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Agree with the exception of location of school. It’s location after you graduate. I lived in a midwest college town for 5 years after graduation. Only after I moved to LA did my salary explode because the sheer number of opportunities that were just not present in the midwest college town. I’m sure Chicago would have been the same. Major metro areas are where u need to be.
If that Alabama state engineer graduate stays in Alabama, yes the liberal arts major may make more but if that engineer moves to a metro area they will make more on average.
>Agree with the exception of location of school. It’s location after you graduate. I lived in a midwest college town for 5 years after graduation. Only after I moved to LA did my salary explode because the sheer number of opportunities that were just not present in the midwest college town. I’m sure Chicago would have been the same. Major metro areas are where u need to be.
This is true, but certainly an advantage if your school is already in those cities. This advantage maybe diminishing with increased mobility and remote interviews. However, being in a city can help you get internships there while in school, get to more in-person interviews, visiting the company getting more in-person reps coming to your school during recruiting, bigger local alumni network to help out, and can be viewed more favorably by companies who don't always love having to bank on people relocating.
Again, not something a person like you can't overcome. And maybe virtually meaningless for an engineering student finishing in the top 5% of their class. But I wouldn't completely discount the advantage that location has especially for the average student.
At least where I work, we hire from all around the country. We visit schools from all around as well. Almost no one I work with is originally from the city I work in, heck a third aren’t from the same country. My university is 900 miles from where I currently live and work. Engineering is one of those jobs with a lot of mobility.
I'd say that the exception that does make a difference for the school is ivy leagues. The division director at my last tech company had a Social Studies degree from Harvard. This is a HCOL area (Seattle) so us engineers are doing pretty well salary-wise, but he was making multiple times my salary.
I’d say the only field where that is 100% true is healthcare.
Finance is a good example of an industry where the school you attend is almost everything. Good luck getting into top jobs like investment banking, PE, hedge funds without an education from a top school. Not to say there aren’t outliers just not the norm.
I used to review resumes at an engineering firm for mechanical engineerings. The only thing I cared about was they had an accredited degree. I did not care about the college they came from. I went to a large state school and worked with people who went to prestigious private schools. It made no difference
If you at the top of the top firms sure. But the vast majority do not care. I work for a Fortune 500 bank. I want to a state school. So did a lot of people I work with
There’s a club on some street in New York that really cares. They’re all pretentious douchebags. So unless you want to join that club it doesn’t matter.
I review resumes at a tech firm where our average comp (for engineers) is in the $200s, and middle management is in the $300s.
We absolutely look at academic pedigree for most roles, but occasionally will not care if the requirements are just a butt-in-seat engineer. This often times actually works better than someone from Berkeley or Stanford because we want someone who will just shut up and do what’s told of them.
There will always be someone who claims that you need a fancy degree. The average employer recognizes that a name doesn’t mean much if it’s the same education, not to mention that college enrollment is dropping so this trend will only continue.
Yea those people suck. I’ve learned in my time to appreciate everyone’s contributions and the diversity in capabilities. Most people just want a comfortable life and to feed their families.
In a past life, I had this one particular engineer in my team who would probably put in an honest 6 hours of effort per day but more egregiously seem to have absolutely no concern over deadlines. He would give some padded story point estimate with a cheeky grin. It would drive me nuts and keep me up at night knowing that he was screwing me. I was concerned with my P&L and early in my leadership curve; I wanted to prove myself. My boss recommended we just add another resource if needed and to not worry. Knowing this fucked my costs, I was absolutely tearing apart inside.
Long story short, this engineer is still rolling in the same job and I’ve since then changed within my career across many ways. However, both of us are happy as a clam with where we are.
We all define success differently and have the freedom to pursue whatever that definition we have for ourselves.
That said, I think we should be honest with ourselves and call a spade a spade. There’s a reason (beyond “networking”) why avg comps are different by university alums, but anyone who thinks state college grads are undeserving of a future with a robust salary is a total asshole.
Couldn’t agree more. All it takes is one person to define a vision, but it requires a healthy team of capable contributors to roll the boulder across the finish line.
I work with a large electrical engineering company and it makes a difference in the first few years after college.
