In what professions is school prestige especially important?

[Anonymous]

I'd say grants and publications matter a lot more in academia than school. It doesn't follow you as it does in law school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would put engineering in the somewhat category.

Somewhat to high depending on the specific major and company.

I work in aersospace and nobody cares. After your first year on the job, all people want to know is what you did in the working world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd say grants and publications matter a lot more in academia than school. It doesn't follow you as it does in law school.

It decisively matters up front - you are highly unlikely to get a tenure-track job in the first place if you did not attend a top school.

After you get hired, you are expected to perform (get grants, get published) but to do that you have to get hired in the first place.

The advice for would-be PhDs is the same as for would-be lawyers: top ten schools place 100% of their graduates, graduates of the next couple of dozen schools have to scramble, and graduates of the bottom 75% of the schools basically have no hope whatsoever of employment in academia (these schools are a scam and their PhD programs should be shut down).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ I've met almost no Ivy League-educated accountants.

And how many Ivy League universities offer an undergraduate major in accounting?

Penn?

Any others?

Maybe THAT is why you never heard of any?

Ivy League universities don't offer such low prestige subjects as accounting. Even Wharton grants all it's undergrads the B.S. in economics so not to embarrass its graduates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Law. The only thing that matters is where you went to law school. The top dozen or so schools can and do place 100% of graduating students; the substantial majority that go to top firms start at $135k to $180k per year, depending largely on location. Those that do gov't or public interest have their student loans forgiven. This includes the entire graduating class. Lawyers at the next four or five dozen law schools have to kill themselves to come even distantly close. Those at the lower 2/3 of law schools basically have no hope whatsoever of employment. The only thing that matters for a lawyer is where you went to law school.

There is a flip side, however. If you are entrepreneurial and want to start a solo practice, your best bet is to get the cheapest law degree you can. My former paralegal went to a third tier law school, opened an office in her home town doing divorces and personal injury law, and is doing VERY well for herself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd say grants and publications matter a lot more in academia than school. It doesn't follow you as it does in law school.

It decisively matters up front - you are highly unlikely to get a tenure-track job in the first place if you did not attend a top school.

After you get hired, you are expected to perform (get grants, get published) but to do that you have to get hired in the first place.

The advice for would-be PhDs is the same as for would-be lawyers: top ten schools place 100% of their graduates, graduates of the next couple of dozen schools have to scramble, and graduates of the bottom 75% of the schools basically have no hope whatsoever of employment in academia (these schools are a scam and their PhD programs should be shut down).

+1000 There are not enough tenure track positions for the number of PhD graduates in most fields. Top tier graduates often have to accept jobs at 2nd tier schools and 2nd tier graduates fight for positions at 3rd tier schools.

[Anonymous]

Ah. This explains so much about DCUM and the obsession with "elite" schools. You are all blood sucking parasites. Silly me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ah. This explains so much about DCUM and the obsession with "elite" schools. You are all blood sucking parasites. Silly me.

^^+1
Now I know why lawyers are such assholes.
Virtually every other career could not care less about where you went to school after you've got a few years' experience.

[Anonymous]

Yeah law is the most pedigree oriented profession (you need to be T14 i you want a Supreme Court clerkship, legal academia, Wall St. etc.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Law. The only thing that matters is where you went to law school. The top dozen or so schools can and do place 100% of graduating students; the substantial majority that go to top firms start at $135k to $180k per year, depending largely on location. Those that do gov't or public interest have their student loans forgiven. This includes the entire graduating class. Lawyers at the next four or five dozen law schools have to kill themselves to come even distantly close. Those at the lower 2/3 of law schools basically have no hope whatsoever of employment. The only thing that matters for a lawyer is where you went to law school.

+1 this should be stickied for every person who asks about law school.

Could not agree more. Every. Single. Person.

This isn't true if you work in government. I went to a lower rated law school, as did my spouse, as we are both GS15s in two different agencies. We work with many 4th tier grads. I am on interview panels, and experience is much more important than law school. I agree it's very important for clerkships and law firms, but not government. The top two attorneys in my agency, both SES level, are 4th tier law grads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disagree about nursing. Would move it to "somewhat,"' if we are assuming the point is to get the best and most prestigious job upon graduation -- vs. Yep, I'm employed.

Medicine goes in between "very" and "somewhat."

Fashion/ design goes in "very."

Disagree (mostly) about accounting too. If you want to be "just" an accountant, you can go to absolutely any school. If you want to work at a Big 4 firm, school name does matter, albeit less than say, law school name matters for law firms.

Huh, I thought Big 4 recruit pretty much everywhere.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure if the Wharton price tag is worth if for accounting Big 4 or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disagree about nursing. Would move it to "somewhat,"' if we are assuming the point is to get the best and most prestigious job upon graduation -- vs. Yep, I'm employed.

Medicine goes in between "very" and "somewhat."

Fashion/ design goes in "very."

Disagree (mostly) about accounting too. If you want to be "just" an accountant, you can go to absolutely any school. If you want to work at a Big 4 firm, school name does matter, albeit less than say, law school name matters for law firms.

Huh, I thought Big 4 recruit pretty much everywhere.

They go to a lot of places but if it is not one of the better schools, you have to be a big fish in a small pond.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot:

Law
Finance
Academia

Somewhat:

Medicine

Hardly at all:

Accounting
Dentistry
Elementary and high school teaching
Nursing

I would look at these two as fields with relatively high demand where you can do them almost anywhere geographically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would put engineering in the somewhat category.

Somewhat to high depending on the specific major and company.

I work in aersospace and nobody cares. After your first year on the job, all people want to know is what you did in the working world.

Interesting. DH is an aerospace engineer and people seem to care/notice where he received his degrees. Sr. military officials comment when they see his bio.