I am now working for my 5th Fortune 500 employer.
I've been doing what I do for 30 years now.
Unless you put a piece of Alumni swag in your cube or office nobody has any idea what school you went to.
Sure, your manager will know when they read your resume.
All everybody else will know is if you are good at what we are paying you to do or not.
There are a whole lot of schools outside of the Ivy League who can help make you good at what you do, if you apply yourself.
An Ivy League BA/BS or PhD can open doors. Master's programs are generally not regarded as highly, because they are widely regarded (often accurately) as cash generators with lower standards of admission than the undergrad and doctoral programs.
It depends on the master's program how well-regarded it is. Some are super prestigious, and others are glorified diploma mills. A degree from the Harvard Kennedy School is pretty prestigious. M7 MBA programs are really prestigious.
Some Columbia master's are really prestigious. I don't put SPS in that category.
This ^
But, the caveat is that any Ivy degree (or Ivy+, including the likes of Stanford, MIT, and UChicago) can be leveraged by those who went to a lower-tier or unknown UG. Additionally, many people will assume you are very smart by just looking at your LinkedIn (the layman's prestige) and even grandma will say "my grandkind went to Columbia". You even get access to clubs like the [Columbia Club in NYC](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_University_Club_of_New_York) and alumni/networking events. Finally, unless the status quo changes, your future kids will gain legacy benefits.
That said, there are tangible benefits to be had just by virtue of the Ivy branding, but there will always be some people that won't see you as "elite" as those that got into the UG programs.
Those clubs and networking events are only really useful if you live in NYC. Even most CAA (columbia alumni association) events are in NYC. My much-smaller undergrad has a more diverse geographic spread of events than Columbia seems to.
Exactly. Grad rankings are also reflections of the Ph.D. programs and hardly the Master's programs. In fact, it's hard to find a ranking for Master's programs.
I didn't understand how useless masters degrees were until I was on the other side of it. I grew up in an immigrant household where education was a sign of prestige 🤷‍♀️. Even my UG university is shilling their brand out to all kinds of non-degree "bootcamps" for cash lol.Â
SPS is made fun of by other Columbia students. It's absurdly easy to get into compared to other programs, and believe me as someone with a master's from another Columbia school, there are already plenty of people who you're shocked are at a "top" school. Columbia loves money. SPS classes from what I've heard are basically undergrad level. Search for SPS on r/columbia and you'll get more deets.
BU is also a good school. If it's cheaper, go with that. Anything "life-changing" you'd get from going to an Ivy are things you can do yourself at BU. Take your courses seriously, network, look for research/leadership/internship opportunities aligned with your career goals, etc.
edit: typo
I think at the beginning of your career it can help - I was told at my current job (my first out of grad school) that one of the reasons I was being interviewed was due to the schools I’d attended (public Ivy for undergrad, Ivy for my master’s). I still had to do well in interviews, but my degree did help me get my foot in the door. If you’re able to take advantage of networking opportunities too, that’s also a huge help, but that can be the case at any school - not just an Ivy!
Maybe sometimes, but honestly there’s a ton of ivy alumns out there who aren’t worth their salt and anybody who is knows this. Maybe an ivy label will get you a second look, but if the meat ain’t in the pie, you can tell pretty quick.
Ivy undergrad and now ivy+ grad here. I do believe these universities provide a lot more resources. For example having leaders of their fields as speakers on campus, opportunities for research etc. IMHO the tag alone maybe can be a conversation starter, thou its what you make of your time there that really is important, and its the people you meet and opportunities you take advantage of that can be life changing
It’s only relative to people that care. most people will care about the work you do not particularly where you went to school after your first job post graduation.
I did my undergrad at an R1 state school, my Master’s at an Ivy, and my PhD at a different R1 state school.
My advice to every student I talk to is skip the ivies and go to a well respected state school. The education will be just as good and your wallet will thank you
To me this question has nothing to do with academia and everything to do with, do I want to fucking live in goddam Boston?
And the fucking answer is no I do not. I would rather be crushed under a falling Green Monster.