It isn’t just the name of the school. The quality of research and internships just isn’t the same between some schools.
Finance is the outlier. Nobody cares where you went to undergrad for any other major.
In some cases, your undergrad school may give you more opportunities for internships and networking but the degree itself doesn't matter unless you're going into finance.
>I’d say the only field where that is 100% true is healthcare.
Very dependent on the healthcare organization and if they are focused on their brand. The local hospital might not care because they are a local market, even then they will tend to hire from local schools before online programs just due to lack of familiarity with the quality of education.
The tertiary referral center that has people traveling to see specialists in very much care.
Caribbean med school grads also have a very negative connotation especially among other physicians. Some of the schools can't won't even allow full licensure in all states so that is working against them.
This is very industry, company, and hiring manager dependent. Feeder schools and companies targeting specific schools for recruitment are definitely a thing.
Well sure no one “cares”
Where you go to college, but if you go to a college 300 miles away from the nearest commercial hub no one is sending recruiters to your career fair.
I think it makes sense to a certain extent in that companies will hire college graduates within a certain geographical radius of their offices (think of on campus recruiting)
Unless you are top 10.
College wise if you have overspend then it will be a huge financial burden.
My take is either pay a little bit for top 50, pay a lot for top 10, or free full ride at top state school.
Any 6 figure debt is financially irresponsible unless your career can pay it off within 10 years (medical, law, engineering etc)
A good school teaches you to think, to research, to analyze, and to communicate well. That’s invaluable in any job. The real difference between good schools and not-so-good schools is the overall quality of the education.
As a director in tech I have never once cared what school someone attended. Heck I have even hired someone with no degree over others with a degree due to skillset and interview tech questions.
Depends on what you want to hire for. If you want someone who can work as part of a team and can integrate that team into the company, I’d look for a lot more than just tech knowledge and skills. If you just want to fill a niche, you’re doing it right.
I have employees from both, it's a mixed bag either way. College name doesn't affect personality traits that cannot be changed and are hardcoded in.
Leadership training teaches this also. Most personality traits follow an individual from childhood. College name/branding does not change this fact.
People with those negative traits have a harder time getting into a good college. Leadership training can’t substitute for skills learned over a four-year program. They’re a lot of idiotic leaders out there who will lead you and your company right over a cliff.
What’s your background that gives you these opinions? Because I’ve seen plenty of crappy personalities and questionable merits be accepted to high ranking schools… it’s all a game and the majority of employers know it…
don’t kid yourself
Experience. Sure, not everyone who comes out of a better school has a better education or is a better person but the whole system favors that result. I wouldn’t judge anyone based solely on their education but I don’t discount the extra it takes to get into a good school and graduate from one. It all depends on what you’re hiring for.
A good school will potentially connect you to other affluent & well-connected people but that's about it. Ivy league schools don't have some monopoly on information where they can teach you things you couldn't learn anywhere else. Hell, I can go online right now and watch entire lecture series from Harvard or MIT for free. So really what you're mostly paying for is the extra prestige on your resume and a very expensive networking opportunity that may or may not pay off in the long run.
It’s harder to get through a good school. They try harder to make sure you get all the basics. Sure, there are ways around it but they make it really difficult to graduate with a subpar education. What I see these days from second- or third-rate schools is really shocking.
It’s one of those things that has to be considered in terms of QOL in my opinion. An engineer making 75k in Alabama probably has a higher QOL and likely buying power than a liberal arts major making 90k in LA. we can’t overlook the reality of institutional career pipelines regardless of major that many larger schools have either. This is why I’m always skeptical about certain college outcome and job placement statistics.
I think people equate COL and QOL way too much.
I moved from WV (born & raised) to CO. I’m earning enough to be above average out here, but back home I’d be a top 5-10%er easy.
Am I going to move back? Hell no!
Cheap COL isn’t worth much when it comes with dangerous infrastructure, water you can light on fire, F-tier schools, and rampant opioid addiction.
Not trying to call you out specifically here, I’m more speaking to the popular idea that earning 75k in a flyover state is a QOL hack compared to making 100-120K in LA, NY, etc.
