Anonymous wrote:You have a higher probability of getting better professional "connections" on the golf course than attending an elite institution, if you are a good golfer with a college degree from a state school. I am sure a lot of "decision makers" in the DMV are members at Congressional, Riverbend, Chevy Chase, Westwood. If you hang out there long enough, you will get an opportunity. You only need ONE person to give you an opportunity out of 100.

Don't you have to be a member to "hang out" there? If you are a member, then does it really matter if you attend a state school?

Are you suggesting that you caddy so that the Judge puts you on his tournament team instead of Spaulding?

You have a higher probability of getting better professional "connections" on the golf course than attending an elite institution, if you are a good golfer with a college degree from a state school. I am sure a lot of "decision makers" in the DMV are members at Congressional, Riverbend, Chevy Chase, Westwood. If you hang out there long enough, you will get an opportunity. You only need ONE person to give you an opportunity out of 100.

Anonymous wrote:I've worked for nine years at NASA and the past ten years at NIST. Both places are full of people who graduated from Harvard, MIT, Yale, Princeton, CMU, Caltech, etc... and guess what, they are just GS 13/14/15 just like people who graduated from VCU, ODU, VATech, GMU, etc...

Nobody argues that if you are going to work for the government perhaps you should save the $$$s. That said, what %age of the GS 13/14/15 come from your first set of schools vs. your latter set? If it is 90/10 former vs. latter, then of course that would argue the school matters. If it is 50/50, then you would be correct. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the it is more like 35/65, only because kids from the former schools (except CalTech) don't ever talk about working for a government agency.

FWIW, I find CalTech to be an enigma. I have never met a Caltech grad in private industry, but know several that work at JPL or go onto academia. I realize we are East Coast and CalTech is a very small school.

Anonymous wrote:I've worked for nine years at NASA and the past ten years at NIST. Both places are full of people who graduated from Harvard, MIT, Yale, Princeton, CMU, Caltech, etc... and guess what, they are just GS 13/14/15 just like people who graduated from VCU, ODU, VATech, GMU, etc...

The website I cited earlier has a list for NASA, too. They actually seem to have quite a few more grads of state schools than they do from "Harvard, MIT, Yale, Princeton, CMU, Caltech, etc."

https://lesshighschoolstress.com/engineering/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:News Flash: Where you go to school does not matter, who you know matters.

DD plays soccer at UNC and gets several internships opportunities including one from Citadel. Her BFF is also on the team and the father is an EVP there.

Luck is an important part of the whole equation as in everything in your life.
Where you go is also an important part of the equation.
It's a function of many variables.

It's also about simply building your own connections. My 2nd job came as a promotion/move into a "hot area of technology" simply because of a 2 hour conversation I had with my seatmate on a plane ride. Turns out the guy in the middle seat was an expert in that field and worked for the same company as me, so when I finished grad school I contacted him and had a new position within a week. Had I not had that plane discussion I'd never had that job.

So again you got really lucky. Congrats.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:News Flash: Where you go to school does not matter, who you know matters.

DD plays soccer at UNC and gets several internships opportunities including one from Citadel. Her BFF is also on the team and the father is an EVP there.

Luck is an important part of the whole equation as in everything in your life.
Where you go is also an important part of the equation.
It's a function of many variables.

It's also about simply building your own connections. My 2nd job came as a promotion/move into a "hot area of technology" simply because of a 2 hour conversation I had with my seatmate on a plane ride. Turns out the guy in the middle seat was an expert in that field and worked for the same company as me, so when I finished grad school I contacted him and had a new position within a week. Had I not had that plane discussion I'd never had that job.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:News Flash: Where you go to school does not matter, who you know matters.

DD plays soccer at UNC and gets several internships opportunities including one from Citadel. Her BFF is also on the team and the father is an EVP there.

Agreed, but within reason. UNC is still a top 30 school (and a top top place for women’s soccer). A Citadel EVP is not sending their kid to UNC Wilmington or probably any school outside of the top 100 (maybe top 50?).

You still have to go someplace where you are going to meet someone.

But that will happen at T100 schools, not just T20 schools. So yes attending a school ranked 200 is very different than T20, but attending one ranked 75 is not that different. And even then, it's What You Do While at School that matters more

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only matters for IB and top consulting firms which most smart kids leave after 3 years anyway.

Why do they leave?

PP from LB here. The work hours are brutal and it is expected to go to grad school after 3 years, sometimes on the company money.

I would say 1/2 of my analyst class either continued as associates at the firm or switched to associates at boutique banks or P/E.

Not sure what those %ages are these days.

Plenty of career paths that don’t include graduate school.

Or if consulting they may switch to a company in the industry they specialized in for better life balance.

I've worked for nine years at NASA and the past ten years at NIST. Both places are full of people who graduated from Harvard, MIT, Yale, Princeton, CMU, Caltech, etc... and guess what, they are just GS 13/14/15 just like people who graduated from VCU, ODU, VATech, GMU, etc...

Stop pushing false narratives OP. 99% of people don’t attend Princeton or Duke or Stanford for undergrad and still go on to meaningful careers. Focus on the individual, not the school.

Anonymous wrote:News Flash: Where you go to school does not matter, who you know matters.

DD plays soccer at UNC and gets several internships opportunities including one from Citadel. Her BFF is also on the team and the father is an EVP there.

Luck is an important part of the whole equation as in everything in your life.
Where you go is also an important part of the equation.
It's a function of many variables.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:News Flash: Where you go to school does not matter, who you know matters.

DD plays soccer at UNC and gets several internships opportunities including one from Citadel. Her BFF is also on the team and the father is an EVP there.

Agreed, but within reason. UNC is still a top 30 school (and a top top place for women’s soccer). A Citadel EVP is not sending their kid to UNC Wilmington or probably any school outside of the top 100 (maybe top 50?).

You still have to go someplace where you are going to meet someone.

also you don't rely on getting lucky and meeting someone

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only matters for IB and top consulting firms which most smart kids leave after 3 years anyway.

Why do they leave?

PP from LB here. The work hours are brutal and it is expected to go to grad school after 3 years, sometimes on the company money.

I would say 1/2 of my analyst class either continued as associates at the firm or switched to associates at boutique banks or P/E.

Not sure what those %ages are these days.

Plenty of career paths that don’t include graduate school.

Anonymous wrote:News Flash: Where you go to school does not matter, who you know matters.

DD plays soccer at UNC and gets several internships opportunities including one from Citadel. Her BFF is also on the team and the father is an EVP there.

Agreed, but within reason. UNC is still a top 30 school (and a top top place for women’s soccer). A Citadel EVP is not sending their kid to UNC Wilmington or probably any school outside of the top 100 (maybe top 50?).

You still have to go someplace where you are going to meet someone.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Only matters for IB and top consulting firms which most smart kids leave after 3 years anyway.

Why do they leave?

PP from LB here. The work hours are brutal and it is expected to go to grad school after 3 years, sometimes on the company money.