Anonymous wrote:I went to UMD which might get more respect now but was not a good school in 1990. I loved it and I’m a proud alum. I don’t care what others think about my college choice. I’m bright but I didn’t work hard in HS - I was definitely lazy. If I had worked harder, no doubt I could have gone to a school with more prestige but it never occurs to me to feel less than friends/relatives/aquaintances who went to Ivy or similar schools…but some of my career choices leave me with regret.

I went there around the same time. Engineering and journalism were top colleges. They weren’t the only excellent programs. One of my freshman year friends transferred to HYSP. Another attended Harvard law.

My professors were highly accomplished, but maybe UMD had not figured out how to game the rankings like other schools.

People attend non-prestige schools for a variety of reasons but I suspect cost is a big reason for most. As I have witnessed of my Ivy grad program, the outcomes are also various. While some went on to do very well, there are a fair group of middling types. I am definitely of the latter camp -thought my SAHM years closed the doors but I managed to claw back but will never be in leadership though. Personally, that is fine, my priorities were my family.
Some of the most talented people I worked with did not
attend Ivy. When you work at an elite firm, there is no point in pondering the backgrounds because everyone is so freaking talented.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The joke's on them: they ended up at the same place as you.

This part. I laugh because I went to an HBCU and am the boss. I have lots of Harvard and Yale graduates who work for me.

What is "the boss"?

Are you the CEO? Or do you have a boss? Or the boss?

COO and President of a very large organization. Have a large team of folks who report up to me. Their careers are in my hands.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The joke's on them: they ended up at the same place as you.

This part. I laugh because I went to an HBCU and am the boss. I have lots of Harvard and Yale graduates who work for me.

This is a matter of experience. I.e., age.

We are all the same age.

When you get older, no one cares.

I went to UMD which might get more respect now but was not a good school in 1990. I loved it and I’m a proud alum. I don’t care what others think about my college choice. I’m bright but I didn’t work hard in HS - I was definitely lazy. If I had worked harder, no doubt I could have gone to a school with more prestige but it never occurs to me to feel less than friends/relatives/aquaintances who went to Ivy or similar schools…but some of my career choices leave me with regret.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The joke's on them: they ended up at the same place as you.

This part. I laugh because I went to an HBCU and am the boss. I have lots of Harvard and Yale graduates who work for me.

What is "the boss"?

Are you the CEO? Or do you have a boss? Or the boss?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The joke's on them: they ended up at the same place as you.

++++ Exactly! I ended up at an okay school because it’s what I could afford. My DH went to Harvard. We now live identical lives. He’s not a smarter or better person than me. He was a legacy, I was a poor immigrant.

Same place? He married a poor immigrant, and you married a Harvard legacy.

Anonymous wrote:My neighborhood if filled with people who went to top rank schools. They often fly flags when their schools are in sporting events as a humble brag. The richest guy in our neighborhood went to an almost open admission school in rural Maryland. He always flies his school flag because one of the snooty neighbors once told him it "devalues" the street.

Ha! That guy is doing it right.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The joke's on them: they ended up at the same place as you.

This part. I laugh because I went to an HBCU and am the boss. I have lots of Harvard and Yale graduates who work for me.

Help me understand this: Are these "lots of Harvard and Yale graduates" white or black?

If they're white, that means you've chosen to not hire, promote, and support "lots of" black graduates of HBCUs. Ain't no company in America that fosters advancement in black HBCU grads in meaningful numbers and does the same for "lots of" white Ivy Leaguers. No, nope, no way. It's one or the other. If you're Girl Boss of a room filled with Rory Gilmores, then you refused to hire Denise Huxtable.

If they're black, then your smug response speaks volumes about you. As has been well documented, black Ivy Leaguers do not benefit from the prestige of their undergraduate institution in hiring or promotion as do graduates of other races (e.g., https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/03/06/elite-college-degrees-give-black-graduates-little-advantage-job-market). Numerous studies show that Harvard graduates have the same employment opportunities as white graduates of middling state schools. Doesn't matter the GPA, doesn't matter the major. Black Harvard equals white Indiana State. <Insert Fox News talking point about DEI, CRT, BLM, Obama, etc. why black people should be grateful they're even allowed that.> If you're the boss of -- again, your words -- "lots of Harvard and Yale graduates" who are black, that squares as a data point, and it's not the flex you think it is.

So, which is it -- You're the boss of white Ivy Leaguers to stick it to the Man, and screw the missed opportunities to younger HBCU grads who could use your support; or you're the boss of black Ivy Leaguers, proof that an elite education for black graduates doesn't mean very much in Corporate America. Which is it -- because if you claim both, then it's time for you to show some receipts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The joke's on them: they ended up at the same place as you.

This part. I laugh because I went to an HBCU and am the boss. I have lots of Harvard and Yale graduates who work for me.

This is a matter of experience. I.e., age.

Anonymous wrote:The joke's on them: they ended up at the same place as you.

This part. I laugh because I went to an HBCU and am the boss. I have lots of Harvard and Yale graduates who work for me.

Anonymous wrote:If it helps, I went to a high prestige school and due to a variety of life choices I am a very low earner. This is despite having worked consistently since I graduated college. So I have that to fuel my insecurities

We should both just let it go and be happy with what we have.

This is sort of me, too. I went to a school that was (and I'm sure still is) prestigious within its category--that is, a very competitive public university. Big deal: I did not have a good experience there, partly due to my own choices; I was a low earner when I worked full time; and now that I'm in my 40s, no one EVER asks me where I went to school.

Maybe in some circles it "matters" where you went to school. In my world it is completely unimportant. And people are clueless about the "prestige" of most schools or programs anyway, unless it's on the level of Harvard or they also attended the same school.

Anonymous wrote:Once you start working, nobody cares where you went to school.

This. I went to a Big 10 university that DCUM sneers at because it's not, like, Michigan, but truly no one else cares.

Anonymous wrote:The joke's on them: they ended up at the same place as you.

++++ Exactly! I ended up at an okay school because it’s what I could afford. My DH went to Harvard. We now live identical lives. He’s not a smarter or better person than me. He was a legacy, I was a poor immigrant.