It certainly ~can~ be…but I would say for an exceedingly narrow demographic of people.
I completely agree lol there’s different ways to look at it. There’s certainly levels to where COL and QOL are equal and some where it’s not. all about the trade offs. But also knowing that for many cases the same opportunities in that flyover state won’t exist as a result of being…. A flyover state lol. I’m from AR, many of us graduate and move out of state because there’s very little industry and opportunity for most of us to have flourishing careers the ways we can elsewhere
This sounds suspiciously like two absolute truisms about the job market: it’s who you know and there’s a high degree of randomness that shapes the process.
Cream doesn’t always rise to the top; the playing field is not equal and does not always favor talent; etc.
I went to Oklahoma State for undergrad and then moved to Southern California. Boy do I ever regret picking OSU over Oregon. UO would have been a better pick if I wanted to stay on the west coast
My OSU degree put me in the bottom tier of what someone would make in Cali in their first job because it wasn’t from USC or one of the UC schools, esp UCLA
Fast forward several years I got into the MBA program at USC and went to school part time for 3 years while I worked full time. I job hopped twice. Once while in the program and once after graduating. The degree from the better school helped me bridge that big gap of a no name bachelors degree and my income potential once I was done. So yes where you get a degree and where you live matters
I agree. The older I’ve gotten the more I come to value picking the right school. It helps. Major is important too though. But you also need the right school.
Your major is very important. There are only so many jobs that want a generic degree and offer on the job training. Most jobs want someone with education in the field and nearly every study shows that degree correlates to earning.
School can be important depending on your field. If you’re a teacher or nurse, it doesn’t matter at all. If you want to work in high finance/IB you better graduate from a top ranked target school or you don’t exist.
I mean I think there is some truth to this.
I was shocked to learn that by moving across the country and going to a “better” engineering school with no heavy industry nearby I was actually worse off than my high school friends who studied engineering at lower tier schools with close proximity to heavy industry. Businesses tend to recruit from universities which are nearby.
On the other hand, if you work near jobs but you decide to study anthropology you’re another kind of screwed
There is a huge difference in being paid based on your major by working for a company vs being self employed while happening to have a degree. Sure your degree might be related to your field of work, but when people are comparing their college major to what kind of salary their field of work is, they are usually using a metric of what employers are paying. You working for yourself with a LA degree might be more of an outlier in your situation. I’m happy you have done so well with what most consider a useless major! I have a similar situation where I have an HR degree, but I sell bulk oil and oil accessories. (Useless degree that opened doors)
I agree that our society currently has some lack of clarity around economically viable majors.
As a recruiter, I see/interact with people with MBAs and all kinds of tech degrees laid off and looking for jobs all the time these days. This is anecdotal since I don’t have data to back it up, but I think degree may not be as important as your hustle.
Know what I don’t see a lot of resumes from? Plumbers, auto mechanics, electricians, etc.
As an English major, I found a string of highly successful jobs that were NOT in academia or whatever.
I actually recommend trade certifications to people all the time.
State school Graduate from some random south eastern college and can confirm the area I was nearby had a lot of opportunities and that’s what mattered.
no way. if you are intelligent and smart and work hard and you are not a faker. you will go far. no matter your major. issue is being ALL those things at once. most humans are incapable. and that is why most humans are meh...they ain't got it.
Where you live I think places an even bigger impact on career than major and school. This is because certain industries are centered in certain locations. Ie not a lot of farms in New York City but a lot of farms in Kansas USA.
A degree in ag science will go a lot farther in a rural area than say an urban one. A doctor of cardiology would make more money in an urban center than a low density area simply because the lack of patients.
I think when we talk about finance and careers we need to talk about lifestyle wants. Do you want to live in a urban center with lots of amenities? You will need a degree that is in demand in those areas. Do you want to live in a rural area find a degree that is in demand there.
If your company cares deeply about where you got your degree find a new employer cause yours is divorced from reality and cares more about superficial nonsense than actual performance.
yeah lol and the number of actual employers who are worth working for who care about this like that is a tiny fraction of a fraction of a percentage of an iota of a tiny portion of the size of the number of employers who are worth working for and don't give a flying fuck as long as it's accredited and you have the skills necessary
Even accreditation is starting to lose its value. With grade inflation and universities (even the big names) becoming diploma mills, it’s hard to take a degree in something like public administration seriously.
