St. Albans School - how big a deal?

[Anonymous]

Or West Coast money (flip flops, don't care).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or West Coast money (flip flops, don't care).

Not true. West Coast rich are probably the most conspicuous consumers of all - Teslas/BMWs/classic cars, private jets, super racing yachts, bottle service, multiple insane houses, etc.
True, they may wear flip flops and a hoodie sweater to French Laundry. But the tech millionaire will immediately let you know that he's better than you and has the latest/greatest tech in his home, car, and pocket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you put a DC prep school on a resume for a job in NYC or on the West Coast, you'd look like a rank bottom fool. If you have a college degree or graduate degrees, those are the data points. There are also a lot of billionaire college dropouts in the technology sector who have hired a lot of plain IQ people who also don't carry a lot of academic prestige value. The real world is a lot more egalitarian outside of middle or high middle income law firm and commercial real estate local jobs. I see the point made that the old boy network from places like STA can travel in town here. Outside of DC it isn't a real smart brag.

You've got a straw man argument going -- the entire thread has only addressed putting the DC private school on a resume for a DC area job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you put a DC prep school on a resume for a job in NYC or on the West Coast, you'd look like a rank bottom fool. If you have a college degree or graduate degrees, those are the data points. There are also a lot of billionaire college dropouts in the technology sector who have hired a lot of plain IQ people who also don't carry a lot of academic prestige value. The real world is a lot more egalitarian outside of middle or high middle income law firm and commercial real estate local jobs. I see the point made that the old boy network from places like STA can travel in town here. Outside of DC it isn't a real smart brag.

+ 1. I lived on the West Coast, and attended one of the most well-known and highly regarded prep schools out there. I do not know a single one of my high school classmates who includes the name of our school on their resume.

Posting again. Previous poster perhaps you are correct that it is acceptable to include a resume line about a DC private school area school for a DC area job.

That said, neither I nor any of my classmates devote a line about our well-regarded west coast school on a resume when applying for west coast positions. Perhaps a better way to handle this might be to include a line under awards or achievements where one might post an academic distinction achieved at such school, for example, that they were a member of the A society at B school (top students in each class).

[Anonymous]

Putting it on a resume anywhere if you are someone with college or advanced degrees is dumb. I was PP on the West Coast points. Agree to disagree. I have colleagues who could literally afford anything. We're talking islands in Bahamas money, and they live in 3,000 square foot homes in Menlo Park. But you've obviously never lived or spend much time on the West Coast. Here the focal point is how silly it is to go through life saying I went to a certain prep school in adult life. And it is dumb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Putting it on a resume anywhere if you are someone with college or advanced degrees is dumb. I was PP on the West Coast points. Agree to disagree. I have colleagues who could literally afford anything. We're talking islands in Bahamas money, and they live in 3,000 square foot homes in Menlo Park. But you've obviously never lived or spend much time on the West Coast. Here the focal point is how silly it is to go through life saying I went to a certain prep school in adult life. And it is dumb.

What school did you attend? I want to know so that I can avoid its alumni and be sure that those claiming to have gone there are not hired. Now, that sounds "silly" and "dumb," doesn't it?

[Anonymous]

Stanford. Don't hire anyone from Stanford and make sure to not hire anyone from Stanford. Feel better? We won't be missing the opportunity. Trust me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stanford. Don't hire anyone from Stanford and make sure to not hire anyone from Stanford. Feel better? We won't be missing the opportunity. Trust me.

I know several Stanford grads and most of them are quite bright and actually get sarcasm. Are you sure you went to Stanford? Maybe if you had gone to St. Albans before Stanford, then you would be able to tell when someone was yanking your chain. Going forward, I will, however, make sure I don't automatically assume that all Stanford grads are the sharpest knives in the drawer. Thanks for illuminating me on that subject.

[Anonymous]

Isn't the point of all of this that an applicant should consider the employer's culture and make the choice accordingly? DC isn't Menlo Park, and Menlo Park isn't DC. Just be strategic, know your audience, and take that into account.
And to the Google poster, I know many very happy people working at Google in California as well as a few here in DC. There are, though, good reasons people may not want to work in Google's dc shop given other options. It's certainly not because the applicants aren't innovative or aren't risk takers, just that they don't think the DC office work opportunity is worth the risk. Also, the few senior people I know at Google's dc office have all of their kids in private school, so not surprisingly there seems to be some difference of opinion even among those in Blessed Google's lobbying shop.

[Anonymous]

In regards to Google, you are right. Very hard to hire people because of the perceived risk of leaving a potential lifer job in another industry for one in a dynamic industry that has a lot of shorter term trends and compensation volatility. Among the locals employed as lobbyists, most are DC people who would never leave town because the lobbying industry is here. It is fair to state that on the commercial side few if any DC applicants would both fit the job and culture combination, particularly the uncertainty of going off the grid in another industry and local job contact pool. Not getting the we are risk takers who don't see Google as worth the risk point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn't the point of all of this that an applicant should consider the employer's culture and make the choice accordingly? DC isn't Menlo Park, and Menlo Park isn't DC. Just be strategic, know your audience, and take that into account.
And to the Google poster, I know many very happy people working at Google in California as well as a few here in DC. There are, though, good reasons people may not want to work in Google's dc shop given other options. It's certainly not because the applicants aren't innovative or aren't risk takers, just that they don't think the DC office work opportunity is worth the risk. Also, the few senior people I know at Google's dc office have all of their kids in private school, so not surprisingly there seems to be some difference of opinion even among those in Blessed Google's lobbying shop.

I am another west coast poster, the one who attended a highly-regarded west coast school, and whose classmates never use the school as a resume line. This is the case even when applying in the west coast region where its mention would certainly open doors, as many of the pertinent industry's most influential people currently have, or have had, connections to that school.

