Reply to What’s the point of going to a top school if you end up in the same place as someone who didn’t

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Here are some reasons, not all will apply to everyone:
- you get access to the most elite employers (consulting, banking, and private equity) right out of college. After a few years, you can jump into a more senior role at a “regular” company if you want. The training and skills will continue to serve you and propel you forward throughout your career (well ahead of the peers that didn’t have this sort of training)

- you get access to the most elite employers, stay, and make bank

- you will have access to really interesting guest speakers, events etc throughout your time. Like small dinners or cocktail events with Supreme Court Justices, top business leaders, Presidents of foreign nations etc. This sort of thing continues for life via alumni clubs for those interested.

- many of your classmates will be extremely interesting/ unique/ rich and connected. Some will have amazing summer homes and invite you. Others may want to marry you.

- [b]many of your classmates will be passionate about the same topics as you (literature, politics, science, whatever) and you will have great conversations and feel like you’ve found “your people”[/b]

- Top 10 schools offer extremely generous financial aid (let’s see if this continues). If you are not upper middle class to wealthy, a top school is likely to be your cheapest option.

- [b]people tend to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you’re smart, unless you prove otherwise. This means it’s also easier to get job interviews (lots of caveats of course)[/b]

- you get to learn from truly brilliant professors - this is true at many universities but imagine studying Economics at MIT vs. your local state school: Nobel Laureates are teaching you instead of “merely” brilliant phd’s

- many/ most elite grad schools consider the rigor of your undergraduate education during admissions (not med school, of course). Top MBA’s in particular are tough to crack if you didn’t go to a very highly ranked undergraduate school.

- [b]you get to enjoy meeting and working with people from all walks of life without feeling threatened / having a chip on your shoulder [/b][/quote]

This is the best explanation on this thread so far. I went to a T10 30 years ago and agree with it all. Especially the bolder parts.

As a middle-class kid raised by striver parents who went to city college night-school, I feel like my T10 college experience immediately leveled the playing field for me as an adult.

It many doors opened for me, both professionally and personally, for both reasons I highlighted above - because people made immediate (and positive assumptions) about me and because I never felt intimidated or less-than.

Plus, it was a wonderful four year experience because I felt at home with my peers. This was the opposite of how  I often felt at my mediocre public high school. [/quote]

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