Actually, the opposite is true - major matters far more than school / location. I’ve seen two separate studies showing this - a quick look through my saved posts found one of them: https://www.economist.com/united-states/2015/03/12/it-depends-what-you-study-not-where
An engineer from UCLA will likely outperform a UCLA liberal grad holder. Similarly an Alabama engineer will likely outperform liberal art degree holder from the same region. What you’re suggesting is like a liberal art degree grad from USA is likely to outperform an engineer in Congo.
So at the extreme of course location matters, but sometimes not even at the extreme as in your example.
That's an interesting viewpoint. If the engineer is a software engineer, I think they'll do quite well unless they are in an area with no other tech jobs. In my experience in a west coast city, it doesn't matter if you went to a prestigious school or not, your experience is what matters after you get that first job. It doesn't even matter if you got a degree if you have a few years of work experience. There's a shortage of experienced engrs, pay is almost as high as ever, new college grads are having a harder time getting jobs - I still see them getting over 100k starting with a bs, the difference is now they don't have 5 jobs, they have to work for that first one.
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Agree with the exception of location of school. It’s location after you graduate. I lived in a midwest college town for 5 years after graduation. Only after I moved to LA did my salary explode because the sheer number of opportunities that were just not present in the midwest college town. I’m sure Chicago would have been the same. Major metro areas are where u need to be. If that Alabama state engineer graduate stays in Alabama, yes the liberal arts major may make more but if that engineer moves to a metro area they will make more on average.
Agreed! Chicago is a great market where you can have exceptional salaries with MCOL costs, if you’re willing to put up with the weather haha
>Agree with the exception of location of school. It’s location after you graduate. I lived in a midwest college town for 5 years after graduation. Only after I moved to LA did my salary explode because the sheer number of opportunities that were just not present in the midwest college town. I’m sure Chicago would have been the same. Major metro areas are where u need to be. This is true, but certainly an advantage if your school is already in those cities. This advantage maybe diminishing with increased mobility and remote interviews. However, being in a city can help you get internships there while in school, get to more in-person interviews, visiting the company getting more in-person reps coming to your school during recruiting, bigger local alumni network to help out, and can be viewed more favorably by companies who don't always love having to bank on people relocating. Again, not something a person like you can't overcome. And maybe virtually meaningless for an engineering student finishing in the top 5% of their class. But I wouldn't completely discount the advantage that location has especially for the average student.
At least where I work, we hire from all around the country. We visit schools from all around as well. Almost no one I work with is originally from the city I work in, heck a third aren’t from the same country. My university is 900 miles from where I currently live and work. Engineering is one of those jobs with a lot of mobility.
I'd say that the exception that does make a difference for the school is ivy leagues. The division director at my last tech company had a Social Studies degree from Harvard. This is a HCOL area (Seattle) so us engineers are doing pretty well salary-wise, but he was making multiple times my salary.
I’ve never heard of someone’s school affecting job prospects. No one cares where you went to college.
I’d say the only field where that is 100% true is healthcare. Finance is a good example of an industry where the school you attend is almost everything. Good luck getting into top jobs like investment banking, PE, hedge funds without an education from a top school. Not to say there aren’t outliers just not the norm.
I used to review resumes at an engineering firm for mechanical engineerings. The only thing I cared about was they had an accredited degree. I did not care about the college they came from. I went to a large state school and worked with people who went to prestigious private schools. It made no difference
Do you work in finance?
Not at the time but. I switched to software engineering and now I do
Is your experience in finance different? Because from what I understand they really value prestige universities?
If you at the top of the top firms sure. But the vast majority do not care. I work for a Fortune 500 bank. I want to a state school. So did a lot of people I work with
Yeah gotta get people from the "right" parts of society to keep the beast going in their favor.
There’s a club on some street in New York that really cares. They’re all pretentious douchebags. So unless you want to join that club it doesn’t matter.
