[gabbygab]

How many WSJ journalists come from elite college? How many of them are sending their children to elite colleges? I bet most to both categories.

Elite colleges aren't worth it if you want to live an average life. If you want to be a 9-5 corporate desk jockey, then going to an elite college probably doesn't matter.

If you want to excel - a prominent businessman, politician, journalist, scientist, etc, then going to an elite college is most definitely an asset.

I find it strange how the elites are telling the masses elite colleges isn't worth it. I bet they don't tell their own children that. But that's understanable. Why would they want more competition to power for their own children.

[tombert]

I have to ask how much of this comes down to "reputation" more than quality of education. I'm a dropout who largely thinks college is overrated, and even I will be impressed by "MIT" or "Harvard" on a resume.

I have given a lot of interviews at this point, and while I personally cannot speak for everyone (nor does my word override a statistic), but I haven't noticed a huge difference in the quality of applicants between a normal state college, and a brand-name college. Granted, I interview for the "9-5 corporate desk-jockey" jobs, so maybe I'm not getting the next Von Neumann applying.

That said, I have worked for New York University (which I believe is considered a pretty-good school, and is certainly expensive), and I got to see the whole cross section of professors from basically every brand of university. My conclusion? Largely inconclusive: it largely made no difference where the people went to school (though admittedly the dropouts (including me) were typically not as bright).