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> A better university matters only if you're able to take advantage of what it offers. There's more to it. A top university gives you a stamp that signals "I w

> A better university matters only if you're able to take advantage of what it offers. There's more to it. A top university gives you a stamp that signals "I was smart enough to get in" for the rest of your career. That matters.

GrumpyYoungMan 5y ago
Kind of but at some point the rubber meets the road. You see a lot of comments on HN that say "Wow, this person came from a top university / FAANG and yet couldn't pass our interview or did badly on the job."
- beforeolives 5y ago
  Think of it from the opposite direction - If you take only the people who can pass the interview and do well on the job, the ones from top universities/FAANG get more opportunities to interview in the first place. It's much easier to be a capable person who is associated with a prestigious institution than to be a capable person who isn't.
  - HDMI_Cable 5y ago
    Do you think grades / things you did outside of school would matter? Would a top student from a small school have a better chance than an average student from a good school?
HDMI_Cable 5y ago
Yeah, that's what I was (a bit) worried about. I just don't want to be passed up for an offer, (or something similar) simply because I went to a smaller school. Hopefully the graduate degree matters more in my case.
- GrumpyYoungMan 5y ago
  From the small bit I know about non-medical graduate admissions, the rigor of the program is a factor in graduate admissions but it only matters when comparing a candidate with good grades from a weak program and a candidate with equally good grades from a strong program. Again, it's all about the student and how well they can prove they learned the material, not about prestige. If you really want a more in-depth answer to your question, go to https://academia.stackexchange.com/ https://academia.stackexchange.com/ and see what practicing academics say; this sort of question has surely been asked and answered many times. (I'd dig up some links for you but, not to be unkind, the very first thing you'd better get used to if you hope to reach graduate school is finding stuff out on your own given some hints.)
  - HDMI_Cable 5y ago
    Oh yeah of course, you've already done quite a bit by answering, thanks. I now realize I probably could have looked there first, but quite honestly I only ever go onto StackOverflow.
    - GrumpyYoungMan 5y ago
      No worries; good luck to you.

GrumpyYoungMan 5y ago

Kind of but at some point the rubber meets the road. You see a lot of comments on HN that say "Wow, this person came from a top university / FAANG and yet couldn't pass our interview or did badly on the job."

beforeolives 5y ago
Think of it from the opposite direction - If you take only the people who can pass the interview and do well on the job, the ones from top universities/FAANG get more opportunities to interview in the first place. It's much easier to be a capable person who is associated with a prestigious institution than to be a capable person who isn't.
- HDMI_Cable 5y ago
  Do you think grades / things you did outside of school would matter? Would a top student from a small school have a better chance than an average student from a good school?

HDMI_Cable 5y ago

Yeah, that's what I was (a bit) worried about. I just don't want to be passed up for an offer, (or something similar) simply because I went to a smaller school. Hopefully the graduate degree matters more in my case.

GrumpyYoungMan 5y ago
From the small bit I know about non-medical graduate admissions, the rigor of the program is a factor in graduate admissions but it only matters when comparing a candidate with good grades from a weak program and a candidate with equally good grades from a strong program. Again, it's all about the student and how well they can prove they learned the material, not about prestige. If you really want a more in-depth answer to your question, go to https://academia.stackexchange.com/ https://academia.stackexchange.com/ and see what practicing academics say; this sort of question has surely been asked and answered many times. (I'd dig up some links for you but, not to be unkind, the very first thing you'd better get used to if you hope to reach graduate school is finding stuff out on your own given some hints.)
- HDMI_Cable 5y ago
  Oh yeah of course, you've already done quite a bit by answering, thanks. I now realize I probably could have looked there first, but quite honestly I only ever go onto StackOverflow.
  - GrumpyYoungMan 5y ago
    No worries; good luck to you.