The difference might be that Washington, DC is essentially a small town compared to the other areas of this country where the influence of these peer schools matter. It is a bit like residing in a small southern town, where the place one attended high school still matters. In New York or San Francisco it is considered more a peculiar "affectation" to cling to one's high school on a resume, even a highly elite private school, when those cities are so large, with so many people coming from well-regarded private and public high schools from across the region and around the country. The west coast, in particular, also values and embraces an egalitarian ethos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't the point of all of this that an applicant should consider the employer's culture and make the choice accordingly? DC isn't Menlo Park, and Menlo Park isn't DC. Just be strategic, know your audience, and take that into account.
And to the Google poster, I know many very happy people working at Google in California as well as a few here in DC. There are, though, good reasons people may not want to work in Google's dc shop given other options. It's certainly not because the applicants aren't innovative or aren't risk takers, just that they don't think the DC office work opportunity is worth the risk. Also, the few senior people I know at Google's dc office have all of their kids in private school, so not surprisingly there seems to be some difference of opinion even among those in Blessed Google's lobbying shop.

I am another west coast poster, the one who attended a highly-regarded west coast school, and whose classmates never use the school as a resume line. This is the case even when applying in the west coast region where its mention would certainly open doors, as many of the pertinent industry's most influential people currently have, or have had, connections to that school.

The difference might be that Washington, DC is essentially a small town compared to the other areas of this country where the influence of these peer schools matter. It is a bit like residing in a small southern town, where the place one attended high school still matters. In New York or San Francisco it is considered more a peculiar "affectation" to cling to one's high school on a resume, even a highly elite private school, when those cities are so large, with so many people coming from well-regarded private and public high schools from across the region and around the country. The west coast, in particular, also values and embraces an egalitarian ethos.

Exactly, so, when in Rome . . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't the point of all of this that an applicant should consider the employer's culture and make the choice accordingly? DC isn't Menlo Park, and Menlo Park isn't DC. Just be strategic, know your audience, and take that into account.
And to the Google poster, I know many very happy people working at Google in California as well as a few here in DC. There are, though, good reasons people may not want to work in Google's dc shop given other options. It's certainly not because the applicants aren't innovative or aren't risk takers, just that they don't think the DC office work opportunity is worth the risk. Also, the few senior people I know at Google's dc office have all of their kids in private school, so not surprisingly there seems to be some difference of opinion even among those in Blessed Google's lobbying shop.

I am another west coast poster, the one who attended a highly-regarded west coast school, and whose classmates never use the school as a resume line. This is the case even when applying in the west coast region where its mention would certainly open doors, as many of the pertinent industry's most influential people currently have, or have had, connections to that school.

The difference might be that Washington, DC is essentially a small town compared to the other areas of this country where the influence of these peer schools matter. It is a bit like residing in a small southern town, where the place one attended high school still matters. In New York or San Francisco it is considered more a peculiar "affectation" to cling to one's high school on a resume, even a highly elite private school, when those cities are so large, with so many people coming from well-regarded private and public high schools from across the region and around the country. The west coast, in particular, also values and embraces an egalitarian ethos.

Exactly, so, when in Rome . . . .

Except I hire here, in DC, and I continue to maintain that listing high school on the resume here, at least for professional jobs, is not a good idea. From reading this thread, it seems the only ones who disagree are those who themselves attended elite private schools. Perhaps their reality is a little skewed? They don't hand out humility and common sense with fancy degrees, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

There should be a tropical island for DMV prep school families to hold a Hunger Games on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't the point of all of this that an applicant should consider the employer's culture and make the choice accordingly? DC isn't Menlo Park, and Menlo Park isn't DC. Just be strategic, know your audience, and take that into account.
And to the Google poster, I know many very happy people working at Google in California as well as a few here in DC. There are, though, good reasons people may not want to work in Google's dc shop given other options. It's certainly not because the applicants aren't innovative or aren't risk takers, just that they don't think the DC office work opportunity is worth the risk. Also, the few senior people I know at Google's dc office have all of their kids in private school, so not surprisingly there seems to be some difference of opinion even among those in Blessed Google's lobbying shop.

I am another west coast poster, the one who attended a highly-regarded west coast school, and whose classmates never use the school as a resume line. This is the case even when applying in the west coast region where its mention would certainly open doors, as many of the pertinent industry's most influential people currently have, or have had, connections to that school.

The difference might be that Washington, DC is essentially a small town compared to the other areas of this country where the influence of these peer schools matter. It is a bit like residing in a small southern town, where the place one attended high school still matters. In New York or San Francisco it is considered more a peculiar "affectation" to cling to one's high school on a resume, even a highly elite private school, when those cities are so large, with so many people coming from well-regarded private and public high schools from across the region and around the country. The west coast, in particular, also values and embraces an egalitarian ethos.

Exactly, so, when in Rome . . . .

Except I hire here, in DC, and I continue to maintain that listing high school on the resume here, at least for professional jobs, is not a good idea. From reading this thread, it seems the only ones who disagree are those who themselves attended elite private schools. Perhaps their reality is a little skewed? They don't hand out humility and common sense with fancy degrees, unfortunately.

I am one of the skewed (or if I read these comments from a West Coast perspective, "screwed"). I also hire people. In this town and for almost every job here, having connections is a competitive advantage. Shorthand for connections on a resume in DC is an affiliation with an institution. Maybe it is a DC peculiarity, but a young person (under 30), who lists a top DC high school on his/her resume will not be penalized by most employers. In fact, it will be perceived as a positive. Outside DC, it may not be a good strategy. I have seen this play out for over 25 years.