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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The essay kind of talks out two sides.  Says the elite schools don’t matter in the end, but then also says graduates of elite schools are 60% more likely to end up at elite jobs (think he used Goldman as an example) and secure higher salaries out of undergrad.

Also, it shows a chart that says out of a Microsoft pool of entry level employees, 3500 out of around 12,000 come from colleges with 20% or less acceptance rates.  It’s the largest group though that leaves 8500 employees coming from less selective schools.

Again, the issue with this is that there are only like 25 colleges (most of which are relatively small) that fit this criteria while there are thousands that fit the other criteria of higher acceptance rates.

My takeaway was that at Microsoft it definitely pays to come from a sub-20% acceptance college.

I also don’t get looking at Fortune 50 companies as a good measure.  Outside of tech, you just won’t see many top school grads wanting to work at Exxon or CVS or a good 30 of the F50 companies. [/quote]

I think you missed the point. The point is that “elite” jobs are not the only possible career path (the example of regional employees recruiting from regional schools); and that not going to an elite school does not completely bar you from an “elite” job. IOW - the panic is not justified unless you are deadset on maximizing your child’s changes of working at Goldmans (which is a pretty pathetic way to parent but you do you).

I also think the vignette about the job at Illumination was great. mainly because she ended up with an absolute dream job (designing rides at Universal, OMG!!) that is SO much more fun and better than all the miserable money you get working at McKinsey. Which one among us would rather our kid end up a management consultant than designing 3D rides? I hope not many. And also because it shows that while many smart kids to to Ivys there IS a cultural or values issue - privileged kids think they don’t need to do the grunt work or think it is not part of the path to success. I have absolutely seen this at my Ivy law school where it seemed like people literally could not conceive of any path other than BigLaw. [/quote]

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