My theory was that you should go cheap on the undergrad, if the name of the school matters so much, just go there for graduate school. I'd hire a guy with a gra

My theory was that you should go cheap on the undergrad, if the name of the school matters so much, just go there for graduate school. I'd hire a guy with a grad degree and a state school over a really top shelf undergrad& In technical fields, I agree with you. Having a degree often matters to get in the door and avoid hitting ceilings, as you pointed out. But skill in your actual job and (for better or worse) skill in networking and relationships will win out over pedigree in the long run without problem. It seemst that the situation is different in liberal arts fields though. My wife is a history major and because of her I have many acquantances in the liberal arts. They are all very worried about pedigree, and it sounds like employers looking for that type of employee is also very worried about pedigree. I suspect this is because it is harder (not impossible but harder) to measure productivity and skill in liberal arts than it is in engineering and related technical fields.