top honors degree from third rate undergrad may not get you into prestigious graduate school, especially if their programs suck in your field of interest.

There's a lot to be said for being the big fish in a small pond. I ended up at a third rate undergrad for financial reasons and had no problem getting into a top grad school and top law school. Leaving undergrad I had tons of awards, glowing recommendations, and perfect grades. I don't know that my application would have been as stellar from a more competitive school.

How many other kids from your undergrad were at your top law school with you? How many of your law school classmates graduated from the undergrad of your law school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eh, not all schools are equal.

A top honors degree from third rate undergrad may not get you into prestigious graduate school, especially if their programs suck in your field of interest.

This. The undergraduate reputation/prestige correlates to the grad schools where the students go.
Example: the top 5 grad schools from NC state, UGA —good but not top flagships—are similar level schools.
The top 5 grad schools coming out of Duke? MIT, Duke, Harvard, Columbia, NYU. Ivies are similar: the top 5 is almost always including the ivy itself, MIT, Harvard, Stanford and another top school.
PhDs which are fully paid /funded including stipends of $45k or so are about half of grad programs coming out of top schools, whereas at non elite /nonflagships of the ones not going to professional school, less than 10% go to phD, the rest are masters. Most masters, outside of elite programs at ivies or others, are not funded at all. Guess who gets into the funded masters.
Careers after phD or masters is highly dependent on the prestiges of program. Getting into the most prestigious grad programs heavily correlates with attending a top20 private or a top15 LAC or a top15Public. Those 50 schools boost . The ivy/plus group of 12 schools give the biggest boost.
Undergrad matters.

[Anonymous]

You can get in most grad schools from any accredited undergrad, as long as you have excellent grades, test scores, & recommendations. Also helps a lot if you don’t need financial aid.

I went from a tiny Catholic college with ONE full-time professor in my subj to one of the top 10 grad programs in the world for that subject.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh, not all schools are equal.

A top honors degree from third rate undergrad may not get you into prestigious graduate school, especially if their programs suck in your field of interest.

There's a lot to be said for being the big fish in a small pond. I ended up at a third rate undergrad for financial reasons and had no problem getting into a top grad school and top law school. Leaving undergrad I had tons of awards, glowing recommendations, and perfect grades. I don't know that my application would have been as stellar from a more competitive school.

How many other kids from your undergrad were at your top law school with you? How many of your law school classmates graduated from the undergrad of your law school?

Congrats to PP for threading the needle and getting into top law school the harder way. We have a very close relative at Yale law. They went to a different ivy for undergraduate. Over half of the YL entering class each year is from the same 20 or so elite undergrads. Most of the rest are from T25-40 types/6-15 ranked LACs. There are almost no students from colleges below the top100 and these students are either hooked demographics or truly genius.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh, not all schools are equal.

A top honors degree from third rate undergrad may not get you into prestigious graduate school, especially if their programs suck in your field of interest.

This. The undergraduate reputation/prestige correlates to the grad schools where the students go.
Example: the top 5 grad schools from NC state, UGA —good but not top flagships—are similar level schools.
The top 5 grad schools coming out of Duke? MIT, Duke, Harvard, Columbia, NYU. Ivies are similar: the top 5 is almost always including the ivy itself, MIT, Harvard, Stanford and another top school.
PhDs which are fully paid /funded including stipends of $45k or so are about half of grad programs coming out of top schools, whereas at non elite /nonflagships of the ones not going to professional school, less than 10% go to phD, the rest are masters. Most masters, outside of elite programs at ivies or others, are not funded at all. Guess who gets into the funded masters.
Careers after phD or masters is highly dependent on the prestiges of program. Getting into the most prestigious grad programs heavily correlates with attending a top20 private or a top15 LAC or a top15Public. Those 50 schools boost . The ivy/plus group of 12 schools give the biggest boost.
Undergrad matters.

All of this is just a correlation of smart, motivated students with academic success. Nothing in here is causal, especially not the undergraduate university attended.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh, not all schools are equal.

A top honors degree from third rate undergrad may not get you into prestigious graduate school, especially if their programs suck in your field of interest.

There's a lot to be said for being the big fish in a small pond. I ended up at a third rate undergrad for financial reasons and had no problem getting into a top grad school and top law school. Leaving undergrad I had tons of awards, glowing recommendations, and perfect grades. I don't know that my application would have been as stellar from a more competitive school.

+1. Most important are grades, test scores, getting to know professors that can write you good recommendation letters. Work experience if going for something like an MBA. A lot of these other posts that focus on where undergrad was attended are simply positing a spurious correlation (i.e., the kids at top schools are good at getting the grades, test scores, and angling for recommendations and accolades which is how they got there in the first place). I’m sure there is a point where university quality matters but it is way lower than whatever DCUM thinks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eh, not all schools are equal.

A top honors degree from third rate undergrad may not get you into prestigious graduate school, especially if their programs suck in your field of interest.

There's a lot to be said for being the big fish in a small pond. I ended up at a third rate undergrad for financial reasons and had no problem getting into a top grad school and top law school. Leaving undergrad I had tons of awards, glowing recommendations, and perfect grades. I don't know that my application would have been as stellar from a more competitive school.

How many other kids from your undergrad were at your top law school with you? How many of your law school classmates graduated from the undergrad of your law school?

My undergrad was an engineering school with a super harsh curve and that didn't have a pre-law program so almost zero grads go on to law school. It just isn't in the sphere of what students considered pursuing. A good number, especially those from the honors program, do go on to a solid STEM graduate program, and a few to top programs.

Law schools have lots of students from no name undergrads as they accept based on test scores and GPA, not undergrad prestige. Many law schools, including mine, deprioritize their own undergrads so we didn't have a lot who had gone to the same undergrad at all.