What happens to the "B & C" students of the Bay Area? (Berkeley: top school, colleges)

[ssmaster]

There is a well documented bias towards top tier schools when hiring straight out college at the googles amazons etc. I don't think this is fair but it exists. Those from less prestigious schools may need to get some experience before they are given a chance at the top tier companies.
If having to choose between two applicants without experience I can see the hiring manager going with the school they have had success with before. Again not fair but the hiring manager wants to keep his/her job. Having a few years of experience and success will help the applicants.

There insurance companies,medical fields ,banks,accounting firms,pharmaceutical companies,municipalities,state and federal jobs looking for tech hires. They don't pay as much as google but they may be a good place to start.

[simboticus]

Originally Posted by ssmaster

There is a well documented bias towards top tier schools when hiring straight out college at the googles amazons etc. I don't think this is fair but it exists. Those from less prestigious schools may need to get some experience before they are given a chance at the top tier companies.
If having to choose between two applicants without experience I can see the hiring manager going with the school they have had success with before. Again not fair but the hiring manager wants to keep his/her job. Having a few years of experience and success will help

In my experience, at a number of companies, the decision to hire someone, or not, is based much more on talking to them, getting to know them, understanding what they are all about, vs. what is written on their resume.

So the school they went to might help get them in the door for an interview, but not necessarily get them hired. You can't really make blanket statements about this. Company cultures are different. Some companies place a high importance on prestige schools, (Google is known for this), other companies don't care too much. It also varies from manager to manager.

Personally I barely glance at what school they attended, and I never ask for grades even with new grads. There are a lot of other factors. People who had to work and put themselves through school, vs. someone with rich parents. I prefer the former. The grades probably suffer if someone is putting themselves through school. But they tend to be more street smart, resourceful, and less pampered and entitled.

I hire the person, not their resume.

[ssmaster]

Originally Posted by simboticus

In my experience, at a number of companies, the decision to hire someone, or not, is based much more on talking to them, getting to know them, understanding what they are all about, vs. what is written on their resume.

So the school they went to might help get them in the door for an interview, but not necessarily get them hired. You can't really make blanket statements about this. Company cultures are different. Some companies place a high importance on prestige schools, (Google is known for this), other companies don't care too much. It also varies from manager to manager.

Personally I barely glance at what school they attended, and I never ask for grades even with new grads. There are a lot of other factors. People who had to work and put themselves through school, vs. someone with rich parents. I prefer the former. The grades probably suffer if someone is putting themselves through school. But they tend to be more street smart, resourceful, and less pampered and entitled.

I hire the person, not their resume.

This bias against people from wealthy families is kinda strange. It would be nice if most hiring managers at prestigious and high paying companies were willing to give all graduates a fair shake but the reality is that's not the case

"This past year, Amazon went on an MBA hiring binge. At the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, Amazon hired 59 MBAs from the Class of 2015, accounting for 13% of the entire graduating class. At just five schools–Ross, MIT, Duke, Northwestern, and Columbia–Amazon hired 121 MBA graduates. One of Microsoft’s favorite schools last year was Duke’s Fuqua School of Business which sent 19 MBAs to the software giant.

Northwestern’s Kellogg School emerged one of Apple’s favorite MBA hunting grounds. Eight Kellogg grads went to work for Apple last year, more than the seven from MIT, the half dozen from Columbia, or the four MBAs from Fuqua, the alma mater of Apple CEO Tim Cook. And one of Google’s top business schools last year was clearly MIT, where it hired 14 graduates, more than double its take from Kellogg, and more than triple it’s take from Duke and Columbia where it found four MBAs from each school.

So which top U.S. business school funnels the highest percentage of its graduating class to tech? At first blush, the answer to that question is one you probably wouldn’t guess, though it makes perfectly good sense. It’s the University of Washington’s Foster School whose corporate neighbors include two of the most aggressive consumers of MBA talent: Amazon and Microsoft. Some 43% of the school’s MBAs went into tech last year, taking jobs with a wide variety of firms that include EMC, NetApp, Samsung, Tektronix, and VMware."


