I mean, when is there much difference between the places a person gets a degree? I understand the difference between getting a degree at a state university and somewhere like Harvard or MIT, but beyond big schools like that, is there really much of a difference as long as you get your degree with good grades?

Ask the people who went to Inholland.

Well, sometimes they like to take peopel from the old boy network. Other times your boss will be a communist who refuses to take anyone who can spell their own name. It really depends on who you're getting a job from. And what career field.



For me, a degree from Oxford would open more doors than a degree from *throws pin in map* Pendle?!They'll open one anywhere, won't they?


Soem unis are better for certain things, and employers might know that.

Haha, no. A degree from Oxford will only open doors for you if you have a lot of money and are willing to prosttute yourself beyond the bounds of all human decency. Otherwise? Knowing a trade is a far more secure routeto a career these days than an expensive graduate degree.

To be honest, that's kind of a given in my field anyway...



And "knowing a trade" and "graduate degree" are synonyms for me as well. Like I say, it depends on the field.

What people don't understand about a degree is it isn't merely something comparable to "knowing" things.

There's an intangible that businesses look for in a degree.. it's called finishing what you start.

Your degree gets you your first job, that's it. After that it's what you have done in past jobs.

one of the best teaching colleges is UCO and if you got that under your belt its nice looking but doesnt matter

I think it does depend on the field that people want to be in for them to even want/need to go to college
a lot of people think ing that they must, or that they should because it's what people do or "i'll go to college and get a good job" which of course isnt always true. especially if you take courses that you can't realistically apply to the workforce. What it really does is drive up the tuition costs for everyone.

Was too poor to go to college out of HS myself and our counselor was horrible about informing students of grants and scolarships.. So, I joined the military, learned basic electronics, I/O theory, radio theory and radar theory. it has served me well. I would think that a trade shcool would offer almost as much on a resume.

My degree's never gotten me a job. Perhaps it's because it's in philosophy and all my prospective employers have an inbuilt self-preservation instinct.

Most business is either government related or goods and services.. a philosophy degree doesn't do those much good. It's nice to have a degree, but it's also nice to consider one that's in need and tailor high job prospects with something you want to do.

On the other hand, when I worked for Google, we had people doing front page that had English degrees, and it was there I learned that the value of a degree is the intangibles, people seem to strangely focus on the knowledge part. You can always teach someone to do their job and the knowledge that comes with it. You can't teach someone to finish what they start or to be motivated enough. They either do or don't.

I'd have enjoyed studying English, but at 3 grand a year my own self preservation instincts kicked in and told me to study something horrible and useful instead.

It depends on the specific field you want to go into, but in general

• there are schools that can seriously help you get an internship with the company you want to work for, or where there are lots of alumni in that field.
  
  
• and then there are schools that cannot help you in this regard

If you have absolutely no idea what you want to do in life, you might be better off taking some time off to figure that out before starting an expensive college education

Ha! I see you, and raise you. Two degrees, and a job completely unrelated to either, but those degrees mean I don't qualify for inhouse training courses, as I'd be overqualified...

As to the original question, only in certain fields in my opinion. Law, medicine, yeah, it probably matters. Otherwise...pick the prettiest scenery and the best bars

Not in the way you're thinking about it. It doesn't really matter if you go to a college that's well known or has a great reputation, or one that isn't well known and therefore has a neutral reputation, but what does matter is not going to one that has a bad reputation. Even if you go to such a college and manage to learn everything you would learn from a more popular college, listing a degree from a college with a bad reputation may hurt your chances to get an interview no matter how great your skills are (because you'll be ignored before you even get a chance to demonstrate your skills). But, like Allstar said, once you manage to get a job in your field then that'll matter much more.

SIERRA!

Anyone who doesn't employ you at the drop of a hat is clearly barking up the wrong tree. Although somehow I doubt you'd have to worry about that.

There are quite a few different ways in which where you went to university can matter or not matter.

In terms of educational opportunities where you go to uni can matter tremendously. Beyond obvious things like the quality of the faculty (which actually tends to vary as much inside a university as between universities), you'll find big differences in opportunities to get internships or get involved in research or projects in your chosen field. These are the kinds of things that will really contribute to your overall education, often far beyond the foundation that your classes lay.

The kinds of connections you can make is also an area where some universities are far better than others. When you get out of uni and are looking to land your first job, who you know can be just as useful as what you know. Ivy League colleges and other big name schools tend to do very well in this department, giving you the opportunity to make some valuable connections among both students and faculty. You should also pay careful attention to who is on the faculty in your chosen field, as having someone well-known in the field willing to write you a letter of recommendation can really help land that first job or get you into a good graduate program.

In terms of the actual value of the piece of paper when it comes to landing your first job, what school you got your degree from doesn't actually influence that much. Having a degree from a prestigious school may get your resume a little bit more attention, but that's only the first step to landing a job. Once you get to the actual interview your skills will be what get you or lose you the job- what school you went to won't even be a consideration at that point. Also note that this is only for getting your first job. After that your experience and recommendations from previously employers will be what counts, where you got your degree from won't even factor into the equation.

Something else that should be noted is that if you go on to get a graduate degree then your undergraduate institute won't even be noted when you go to apply for jobs. The undergraduate institute can still help you get into the graduate institute of your choice (mostly through things like internship and research opportunities), but once that's done your undergraduate institute has served all the purpose it's going to serve. Basically where you got your highest degree from is the only place that will noted by employers, and that's only going to factor in a bit for the first one or two jobs, after which it's your experience, skills, and recommendations that will be carrying you.

The awkward moment when you're at Teesside University :sadvaultboy:

A lot of times all that matters is who you know on the inside.

based on my dads stories, he went to dental school with kids that went to harvard and those other ivy league schools and most of them did not make it through. my dad did and he just went to his small college and got accepted into dental school. now hes a dentist and his own boss so no, it doesnt matter where you go to school, just as long as the school has what you want to major in or has the program you want to enter.

The jobs that require a degree from an elite school like Harvard or Stanford are a pretty slim slice of the pie. For the vast majority of pencil-pushing, key-board pressing middle management jobs all an employer is looking for is that you completed the degree they're looking for in an accredited school. Which one doesn't really matter a great deal. Before all the "but, but but!" I'm not talking about advanced degrees in science, medicine or law. If you want the best positions in fields like that you'd better go to a top school with a renowned department in your field of study.

For the larger majority of jobs out there, it probably doesn't matter very much.

However, as others have noted, going to a good / decent college can increase your chances of knowing the right people to land your first (or second) job, and can also give you the confidence to excel.

The point of college, in most cases, is not simply so that you can get a shiny piece of paper that says you've slogged through four or more years of work. The point of college is to A. teach you that you can do that amount of work at that level and persevere, B. tell that to your future employers and C. learn a lot about your chosen field.

I received my degree in Psychology from a school that is listed as one of the top ten (sometimes as #1) in the field - that, alone, has given me the confidence to both know that I possess a great deal of knowledge about the field and that going to such a university has and will continue to open doors for me.

If you're planning on getting a Master's or a Ph.D, what college you go to really starts to matter.

Glad that we only have one university in Malta - no discrimination. B)

I read that as "retrieved" and had a mental image of you scuba diving into the ruins of a submerged university to salvage a degree from it.

It tends to open doors to places I personally don't want to go. Which I suppose is saying the same thing.

In general, it seems that the particular college one attended seems to matter an awful lot to people who think they matter; otherwise it's not quite so important. Personally, if I were employing someone, I'd rather see a willingness and capability to get the job done and an ability to work with others: the educational equivalent of a designer label can be a bit of a liability in that regard.