In what professions is school prestige especially important?

[Anonymous]

A lot:

Law
Finance
Academia

Somewhat:

Medicine

Hardly at all:

Accounting
Dentistry
Elementary and high school teaching
Nursing

[Anonymous]

Clowning. I am not hiring a clown who went to just any old clown school.

[Anonymous]

Would put engineering in the somewhat category.

[Anonymous]

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."

[Anonymous]

Music goes in "Very" if you want to be performing professional in an orchestra etc, but "Hardly at all" if you want a teaching gig, however prestigious.

Art goes in "Somewhat".

[Anonymous]

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.

[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.

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

[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.

Indeed. A JD in and of itself doesn't have much prestige, though some grads of 3rdn and 4th tier law schools can go make a lot of money in personal injury law, divorce etc.

In contrast, the MD degree (except for Caribbean schools LOL) generally commands respect. A JD only sounds impressive if it's from Harvard, Yale etc.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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

[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.

That's only if you join right out of school. My DH went to work for a big 4 firm mid-career and no one cared about his school.

[Anonymous]

Law. Where you went to law school will follow you around, every single day from 25 to 105. On the plus side, lawyers don't care that much about undergrad.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would put engineering in the somewhat category.

Somewhat to high depending on the specific major and company.

[Anonymous]

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?