4 ms·
I don’t think the issue is that Oxbridge students aren’t on average, smart. It’s more that the implicit assumption of smart people can only come from Oxbridge.
by Bukhmanizer 5y ago
I don’t think the issue is that Oxbridge students aren’t on average, smart. It’s more that the implicit assumption of smart people can only come from Oxbridge.
Branding is powerful, and it’s easy to fall into the trap in thinking that the smartest person from UCL isn’t as smart as the dumbest person from Cambridge. Being in America, I’ve seen lots of people just throw out resumes just because they’ve never heard of their school, or they didn’t go to a prestigious school.
- disgruntledphd2 5y agoYeah, I've seen that. When I worked for a FAANG, we were doing the final set of interviews for a (very very good) candidate. The first question the director asked was "where did she go to school?". Fortunately for her, she went to Oxford, so it was OK. I also remember the US recruiters telling us that there was a list of acceptable schools and we should stick to it. Fortunately (for me, at least) we tended to ignore that crap in Europe. The funniest part was that my manager moved over to the US, and hired ten really really good people by just looking for qualified candidates who didn't go to one of the acceptable schools. I'm pretty sure all those people are the core of a very good team now.
- Bukhmanizer 5y agoAs a Canadian in America I don’t know a lot of US schools. It’s pretty funny to see how offended people can be when I haven’t heard of like, Williams, or Vassar.