[ims]

There are hundreds if not thousands of schools where a well rounded student can get a great education. Some parents and high schoolers fret about attending the top ten or so name brand universities far in excess of any plausible difference in educational or life outcomes.

[NotSammyHagar]

Yeah, I was about to say that too. I went to a no-name state school in the south. Now the young guys from cmu and other top schools work for me, I'm an engineering director. Certainly cmu is training top grads, but ... so are most state schools too. Certainly I was lucky and worked hard, but other than a star by your name if you went to a posh school, once you have a few years of experience it's not that valuable to be from cmu. What you do with yourself is far more important.

[rb808]

Maybe that works in Software Engineering because of the current boom there is a huge shortage. Law, Finance, Medicine is not like this. Nor will SREs in the next downturn.