It does help were you went to school in highly lucrative and prestigious companies. It does not mean they higher smarter or better people but the bias exists.it would be awesome if graduates of the university of North Dakota were being hired by Goldman Sachs and making a couple of million a year.
But...
Goldman Sachs


School Alumni
New York University 428
London School of Economics 419
Cornell University 359
Harvard University 339
Columbia University 311
University of Oxford 303
University of Cambridge 300
University of Pennsylvania 284
Brigham Young University 273
Imperial College of London 248
Source: LinkedIn and Business Insider

Morgan Stanley


School Alumni
Baruch College (City University of New York) 482
New York University 480
University of Mumbai 383
Rutgers University, New Brunswick 383
Columbia University 321
London School of Economics 300
University of Maryland, College Park 273
Cornell University 268
Harvard University 208
University of Pennsylvania 199

[clongirl]

Also...let's all keep in mind that their are hundreds if not thousands of tech companies located here. Not all are huge Amazon, Google, Facebook, Apple type companies. Most companies give large bonuses to new hires that have been recommended by fellow employees. As with anywhere, it's often who you know rather than where you go. Having a lot of high profile contacts and personal recommendations is imperative in the Bay Area for landing a job.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by WithDisp

Kind of a serious question here, and while I have my suspicions- there's nothing really grounding the thought.

I've lived in high priced cities most my life, and I recognize that there is a tremendous opportunity in both education and the job market in the Bay. No doubt top grads from Stanford, UCB, UCSC, UCD, SJSU CSUEB can go on to get high paying jobs with a little experience after college- no doubt students from other schools can succeed too- if they've been apt in gaining work experience and show promise.

... but what about the students who go to mediocre schools and get mediocre grades/degrees?

If they're not landing the big jobs or moving into the quality employers, what exactly becomes of them?
Moderate wage jobs can't easily afford rent and certainly can't buy you a home.

Besides move, what choices are these people going with?

It wasn't too long ago that UC Berkeley students were starting off as tellers in San Francisco (not the case now though unless you have zero experience whatsoever). A few of my friends work as wealth managers at Bank of America and Citi. Back in 2010-2011, so it's not just what school you went to, it also has a lot to do with your experience and personality. Owning a home is a dream to young professionals these days because prices are so high that even a $75k salary isn't enough to purchase. Also, just because the company is large it doesn't mean they pay well. There are a lot of small and medium start ups that pay better. And as mentioned before a lot has to do with who you know. I have quite a few friends who work for small and large tech companies like Google, Salesforce and then some small start ups you probably wouldn't know.

I'd say most young professionals who land good jobs have a private room in a shared apartment, while others who weren't able to land a good job rent a shared room in a shared apartment.

[ccm123]

Bingo, so true in my limited experiences. Connections, networking, introductions and recommendations will get you a long way.

Originally Posted by clongirl

Also...let's all keep in mind that their are hundreds if not thousands of tech companies located here. Not all are huge Amazon, Google, Facebook, Apple type companies. Most companies give large bonuses to new hires that have been recommended by fellow employees. As with anywhere, it's often who you know rather than where you go. Having a lot of high profile contacts and personal recommendations is imperative in the Bay Area for landing a job.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Non Ivy league folks are at a disadvantage these days around here. The diaspora of local yokels, many of whom are part of the Non Ivy contingent, grows apace.

[WithDisp]

I'm not much closer to an answer.

I wish I were more specific- as when I talk about B and C students, perhaps I'm more in line with their high school grades- implying their college choices are limited to the B and C track, as some have alluded to on here.

It still appears from the data the majority of alumni are from top tier schools.

I get the networking aspect- but is a degree in a field unrelated to technology from a B/C school really going to get someone a management job at some of these agencies?

[simboticus]

Originally Posted by WithDisp

I'm not much closer to an answer.

I wish I were more specific- as when I talk about B and C students, perhaps I'm more in line with their high school grades- implying their college choices are limited to the B and C track, as some have alluded to on here.

It still appears from the data the majority of alumni are from top tier schools.

I get the networking aspect- but is a degree in a field unrelated to technology from a B/C school really going to get someone a management job at some of these agencies?

There is no one answer to your question, life isn't that simple. And you are choosing to look at data from a very narrow focus. There are lots of other companies hiring people.

People are not forever defined by what grades they got in high school or college, or what university they attended. The path can be made easier if they attended a prestigious school, but it doesn't guarantee anything.

Amazon may have hired a bunch of MBA's from a top school, doesn't me they will last or be successful long term.

Quality people come from many walks of life, the cream will usually (eventually) rise to the top.

[WithDisp]

Originally Posted by simboticus

There is no one answer to your question, life isn't that simple. And you are choosing to look at data from a very narrow focus. There are lots of other companies hiring people.

People are not forever defined by what grades they got in high school or college, or what university they attended. The path can be made easier if they attended a prestigious school, but it doesn't guarantee anything.

Amazon may have hired a bunch of MBA's from a top school, doesn't me they will last or be successful long term.

Quality people come from many walks of life, the cream will usually (eventually) rise to the top.

There isn't a single answer, sure. However when data sets point to "the vast majority of hires at top companies come from top schools", you're led to follow that to having some meaning.