Posted on 04/11/2014 8:46:47 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
This month, high school seniors across America are receiving college decision letters of acceptance and rejection. Many of these students, and their parents, will think that where they go to college will significantly affect their employment future.
They think wrong. Today, whether you go to college retains some importance in your employment options. But where you go to college is of almost no importance. Whether your degree, for example, is from UCLA or from less prestigious Sonoma State matters far less than your academic performance and the skills you can show employers.
Research on the impact of college selection has focused on comparing the earnings of graduates of different colleges. In 1999, economists Alan Krueger and Stacy Berg Dale published a widely-read study that compared the earnings of graduates of elite colleges with those of “moderately selective” schools. The latter group was composed of persons who had been admitted to an elite college but chose to attend another school.
The economists found that the earnings of the two groups 20 years after graduation differed little or not at all. In a larger follow up study, released in 2011 and covering 19,000 college graduates, the economists reached a similar conclusion: Whether you went to University of Penn or Penn State, Williams College or Miami University of Ohio, job outcomes were unaffected in terms of earnings.
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
RE: Do you happen to know which undergrad schools they attended?
I don’t know the undergrad school of the Columbia University grad doctor, but my doctor ( the one who went to SUNY ), had his undergraduate in the biological sciences at Grove City College in Pennsylvania. It is a private Christian college (undergraduate only ), often considered one of the top CONSERVATIVE schools in the nation along with Hillsdale College ( the college refuses to accept government money of any kind for fear of being coerced to follow government requirements ).
RE: Bill Gates did not drop out of Harvard. He was *asked* to leave.
Why? What did he do?
I suspect that's more applicable in terms of advanced degrees, but even then, not so much that the quality of the education is better, but the quality of the faculty an alumni networks will get you entrée to circles than a less prestigious university might.
It’s hard to get the entire story now. Nobody wants to make an enemy of Gates and Harvard has been trying to downplay the issue for years. IIRC he was running a big $$ poker game out of his room at Currier. They gently suggested to him that he should take some time off. He did but didn’t come back to complete his degree. They gave him one anyway. LOL
The friends he made at Harvard who ended up working with him at Microsoft are glad they decided to go to Harvard rather than StateU.
Actually the alums probably aren’t much bothered but I know a couple of parents on FR who either had children at Harvard or they had just been accepted. They were thrilled. There are some good people at the school. A lot of liberals though. Just like most schools.
I’d rather have my doctor graduate from Harvard than my POTUS.
Totally disagree with headline. College is not necessary. Common sense and good ethics are necessary.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.