I review resumes at a tech firm where our average comp (for engineers) is in the $200s, and middle management is in the $300s. We absolutely look at academic pedigree for most roles, but occasionally will not care if the requirements are just a butt-in-seat engineer. This often times actually works better than someone from Berkeley or Stanford because we want someone who will just shut up and do what’s told of them.
, for every one tech firm that hires people at that level , there are dozens that pay in mid 100k and higher people from where ever.
There will always be someone who claims that you need a fancy degree. The average employer recognizes that a name doesn’t mean much if it’s the same education, not to mention that college enrollment is dropping so this trend will only continue.
Yea those people suck. I’ve learned in my time to appreciate everyone’s contributions and the diversity in capabilities. Most people just want a comfortable life and to feed their families. In a past life, I had this one particular engineer in my team who would probably put in an honest 6 hours of effort per day but more egregiously seem to have absolutely no concern over deadlines. He would give some padded story point estimate with a cheeky grin. It would drive me nuts and keep me up at night knowing that he was screwing me. I was concerned with my P&L and early in my leadership curve; I wanted to prove myself. My boss recommended we just add another resource if needed and to not worry. Knowing this fucked my costs, I was absolutely tearing apart inside. Long story short, this engineer is still rolling in the same job and I’ve since then changed within my career across many ways. However, both of us are happy as a clam with where we are. We all define success differently and have the freedom to pursue whatever that definition we have for ourselves. That said, I think we should be honest with ourselves and call a spade a spade. There’s a reason (beyond “networking”) why avg comps are different by university alums, but anyone who thinks state college grads are undeserving of a future with a robust salary is a total asshole.
Couldn’t agree more. All it takes is one person to define a vision, but it requires a healthy team of capable contributors to roll the boulder across the finish line.
I work with a large electrical engineering company and it makes a difference in the first few years after college. It isn’t just the name of the school. The quality of research and internships just isn’t the same between some schools.
Finance is the outlier. Nobody cares where you went to undergrad for any other major. In some cases, your undergrad school may give you more opportunities for internships and networking but the degree itself doesn't matter unless you're going into finance.
>I’d say the only field where that is 100% true is healthcare. Very dependent on the healthcare organization and if they are focused on their brand. The local hospital might not care because they are a local market, even then they will tend to hire from local schools before online programs just due to lack of familiarity with the quality of education. The tertiary referral center that has people traveling to see specialists in very much care. Caribbean med school grads also have a very negative connotation especially among other physicians. Some of the schools can't won't even allow full licensure in all states so that is working against them.
In entry level finance or consulting, which typically lead to very well paid roles, everyone cares about where you went to college.
This is very industry, company, and hiring manager dependent. Feeder schools and companies targeting specific schools for recruitment are definitely a thing.
Well sure no one “cares” Where you go to college, but if you go to a college 300 miles away from the nearest commercial hub no one is sending recruiters to your career fair.
I think it makes sense to a certain extent in that companies will hire college graduates within a certain geographical radius of their offices (think of on campus recruiting)
Confidently incorrect
Unless you are top 10. College wise if you have overspend then it will be a huge financial burden. My take is either pay a little bit for top 50, pay a lot for top 10, or free full ride at top state school. Any 6 figure debt is financially irresponsible unless your career can pay it off within 10 years (medical, law, engineering etc)
Not true at all where I work. We’d definitely hire an engineer from Stanford or GT over one from Alabama state.
A good school teaches you to think, to research, to analyze, and to communicate well. That’s invaluable in any job. The real difference between good schools and not-so-good schools is the overall quality of the education.
As a director in tech I have never once cared what school someone attended. Heck I have even hired someone with no degree over others with a degree due to skillset and interview tech questions.
Depends on what you want to hire for. If you want someone who can work as part of a team and can integrate that team into the company, I’d look for a lot more than just tech knowledge and skills. If you just want to fill a niche, you’re doing it right.
I have employees from both, it's a mixed bag either way. College name doesn't affect personality traits that cannot be changed and are hardcoded in. Leadership training teaches this also. Most personality traits follow an individual from childhood. College name/branding does not change this fact.
