Convince me where people go to college doesn't matter

For law school, not for undergrad. John Roberts is the only one who went to Harvard for undergrad. None went to Yale for undergrad.

Scalia went to Georgetown, Kennedy and Breyer went to Stanford, Thomas went to Holy Cross, Ginsburg went to Cornell, Alito, Sotomayer, and Kagan all went to Princeton.

Still, a pretty tight grouping. I didn’t realize Stanford produced so many lawyers.

His basic contention is htat kids are pressured from all sides already, and don’t need more. He also agrees kids know the good from the bad schools. He did appreciate that I read the piece and e-mailed my thoughts.

If I may chime in on this: because there are happy people who aren’t wealthy. There are happy poor, middle class, and rich people.

In fact, if there’s one thing about money I can say for sure is that, while it can solve problems, it can’t provide happiness, above a fundamental level of standard of living.
To answer the thread more generally, I agree with everyone that “it depends.”

It seems to me that in certain fields, the connections to be made at the Ivy Leagues or other top schools are a great asset. On the other hand, they are not a requirement for entry into most fields (as an undergrad).

One of my best friends is a med student, and while I was living with him a met a lot of his classmates, and they came from a very diverse academic background. Most of the people I know who work in politics in Washington DC went to school there.

I think you’re more likely to be friends with the dude who invents Facebook or starts a new successful multi-million dollar company or whatever at an Ivy League, but that’s about it.

I strongly agree - and will add that for professional school, which most people don’t attend straight out of undergrad, what you do after college is also extremely important.

I did my master’s degree at the University of Michigan, which is a Public Ivy and is ranked in the top ten in my field, ahead of most of the actual Ivy League schools. Most of my classmates attended well-regarded and prominent universities for their undergrads, but nowhere near everyone. One of my good friends in grad school took eight years getting her BA, burning her way through at least three different schools. She got kicked out of a community college at one point. She finally graduated from Cal State Northridge. But at the same time, she worked for several years for an organization that rescues children who have been trafficked into prostitution, and did a lot of amazing stuff with them. That’s what got her accepted into Michigan, and the University of Chicago, and Cornell, among others, not her stellar academic background and her BA from Northridge.

I’m sure it’s different for academic degrees, but it’s my experience that people in professional degree programs have spent at least a few years working, and that, as much or more than their undergrad experience, is what gets you in.

In case it’s not obvious, a professional master’s degree is one that prepares you for a career outside of academia, such as law (JD), business (MBA), social work (MSW), education (MEd), urban planning (MUP), etc.

If by “Ivy League” you mean “Stanford University,” then I can agree.

Money can’t buy happiness, but it does let you pick your misery.

Yes, it matters. However, it probably matters more to other people than you.

On the other hand, if you do go to a professional school, the quality makes a difference. The Times article on how hard it is for lawyers to get jobs these days says that those in low ranking law schools are significantly more screwed than those from top ones.

Wrongo. I actually get to hire someone fresh from college (its been so long I’ve nearly forgotten how to do it) and my company specifically recruits at a small number of the top schools. We get resumes from students at these schools - we can hire from other schools, but to do so we have to go out and find the students ourselves.

This is the fourth major company I’ve worked for, and the situation has been the same in all of them.

But I must admit that Mickey D’s doesn’t care at all.

It matters to you when those other people give you jobs or let you into grad school. I got a good position and admitted to a good grad school specifically because I went to MIT. My grades were okay, not all that great. And an econ degree from the University of Chicago did wonders for my daughter. There is a definite halo effect.
And I enjoyed going to MIT, and have enjoyed having gone to MIT ever since. Hell, I worked in a lab across the hall from Claude Shannon’s office. What could be better than that. (Well, if he had actually ever been in his office …)

It does matter. Those of us who got a good education for a reasonable price (or for free) have a great time laughing at those who spent $100,000-200,000 on the same thing.

Nope, all that matters is who you know and who you blow.