does undergrad prestige matter?

No, it does not matter.

or matter as much in comparison to gpa lsats internships etc.

It absolutely matters - School names opens doors. What you after that is what counts though - so don't be confused. Get into and attend the best school you can. Then EARN your education and degree and tear it up from there!

Good luck!

Yes, absolutely, a ton. Anyone telling you different is lying.

But there is always the tuition dilemma...

If you don't plan on pursuing a graduate degree, then yes prestige matters. because it leads to employment and the employment options are much more vast when graduating from a prestigious university.

If you do, however, decide to pursue law school, the undergraduate institution you go to DOES NOT matter! A 3.8 Podunk State grad is more likely to get into Yale Law than a Harvard graduate with 3.3 gpa, assuming the LSAT scores are the same.

According to this site you have the ivys and maybe 8 or 10 elite universities plus a handful of small colleges, and then everything else is mediocre to poor. Forget it and start digging ditches.

According to this site you have the ivys and maybe 8 or 10 elite universities plus a handful of small colleges, and then everything else is mediocre to poor. Forget it and start digging ditches.

most people on this site are incredibly insecure

teenager wrote:

or matter as much in comparison to gpa lsats internships etc.

The student body at the University of Akron is not "quite" the same as that at Harvard or Stanford. Part of the difference is that the capability of the student body is at a different level, the faculty is at a different level, and so is the amount of academic support available. And some of this difference likely turns into a higher LSAT score.

And part of the difference is the culture and experience of going to a particular top-level institution. Washington State or Southern Illinois (not to pick at those particular institutions, but they are not Harvard) is not quite the same thing.

Right, but if i were to go to a really good state school (and save $) instead of a slightly better known private school that prbably wouldnt make much of a difference.

It does not matter. Trust me, I'm nearly 40 and attended Stanford for undergrad. It. Does. Not. Matter. Attend a school that has what YOU want, not what you think people will be impressed with. It's you life, your education.Not only that, but the best thing I ever did was return to Canada to attend grad school. If I attended in the States I would have had to do the whole damn thing over again since unless it is Sciences, the world does not care about prestigious U.S. arts degrees....

teenager wrote:

Applying to college next year and just wondering.

I might want to go to law school so does it matter for that?

Thank god I live in Canada wrote:

It does not matter. Trust me, I'm nearly 40 and attended Stanford for undergrad. It. Does. Not. Matter.

Says the guy who went to STANFORD!! Of course it didn't matter in your case :)

That is like a rich guy saying money isn't important!

I do agree that you EARN and are not given an education and you CAN do that anywhere - but the pedigree of a Stanford, Hardvard, Columbia DOES open doors.

Sad but true: the harder you work to get into a top university, the less hard you need to work for the rest of your life to earn respect, opportunities, and riches. There are lots of ways to succeed, so it's far from your last chance. But an Ivy on your resume makes everything a bit easier.

If you are talking UCLA or Michigan v. Northwestern, then no, it doesn't matter in the slightest.

yes

teenager wrote:

Right, but if i were to go to a really good state school (and save $) instead of a slightly better known private school that prbably wouldnt make much of a difference.

If you are talking about only middle of the road private schools, then yes, a decent state school would be better (but there are some BAD state schools out there, so I wouldn't necessarily include those).

Let me learn you something before you get talked into going to a much lesser school.

IF you have the grades to get into a top school (Ivy League, Vassar College, Emory, etc.) then you have a GREAT likelihood of going to those schools for about the same OR less than you would a GOOD state school.

Here is a list of colleges that meet 100% of demonstrated financial need:

These are schools that are hard to get into, so you have to do your part there. If your parents make a LOT of money, then you will pay most of the cost of tuition and room and board, but if they make even just $120,000 or less, you will get significant help from these school, and MOST of that is just a grant...flat out free money. Most of the time, it would be possible to attend one of those schools for less than a good state school.

The only thing is that if you have the grades to get into those colleges, MANY state schools will give you full tuition, but you would still have to pay room and board in most cases. Depending on your family income, at those better schools, you might get all of your tuition and room and board paid for, or you might just get tuition paid for. Then you have a decision to make. If it costs you the same to go to Michigan State University as it does to Carleton College or the University of Chicago, wouldn't you choose the better school (assuming the program you want is there)?

What if you can go to Ohio State for $10,000 a year (based on grants from the university) but can go to Williams or Wesleyan for $14,000 a year? Would you then choose the better school? That IS $16,000 difference over the course of the degree. I would. It's worth at least that much.

Decisions, decisions.

What about graduate school prestige?

BuisinessProfessional wrote:

What about graduate school prestige?

Does it matter? Yes, but it depends on what you are doing.

If you want to be a college professor, does it look more impressive that you went to Stanford for graduate school rather than Ohio University? Yes.

If you have an MBA, is it better to have gotten it from Harvard rather than the University of Alabama? Yes.

If you want to teach high school, is a masters degree better from Vanderbilt than from Kent State? Meh. Not too sure there. Better do well on the Praxis test.

Some industries like finance and big time law where you have to schmooze corporate clients, big firms are obsessed with pedigree and where you went to school.

Also important to look at endowment size (shocker Harvard and Yale have the biggest).

Being a teacher not so much.