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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]From your experience, do graduates of Top 25 universities and Top 10 liberal arts colleges get more interviews, interesting jobs, or money? I’m talking only about the UNDERGRADUATE degree.

I understand that anyone who goes to an Ivy MBA, law, or medical school will do well, but that’s really about the professional school, not undergraduate.

I’m trying to understand if it’s worth paying lots of money to go to a prestigious private school over a very selective state school for UNDERGRAD. [/quote]

Has going to an elite school helped me in getting job interviews? Probably, especially when I was a senior and 2-3 years out of school. Also, I would classify Michigan, UVA, Chapel Hill, Berkeley as elite schools. Definitely would not pay for a private school if I could get in state tuition at one of these publics. I have encountered a lot of these grads (particularly from Berkeley and Michigan) in my workplaces, during interviews, etc.

Also, obviously elite colleges have very good campus recruiting and alumni networks. The campus recruiting is super helpful to seniors. If an alum reaches out to me to network, I am always willing to provide a referral to my company. That being said, I also provide referrals to those who reach out, but have not attended my alma mater.

You might find that particular teams/companies tilt toward hiring students from elite colleges. Might be purposeful. Might be unconscious bias.

That being said, school matters somewhat less than you might think, particularly as you accumulate experience relevant to your field. Work experience trumps school. So, if you have eight years of work experience and are looking to work in a product management role,  but have never worked in product management or adjacent functions (design, business operations) you are not going to get an interview. Your school won’t save you. There are also some nuances with respect to having worked at more marquee companies versus smaller more unknown companies depending on the industry. This may also play a role in the screening process. And once again, your school won’t have much pull here if the hiring team is looking to hire someone from more established companies and you have mainly worked at unknown names.

Also, once you make it to the interview process your school really doesn’t matter. If you bomb the interview or lack chemistry with the team, you’re not getting the job. Your school will not save you.

Your interview performance is generally the biggest determinant of pay particularly as an experienced hire. In my industry if you do very well in the interview generally you have leeway to go over the base salary band, get extra sign on, get extra RSUs, etc. New grad roles that hire in cohorts are generally in the same comp band with little leeway to move. [/quote]

Michigan and UNC have to take a certain number of in state kids. So, you a mix of academic level with OOS having far higher academic credentials.

Yet you’re saying those publics are elite and you’d treat graduates accordingly for hiring? Doesn’t seem logical to me because you won’t know who was the academic out of state superstar and who was another in state person.

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