[cocktailpeanuts]

If you get into Tokyo University in Japan, as long as you don't flunk out and get kicked out before graduating, you're pretty much set for life, because unlike the U.S. or some European countries where there are multiple top grade schools, each famous for certain major, Tokyo University is the ABSOLUTE top in Japan (as in there is ONLY one absolute #1 school), and literally everyone sees you differently if you say you went to Tokyo University.

This is on a completely different level than say if you told your American neighbor you went to MIT. Basically, in the US if you're an engineer, you could go to Caltech, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, UIUC, etc. and all of them are considered top, so the "genius" factor is a bit spread out therefore the scarcity is not as high (relative to how Japanese people see Tokyo University) Tokyo University is absolute #1. Period. There are some exceptions but I think that's the biggest difference.

[chrischen]

What about if you said you went to MIT, while in Japan.

[cocktailpeanuts]

It depends who you ask, but generally when we're talking about uber-famous colleges like MIT or Harvard, I think the brand would generally work in Japan too.

But not all Japanese are aware of MIT or Harvard, and not all of them are aware of how concretely hard it is to get into those. All they know is through what they heard from others, and based on how the media portrays those colleges.

For most ordinary Japanese people, if you say you went to Caltech or UIUC, etc. they will have no idea what the status is (the only credibility you will enjoy is from other academics), because there has not been a TV show or movie about UIUC and Caltech students.

Compare that to Tokyo University, 100% of Japanese people know exactly how hard it is to get in, because they all have gone through high school and they are completely aware of how many of their peers went to Tokyo University.

I'm sure in the U.S., regardless of where you live--midwest, alaska, or wherever--you probably have seen at least a few friends who went to any of the above colleges, because there are multiple of them. However in Japan, many high schools never see any of their graduates enter Tokyo University at all, which means for some people a "Tokyo University student" will almost feel like a mythical unicorn.

This is not unique to Japan and I am aware of at least a couple of other rich countries where the social structure works this way. U.S. is a special case because it's such a large country and the entire nation is built on the premise of diversity, but in many countries around the world there is a very clear and absolute pyramid structure in university "rankings".

[TwelveNights]

Good question, I feel like there's a lot of prestige attached to that, too. Anecdotally, I've seen groups of "school tourists" from Japan come to my decently large local university, and people were surprised when they learned that I went to that school.

The big difference is that the status of your school matters A LOT more in Japan than it does in North America. Overseas schools that are large enough for people to recognize in Japan will provide status.