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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]And people do care where you got your degree especially at top companies and academia.[/quote]

People in academia care where you get your degree, but 99% their caring about this is evaluating where you did your PhD and postdoc.  Undergrad doesn't really matter that much.  I see faculty candidates all the time who went to regional schools for their undergrad and then Caltech/Berkeley/Harvard whatever for PhD who are plenty competitive.  I don't know that there is any particular edge to the person who attended a more prestigious school even when you have two candidates, say, where one went to Harvard for undergrad and the other went to, say, a SUNY school but both went to Caltech for their PhD--at that point it's going to depend on their graduate record (publications, rec letters, etc.) and whether or not they are the right fit for the department.[/quote]

Not true. Graduate admissions committees DO care where you did your undergrad. You are more likely to get into a highly competitive grad program if you went to a high prestige / highly competitive undergrad school (in other words, not GMU or JMU).

[b]Yes, there are exceptions, but if you are planning on an academic career you'd better go prestige school all the way.[/quote][/b]

So, let's figure this out Professsor Boy. The average 4 years at an "elite" institution will run you in today's dollars around $250K. If you are lucky to get aid, maybe you'll $120 - $150K.  Assume Mommy and Daddy pay one third and you borrow another third you owe around $40,000.  Then add another six years of this and being conservative you run up the tab another $30K.  So, now after six years of being a non-producing member of society engaging largely in intellectual masturbation, you go out to look for a job and competing for a $40K - $60K job at JMU or CNU or some other "no name" school.  Meanwhile, I graduated from that very same school where you now work with little to no debt, worked for four years, went back for a master's degree and now make close to $100K. I wonder who was smarter.

If you are in academia and have never had real work business experience, you don't understand that 99.9 percent of those you work with do not care about your degree.  They care about what you can do and what value you add to the organization. [/quote]

Wow - that is quite the chip on your shoulder.

I'm not the PP, but I do find that even in the real working world that your undergraduate degree can make a difference many years out.  I still have relationships from my very top STEM school and I never hesitate to contact old study friends, even professionally.  And then outside of the work world, it's wonderful to know so many people who are big contributors in life.  My old roommates are doing some amazing things in their respective fields and I'm glad to call them my friends.

There is nothing wrong with going for the cheaper option - no doubt.  And you're right, much of what you do in your career is NOT tied to your degree.  But it's not like they are the exact same experience.  It's up to each family to decide what's important to them.

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