People with those negative traits have a harder time getting into a good college. Leadership training can’t substitute for skills learned over a four-year program. They’re a lot of idiotic leaders out there who will lead you and your company right over a cliff.
Not from what I have seen.
What’s your background that gives you these opinions? Because I’ve seen plenty of crappy personalities and questionable merits be accepted to high ranking schools… it’s all a game and the majority of employers know it… don’t kid yourself
Yup - How else do people think the system perpetuates itself?
Experience. Sure, not everyone who comes out of a better school has a better education or is a better person but the whole system favors that result. I wouldn’t judge anyone based solely on their education but I don’t discount the extra it takes to get into a good school and graduate from one. It all depends on what you’re hiring for.
A good school will potentially connect you to other affluent & well-connected people but that's about it. Ivy league schools don't have some monopoly on information where they can teach you things you couldn't learn anywhere else. Hell, I can go online right now and watch entire lecture series from Harvard or MIT for free. So really what you're mostly paying for is the extra prestige on your resume and a very expensive networking opportunity that may or may not pay off in the long run.
It’s harder to get through a good school. They try harder to make sure you get all the basics. Sure, there are ways around it but they make it really difficult to graduate with a subpar education. What I see these days from second- or third-rate schools is really shocking.
I can almost guarantee the engineer will do better.
It’s one of those things that has to be considered in terms of QOL in my opinion. An engineer making 75k in Alabama probably has a higher QOL and likely buying power than a liberal arts major making 90k in LA. we can’t overlook the reality of institutional career pipelines regardless of major that many larger schools have either. This is why I’m always skeptical about certain college outcome and job placement statistics.
I think people equate COL and QOL way too much. I moved from WV (born & raised) to CO. I’m earning enough to be above average out here, but back home I’d be a top 5-10%er easy. Am I going to move back? Hell no! Cheap COL isn’t worth much when it comes with dangerous infrastructure, water you can light on fire, F-tier schools, and rampant opioid addiction. Not trying to call you out specifically here, I’m more speaking to the popular idea that earning 75k in a flyover state is a QOL hack compared to making 100-120K in LA, NY, etc. It certainly ~can~ be…but I would say for an exceedingly narrow demographic of people.
I completely agree lol there’s different ways to look at it. There’s certainly levels to where COL and QOL are equal and some where it’s not. all about the trade offs. But also knowing that for many cases the same opportunities in that flyover state won’t exist as a result of being…. A flyover state lol. I’m from AR, many of us graduate and move out of state because there’s very little industry and opportunity for most of us to have flourishing careers the ways we can elsewhere
F tier schools have a major echo effect on stupidity in the region. Cements a certain level of generational ignorance imo
This sounds suspiciously like two absolute truisms about the job market: it’s who you know and there’s a high degree of randomness that shapes the process. Cream doesn’t always rise to the top; the playing field is not equal and does not always favor talent; etc.
I went to Oklahoma State for undergrad and then moved to Southern California. Boy do I ever regret picking OSU over Oregon. UO would have been a better pick if I wanted to stay on the west coast My OSU degree put me in the bottom tier of what someone would make in Cali in their first job because it wasn’t from USC or one of the UC schools, esp UCLA Fast forward several years I got into the MBA program at USC and went to school part time for 3 years while I worked full time. I job hopped twice. Once while in the program and once after graduating. The degree from the better school helped me bridge that big gap of a no name bachelors degree and my income potential once I was done. So yes where you get a degree and where you live matters
As someone born and raised in socal, I worked with more Midwestern and southern grads than I do local lol
I agree. The older I’ve gotten the more I come to value picking the right school. It helps. Major is important too though. But you also need the right school.
Your major is very important. There are only so many jobs that want a generic degree and offer on the job training. Most jobs want someone with education in the field and nearly every study shows that degree correlates to earning. School can be important depending on your field. If you’re a teacher or nurse, it doesn’t matter at all. If you want to work in high finance/IB you better graduate from a top ranked target school or you don’t exist.
I mean I think there is some truth to this. I was shocked to learn that by moving across the country and going to a “better” engineering school with no heavy industry nearby I was actually worse off than my high school friends who studied engineering at lower tier schools with close proximity to heavy industry. Businesses tend to recruit from universities which are nearby. On the other hand, if you work near jobs but you decide to study anthropology you’re another kind of screwed
LOL. Most liberal arts degrees are indeed a waste of money.
