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It's funny that we are in a forum on education and everyone is using anecdotal evidence to provide "counterpoints".
Sure, you can be successful not going to an Ivy, the question is who has a higher probability of being successful a graduate from an Ivy or a graduate from a typical state institution (Alabama, Arizona State, etc.)?
That's like using Bill Gates as your example and saying that you don't have to go to college to be successful. It's absolutely true, but speaking of pure probabilities who is more likely to be successful? A HS graduate or a college graduate?
Arizona State admits roughly 10k students per year. Harvard admits about 2k. It is absolute vs. percentage. There will definitely be more people that are successful that did not go to Ivy's than there are that did go to Ivy's. The question is percentage's when you are looking at probabilities of success.
The OP said it doesn't matter and then cited only 30 of the CEOs from top 100 companies went to an Ivy or equivalent. The next poster said 14% of the fortune 50 CEOs attended an actual Ivy.
Are you saying that the OP is right in that it truly doesn't matter at all? Who is more likely to be successful, someone with a degree from Harvard or University of Phoenix? Do you truly believe it doesn't matter at all (which is what the OP suggested)?
No, I do not think it matters where you go to college but what you do when you are there and what you do after school. A Harvard degree in an unmotivated, trust-fund baby won't get that person a job, let alone a CEO position that has not been earned...but Daddy may pass that down.
Given that the Ivy's and similar actually educate a very, very small % of people in the world/country, somewhere these successful people are being educated.....looking at the leadership at my company, NONE of them are Ivy educated, most at state schools, and they are all successful, C-level people in a company built from the ground up....
Doesn't matter where you go to school. I have friends who went to UCLA who are now jobless, and friends who went to community college/state colleges with great careers. I even know someone who skipped college and now is thriving in real estate. Work ethic matters the most.
No, you don't need to go to Harvard or Stanford for undergrad to be successful.
But it sure starts making a hell of a lot more difference in the business world when you're talking about grad school...
As a person who went through the MBA at a very respectable but not stellar school and who knows top MBA grads in Silicon Valley where I work, I can tell you first-hand that they have doors open to them that are much harder for me to get through. Look at private equity, hedge funds, top startups, the Googles and so on... you'll find your top B-school grads there.
But sure, you can be successful from any school...but make no mistake that that name of a top school on your resume will give the reader pause and consider giving you a buzz...moreso than if you went to Noname Community College and then transferred to Mediocre College for your BA/BS.
No, I do not think it matters where you go to college but what you do when you are there and what you do after school. A Harvard degree in an unmotivated, trust-fund baby won't get that person a job, let alone a CEO position that has not been earned...but Daddy may pass that down.
Given that the Ivy's and similar actually educate a very, very small % of people in the world/country, somewhere these successful people are being educated.....looking at the leadership at my company, NONE of them are Ivy educated, most at state schools, and they are all successful, C-level people in a company built from the ground up....
So if I randomly choose someone graduating this spring from university of Phoenix and another graduating from Harvard you would be willing to flip a coin if we were betting who will have earned a higher cumulative salary 15-20 years from now?
So if I randomly choose someone graduating this spring from university of Phoenix and another graduating from Harvard you would be willing to flip a coin if we were betting who will have earned a higher cumulative salary 15-20 years from now?
So then how can you say it doesn't matter at all? If you truly believed that you wouldn't need to know anything else about them.
You are trying to imply causality, I am simply trying to show there is a correlation. I don't think anyone is arguing that it causes you to be successful, just that graduates of Ivy league schools have a higher probability of success.
Look, the Ivies (and similarly prestigious schools) can get your resume enough attention for an interview across the country. Other good schools, whether it's Ohio State or Arizona or Indiana, will likely only get you interviews in-state. You can be successful with a degree from either type of school, but everyone wants to hire locally in this economy, so when you choose where to go, you should consider where you want to live long-term.
Before you all start bashing me, this is for entry-level, little-to-no experience candidates (maybe a summer internship, maybe a personal project, etc.).
So then how can you say it doesn't matter at all? If you truly believed that you wouldn't need to know anything else about them.
You are trying to imply causality, I am simply trying to show there is a correlation. I don't think anyone is arguing that it causes you to be successful, just that graduates of Ivy league schools have a higher probability of success.
No, you are trying to say that simply going to Harvard is going to give you an edge and that is not at all correct. There are many other factors to consider and just knowing where someone went to college does not equal success. I know out of work Ivy league grads and U of Phoenix grads that are running successful companies.
Ivy grads have no more probability of success then anyone else simply because they went to an Ivy. It just means they graduated from an Ivy league school.
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