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Is there evidence for it being a strong signal in the first place? Once you have work experience, either from your first few jobs, or for some from internships

Is there evidence for it being a strong signal in the first place? Once you have work experience, either from your first few jobs, or for some from internships, then your school rarely matters. It's not like you learned some revolutionary thing that is exclusive to MIT 20 years ago, or that whatever you learned is even applicable for that matter.

universityguys 4y ago
I feel like Harvard and MIT, those two universities in particular, carry a very unique cachet. Other elite universities may not be so worth it.
gharman 4y ago
I'll raise my hand as a data point. MIT, about 20 years out. It still seems to carry significant weight. I don't even work in the field I studied, so it's definitely not about any particular material I may have learned there. My conjecture is that association with the MIT brand implies that I must be a sharp cookie and someone worth paying attention to.
- urthor 4y ago
  One trick savvy folk do, and this is beyond effective. They take these two week courses at these universities. And then they put it at the top of the "education" section of their resume. It's like $99.99 prices. Against all human logic, people just cannot look past the magic words "Harvard University." And people aren't dumb, they know it's a two week, meaningless course. Doesn't matter. Lizard brain sees Harvard.
qiskit 4y ago
> ... then your school rarely matters. ... then your gpa rarely matters. But your school always matters. Not only in terms of network, but in terms of reputation, prestige and even camaraderie. Especially the higher you go up the ladder when more and more people tend to be graduates of top schools. Nobody will ask about your GPA as you get further along in your career. But everyone will ask about your alma mater. You eventually stop putting your GPA on your resume, even if you had a 4.0. But you always put the college you graduated from.

universityguys 4y ago

I feel like Harvard and MIT, those two universities in particular, carry a very unique cachet. Other elite universities may not be so worth it.

gharman 4y ago

I'll raise my hand as a data point. MIT, about 20 years out. It still seems to carry significant weight. I don't even work in the field I studied, so it's definitely not about any particular material I may have learned there. My conjecture is that association with the MIT brand implies that I must be a sharp cookie and someone worth paying attention to.

urthor 4y ago
One trick savvy folk do, and this is beyond effective. They take these two week courses at these universities. And then they put it at the top of the "education" section of their resume. It's like $99.99 prices. Against all human logic, people just cannot look past the magic words "Harvard University." And people aren't dumb, they know it's a two week, meaningless course. Doesn't matter. Lizard brain sees Harvard.

qiskit 4y ago

> ... then your school rarely matters. ... then your gpa rarely matters. But your school always matters. Not only in terms of network, but in terms of reputation, prestige and even camaraderie. Especially the higher you go up the ladder when more and more people tend to be graduates of top schools. Nobody will ask about your GPA as you get further along in your career. But everyone will ask about your alma mater. You eventually stop putting your GPA on your resume, even if you had a 4.0. But you always put the college you graduated from.