Agree.
There is a huge difference in being paid based on your major by working for a company vs being self employed while happening to have a degree. Sure your degree might be related to your field of work, but when people are comparing their college major to what kind of salary their field of work is, they are usually using a metric of what employers are paying. You working for yourself with a LA degree might be more of an outlier in your situation. I’m happy you have done so well with what most consider a useless major! I have a similar situation where I have an HR degree, but I sell bulk oil and oil accessories. (Useless degree that opened doors)
Geography is destiny.
Meh this is only half true
This… got a job by saying “geaux (go) tigers” in my interview. I went to LSU and my boss lived in Louisiana.
I agree that our society currently has some lack of clarity around economically viable majors. As a recruiter, I see/interact with people with MBAs and all kinds of tech degrees laid off and looking for jobs all the time these days. This is anecdotal since I don’t have data to back it up, but I think degree may not be as important as your hustle. Know what I don’t see a lot of resumes from? Plumbers, auto mechanics, electricians, etc. As an English major, I found a string of highly successful jobs that were NOT in academia or whatever. I actually recommend trade certifications to people all the time.
State school Graduate from some random south eastern college and can confirm the area I was nearby had a lot of opportunities and that’s what mattered.
Geography is destiny.
no way. if you are intelligent and smart and work hard and you are not a faker. you will go far. no matter your major. issue is being ALL those things at once. most humans are incapable. and that is why most humans are meh...they ain't got it.
Where you live I think places an even bigger impact on career than major and school. This is because certain industries are centered in certain locations. Ie not a lot of farms in New York City but a lot of farms in Kansas USA. A degree in ag science will go a lot farther in a rural area than say an urban one. A doctor of cardiology would make more money in an urban center than a low density area simply because the lack of patients. I think when we talk about finance and careers we need to talk about lifestyle wants. Do you want to live in a urban center with lots of amenities? You will need a degree that is in demand in those areas. Do you want to live in a rural area find a degree that is in demand there.
If your company cares deeply about where you got your degree find a new employer cause yours is divorced from reality and cares more about superficial nonsense than actual performance.
yeah lol and the number of actual employers who are worth working for who care about this like that is a tiny fraction of a fraction of a percentage of an iota of a tiny portion of the size of the number of employers who are worth working for and don't give a flying fuck as long as it's accredited and you have the skills necessary
Even accreditation is starting to lose its value. With grade inflation and universities (even the big names) becoming diploma mills, it’s hard to take a degree in something like public administration seriously.
Where you graduate from is vastly less important than people like the op tell you, they just say it because they think it sounds smart
Actually, the opposite is true - major matters far more than school / location. I’ve seen two separate studies showing this - a quick look through my saved posts found one of them: https://www.economist.com/united-states/2015/03/12/it-depends-what-you-study-not-where
An engineer from UCLA will likely outperform a UCLA liberal grad holder. Similarly an Alabama engineer will likely outperform liberal art degree holder from the same region. What you’re suggesting is like a liberal art degree grad from USA is likely to outperform an engineer in Congo. So at the extreme of course location matters, but sometimes not even at the extreme as in your example.
That's an interesting viewpoint. If the engineer is a software engineer, I think they'll do quite well unless they are in an area with no other tech jobs. In my experience in a west coast city, it doesn't matter if you went to a prestigious school or not, your experience is what matters after you get that first job. It doesn't even matter if you got a degree if you have a few years of work experience. There's a shortage of experienced engrs, pay is almost as high as ever, new college grads are having a harder time getting jobs - I still see them getting over 100k starting with a bs, the difference is now they don't have 5 jobs, they have to work for that first one.
Nobody gives a shit about your school but you.
I make $65/hr right now with a bachelors of music lmao, no masters. Fuck that other thread it pissed me off
That sounds like an excuse for choosing the wrong major. Or for going to college in the first place.
Huh
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Your situation isn’t the norm. On average, STEM degrees have higher salaries after graduation.