Does it matter if one goes to a lesser college?

[gamepad]

The only half-decent college I can get into is UT, but I want to leave Austin.
I have to stay in Texas, because I have drill weekends once a month in San Antonio.

Will I screw myself if I decide to go to say, U of Houston?

I don't know anything about how employers see colleges, or what the big difference is in education between UT / UH.

Cliffs:
Is going to U of Houston instead of UT bad?

 

[LS20]

only for your first job

and only in certain fields where prestige matters more


if i had to give a general answer? no

 

[Farang]

Can't you transfer units if you want to attend a different college?

 

[halik]

Originally posted by: gamepad
The only half-decent college I can get into is UT, but I want to leave Austin.
I have to stay in Texas, because I have drill weekends once a month in San Antonio.

Will I screw myself if I decide to go to say, U of Houston?

I don't know anything about how employers see colleges, or what the big difference is in education between UT / UH.

Cliffs:
Is going to U of Houston instead of UT bad?

Depends what you wanna do; prestigious jobs want prestigious degrees. I'd go to UT

 

[KarmaPolice]

i mean if you want to get into the best grad school later or be a investment banker or something its going to matter. Even then if you work hard and stay active yo ucoudl still get into a good grad school at a lower school.

after the first job it wont really matter anyway.

 

[SlowSpyder]

My wife went to a good college around here, she also has her masters degree. I have my high school diploma. I make more then she does. I'm sure in some fields it matters more, but it didn't matter for us... I don't even have a degree. She is an inside sales manager, I do IT support.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

That's like going to UC Davis instead of UC Berkeley =]

They're worlds apart.

 

[Mellman]

my opinion, the only reason a college matters is for your VERY first job, and after that, the only meaning it has is if the person who is interviewing you has an opinion of that school, good or bad.

 

[Strk]

I'd say it depends on what you're studying. There are some degrees where it doesn't make that big of a difference, but say something like engineering, I'd want to make sure I get into the best school I can.

 

[gamepad]

So since I want to do engineering, I should stay in Austin?

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: LS20
only for your first job

and only in certain fields where prestige matters more


if i had to give a general answer? no

Quoted for Truth.

It's barely even recognized after your first job and nobody really cares.

-edit-
Engineering is NOT a prestigious field.

 

[erub]

Originally posted by: gamepad
So since I want to do engineering, I should stay in Austin?

you should go to Texas A&M or Rice. A&M's engineering program is great, my grades from there had UT and Georgia Tech begging me to go to either of them for grad school. Why don't you consider A&M?

 

[Leros]

Originally posted by: gamepad
So since I want to do engineering, I should stay in Austin?

Yes, UT has one of the best engineering programs in the country. You'd be stupid to pass up such a cheap college with such a strong engineering program.

<--- is at UT for the engineering

 

[Corporate Thug]

dude, just go to UT

 

[TanisHalfElven]

Originally posted by: gamepad
The only half-decent college I can get into is UT, but I want to leave Austin.
I have to stay in Texas, because I have drill weekends once a month in San Antonio.

Will I screw myself if I decide to go to say, U of Houston?

I don't know anything about how employers see colleges, or what the big difference is in education between UT / UH.

Cliffs:
Is going to U of Houston instead of UT bad?

UH is no match for UT (spoken as a true longhorn) if you must leave Austin A&M is ok...
if you plan to go to grad school it probabaly will not matter as much. but you'll miss out on a lot that a large school like UT has.

one example. i know its objective but bear with me
I visited UH in fall 2006 for addmision. (i joined UT in spring 07)
i met with cousellors, talked to students, walked around. one thing i noticed is that the building are muchh narrower. another thing is studetns were sitting outside studying. that impressed me then. when i came to UT i did not see anyone doing that. Wondering why i figured out that UT has so many facilities that studetns don't need to sit in the sun to study.

the above is a small kind of weak example but it makes the point. you miss out on more than pretige laving UT for UH.

 

[TanisHalfElven]

Originally posted by: gamepad
So since I want to do engineering, I should stay in Austin?

let see ut. every engr program ranks in top 11 (atleast, petroleum in #1 aero is #6)

UH unranked.

hmmmmmmmmmmmm...............................decision decisions.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: gamepad
The only half-decent college I can get into is UT, but I want to leave Austin.
I have to stay in Texas, because I have drill weekends once a month in San Antonio.

Will I screw myself if I decide to go to say, U of Houston?

I don't know anything about how employers see colleges, or what the big difference is in education between UT / UH.

Cliffs:
Is going to U of Houston instead of UT bad?

No, it doesn't make much difference unless you are in the top tier of your class. Getting your degree is much more important than what college you graduated from.

 

[her209]

It matters when you are comparing two candidates.

 

[MetalMat]

People with the same title as me went to way more expensive colleges, so in many circumstances no.

I work with some people from UT who graduated in engineering, and I graduated from U. Louisiana @ Lafayette in engineering.

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: halik

Depends what you wanna do; prestigious jobs want prestigious degrees. I'd go to UT

But most prestigious jobs don't pay much. You can go to a great college and be a rocket scientist from NASA, and you'll still make a lot less than a no-name middle manager in sales.

At just about every company I've worked at, sales people and sales managers make more than most other people, including the scientists in R&D with Phd's.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ

Originally posted by: halik

Depends what you wanna do; prestigious jobs want prestigious degrees. I'd go to UT

But most prestigious jobs don't pay much. You can go to a great college and be a rocket scientist from NASA, and you'll still make a lot less than a no-name middle manager in sales.

At just about every company I've worked at, sales people and sales managers make more than most other people, including the scientists in R&D with Phd's.

It depends what you want out of a career. Most PhD's and scientists are passionate about their work and enjoy learning new things in their chosen field. For many of them I presume it's not about the money.

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: 91TTZ

Originally posted by: halik

Depends what you wanna do; prestigious jobs want prestigious degrees. I'd go to UT

But most prestigious jobs don't pay much. You can go to a great college and be a rocket scientist from NASA, and you'll still make a lot less than a no-name middle manager in sales.

At just about every company I've worked at, sales people and sales managers make more than most other people, including the scientists in R&D with Phd's.

It depends what you want out of a career. Most PhD's and scientists are passionate about their work and enjoy learning new things in their chosen field. For many of them I presume it's not about the money.

That is very true.

 

[kranky]

College "rankings" have much more meaning to students (sadly) than they do to employers. If you had to attend a top-ranked school to get a decent job, wouldn't all the other schools quickly fold, since none of their students could get work?

Yes, some are top-notch, others are but no engineering school that I know of graduates students who are incompetent and can't do the work. I would much rather have a top student from a middle-ranked school than a middle-ranked student from a top school.