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by bjourne
1552 days ago
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We non-Americans are continually stunned at how you Americans fetishize brand name universities. You don't become a better engineer by going to MIT instead of University of Kuala Lumpur. Everyone knows it's bs but everyone believes everyone else believes in this bs so everyone has to spend $$$ to go to a brand name university. A self-perpetuating cycle of bs. |
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I'm sure some people do this (American and non-American).
But whether you like it or not, attending a brand name university has advantages. I went to a mediocre state school for undergrad and a "brand name" university for PhD. 2 + 2 = 4 in both locations. But if you compare their respective alumni networks, they are LIGHT YEARS apart.
On the "fancy" alumni network, I routinely see posts like, "I'm trying to get an interview with Jeff Bezos/Bill Gates/<famous person>. Anyone have any contacts?" And they will get contacts! Or... "My Greenwich hedge fund is looking for a <blahblahblah>..."
On my undergrad network, it's middle-managers as far as the eye can see, each trying to sell "volume discounts" to the other.
Is that 'fair'? I have no idea.
Is it self-perpetuating? Absolutely.
But the "reverence" that people hold for name schools is because those schools wield considerable power.