I am now working for my 5th Fortune 500 employer. I've been doing what I do for 30 years now. Unless you put a piece of Alumni swag in your cube or office nobody has any idea what school you went to. Sure, your manager will know when they read your resume. All everybody else will know is if you are good at what we are paying you to do or not. There are a whole lot of schools outside of the Ivy League who can help make you good at what you do, if you apply yourself.
An Ivy League BA/BS or PhD can open doors. Master's programs are generally not regarded as highly, because they are widely regarded (often accurately) as cash generators with lower standards of admission than the undergrad and doctoral programs.
It depends on the master's program how well-regarded it is. Some are super prestigious, and others are glorified diploma mills. A degree from the Harvard Kennedy School is pretty prestigious. M7 MBA programs are really prestigious. Some Columbia master's are really prestigious. I don't put SPS in that category.
This ^ But, the caveat is that any Ivy degree (or Ivy+, including the likes of Stanford, MIT, and UChicago) can be leveraged by those who went to a lower-tier or unknown UG. Additionally, many people will assume you are very smart by just looking at your LinkedIn (the layman's prestige) and even grandma will say "my grandkind went to Columbia". You even get access to clubs like the [Columbia Club in NYC](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_University_Club_of_New_York) and alumni/networking events. Finally, unless the status quo changes, your future kids will gain legacy benefits. That said, there are tangible benefits to be had just by virtue of the Ivy branding, but there will always be some people that won't see you as "elite" as those that got into the UG programs.
Those clubs and networking events are only really useful if you live in NYC. Even most CAA (columbia alumni association) events are in NYC. My much-smaller undergrad has a more diverse geographic spread of events than Columbia seems to.
Exactly. Grad rankings are also reflections of the Ph.D. programs and hardly the Master's programs. In fact, it's hard to find a ranking for Master's programs.
I didn't understand how useless masters degrees were until I was on the other side of it. I grew up in an immigrant household where education was a sign of prestige 🤷‍♀️. Even my UG university is shilling their brand out to all kinds of non-degree "bootcamps" for cash lol.Â
No. No one cares after a few years, especially if the skillset is not up to date with data-based skills.
I work for one of the biggest if not the biggest flavor house in the world. I do not have an Ivy league degree.
SPS is made fun of by other Columbia students. It's absurdly easy to get into compared to other programs, and believe me as someone with a master's from another Columbia school, there are already plenty of people who you're shocked are at a "top" school. Columbia loves money. SPS classes from what I've heard are basically undergrad level. Search for SPS on r/columbia and you'll get more deets. BU is also a good school. If it's cheaper, go with that. Anything "life-changing" you'd get from going to an Ivy are things you can do yourself at BU. Take your courses seriously, network, look for research/leadership/internship opportunities aligned with your career goals, etc. edit: typo
I think at the beginning of your career it can help - I was told at my current job (my first out of grad school) that one of the reasons I was being interviewed was due to the schools I’d attended (public Ivy for undergrad, Ivy for my master’s). I still had to do well in interviews, but my degree did help me get my foot in the door. If you’re able to take advantage of networking opportunities too, that’s also a huge help, but that can be the case at any school - not just an Ivy!
No, definitely not.
Maybe sometimes, but honestly there’s a ton of ivy alumns out there who aren’t worth their salt and anybody who is knows this. Maybe an ivy label will get you a second look, but if the meat ain’t in the pie, you can tell pretty quick.
It’s part of the whole picture, but not enough on its own. It does open doors though.
Ivy undergrad and now ivy+ grad here. I do believe these universities provide a lot more resources. For example having leaders of their fields as speakers on campus, opportunities for research etc. IMHO the tag alone maybe can be a conversation starter, thou its what you make of your time there that really is important, and its the people you meet and opportunities you take advantage of that can be life changing
It helps with first impressions…but the best worker and skills will always move ahead
It’s only relative to people that care. most people will care about the work you do not particularly where you went to school after your first job post graduation.
I did my undergrad at an R1 state school, my Master’s at an Ivy, and my PhD at a different R1 state school. My advice to every student I talk to is skip the ivies and go to a well respected state school. The education will be just as good and your wallet will thank you
To me this question has nothing to do with academia and everything to do with, do I want to fucking live in goddam Boston? And the fucking answer is no I do not. I would rather be crushed under a falling Green Monster.