Does the name of your university matter?

[Special K]

Originally posted by: CanOWorms

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: CanOWorms
For engineering, where you get your degree doesn't matter that much. Most people don't even know what the rankings are like and what school is good beyond MIT and Harvard.

Harvard isn't even ranked in the top 20 for engineering.

I guess you just proved your own point

However, I will say that your statement is wrong in the sense that I know several well-known EE companies that only recruit from the top 10 or so schools.

Actually, I didn't mean to mention Harvard for its engineering ranking, just its general name factor. However, it used to be a top 20 engineering school and it is still very well regarded for engineering.

Well, I live & work in Silicon Valley where most well-known EE companies have offices. They recruit from all over the place, even local schools like San Jose State. Chances are that if you give me a name from your list of well-known EE companies, they hire at places outside of the top 10 (top 10 what? top 10 engineering schools? top 10 overall?).

Obviously some schools are farmed for talent though. I myself went to a top-ranked school, but I feel like it didn't help too much. It was well-regarded by my interviewers, but I don't think that it gave a monumental boost. The individual matters much more than the school.

Maybe I shouldn't have tried to quantify my statement that much. My undergrad school's engineering program was ranked 40th or so overall, but my grad school's program was 6th or so. I saw a ton of companies at my grad school that never visited my undergrad school once. These companies gave seminars and accepted resumes year-round, not just at the career fairs.

I realize there are a lot of schools between 6th and 40th, and I don't claim to know the exact "cutoffs" for engineering companies. I just know a lot of the highly-regarded ones made regular appearances at my grad school, but never came to my undergrad school. I also see the schools my own employer does its recruiting from, and would say they fall in the 1-15 range.

Again, I probably shouldn't have tried to quantify it so much, but I did notice a large difference between the 2 schools I attended.

 

[CanOWorms]

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: CanOWorms

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: CanOWorms
For engineering, where you get your degree doesn't matter that much. Most people don't even know what the rankings are like and what school is good beyond MIT and Harvard.

Harvard isn't even ranked in the top 20 for engineering.

I guess you just proved your own point

However, I will say that your statement is wrong in the sense that I know several well-known EE companies that only recruit from the top 10 or so schools.

Actually, I didn't mean to mention Harvard for its engineering ranking, just its general name factor. However, it used to be a top 20 engineering school and it is still very well regarded for engineering.

Well, I live & work in Silicon Valley where most well-known EE companies have offices. They recruit from all over the place, even local schools like San Jose State. Chances are that if you give me a name from your list of well-known EE companies, they hire at places outside of the top 10 (top 10 what? top 10 engineering schools? top 10 overall?).

Obviously some schools are farmed for talent though. I myself went to a top-ranked school, but I feel like it didn't help too much. It was well-regarded by my interviewers, but I don't think that it gave a monumental boost. The individual matters much more than the school.

Maybe I shouldn't have tried to quantify my statement that much. My undergrad school's engineering program was ranked 40th or so overall, but my grad school's program was 6th or so. I saw a ton of companies at my grad school that never visited my undergrad school once. These companies gave seminars and accepted resumes year-round, not just at the career fairs.

I realize there are a lot of schools between 6th and 40th, and I don't claim to know the exact "cutoffs" for engineering companies. I just know a lot of the highly-regarded ones made regular appearances at my grad school, but never came to my undergrad school. I also see the schools my own employer does its recruiting from, and would say they fall in the 1-15 range.

Again, I probably shouldn't have tried to quantify it so much, but I did notice a large difference between the 2 schools I attended.

I think that some of what you're seeing may be related to the school size, location, and program specializations in addition to reputation.

I wouldn't be surprised if local schools like SJSU, SCU, UC-Davis, UC-Santa Cruz, etc. have many more companies coming by than better ranked schools. I'm not saying that they would get more attention than Stanford or Berkeley.

 

[imthebadguy]

i work at a bulge bracket investment bank and i have to say....yes it really does matter

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: Hyperlite
I would worry less about the school and more about the respective program. Find out how the program is viewed from the respective field.

yep. certain schools excel in certain fields. There are plenty of schools out there that are better than any of the Ivies in particular fields.

also....for general education, no not really. The quality of your education largely depends on the quality of you as a student. College is a push, it should stimulate you curiosity and encourage you to advance yourself in whatever interest you.

Sadly, there is a lot in the name. particularly b/c the person hiring you will be more likely to take you in if you went to the same school, all things considered. ridiculous, but true.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: BrownTown
Yes, of course it matters and its not like people are hiring you for a college "name", a college like MIT is just plain better then some random state school. And the type of people that go to MIT are (on average) better emloyees than a random school. Now if you have some good internships or skills and the like then you can easily make up for going to a worse school, but I would have to say its probably alot easier if you have "MIT" on your resume. MY brother goes to MIT and all his freinds keep graduating with $75,000 a year jobs right out of college and well thats just not the sort of numbers you should expect going to a school with a considerably worse reputation.

plenty of people graduated from my University with 75-200k salaries. Tuition? about 2k per year.

Hell, one of them founded this website whose forums you like to frequent. He does pretty well.

Your brother went to MIT?

well, my brother is still smarter than you brother Are you planning to go to college about 10 years from now? good for you.

 

[zinfamous]

Originally posted by: BrownTown

Originally posted by: dr150
An engineer from a no name state school will make far more than a liberal arts major from an "Ivy" level school.

is my sarcasm meter broken or what? You can't be serious?

no. He actually knows what he's talking about.

Do you know what the ave. salary of a liberal arts major is?

 

[IAteYourMother]

Originally posted by: CanOWorms

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: CanOWorms
For engineering, where you get your degree doesn't matter that much. Most people don't even know what the rankings are like and what school is good beyond MIT and Harvard.

Harvard isn't even ranked in the top 20 for engineering.

I guess you just proved your own point

However, I will say that your statement is wrong in the sense that I know several well-known EE companies that only recruit from the top 10 or so schools.

Actually, I didn't mean to mention Harvard for its engineering ranking, just its general name factor. However, it used to be a top 20 engineering school and it is still very well regarded for engineering. Personally, I would be more impressed from an MS/PhD from Harvard than Texas A&M or some other school like that, but that's just my opinion. Rankings aren't everything.

I live & work in Silicon Valley where most well-known EE companies have offices. They recruit from all over the place, even local schools like San Jose State. Chances are that if you give me a name from your list of well-known EE companies, they hire at places outside of the top 10 (top 10 what? top 10 engineering schools? top 10 overall?).

Obviously some schools are farmed for talent though. I myself went to a top-ranked school, but I feel like it didn't help too much. It was well-regarded by my interviewers, but I don't think that it gave a monumental boost. The individual matters much more than the school.

That's just engineering though. There are many other professions where it is a huge thing.

really? harvard engineering is a... how do i say it... a joke?

 

[nageov3t]

for your first job, definitely, especially if you're talking about an ivy league.

once you've got an established, grown-up resume... not so much, unless you're using alumni connections.

 

[KKR]

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: BrownTown

Originally posted by: dr150
An engineer from a no name state school will make far more than a liberal arts major from an "Ivy" level school.

is my sarcasm meter broken or what? You can't be serious?

no. He actually knows what he's talking about.

Do you know what the ave. salary of a liberal arts major is?

Average salary of Harvard grad in 2007 was $59,000 before bonuses. This includes graduates going into extremely low paying professions in Teach for America, non-profit, free-lance, etc. Harvard does not have a dedicated engineering program.

 

[BrownTown]

Originally posted by: KKR

Originally posted by: zinfamous

Originally posted by: BrownTown

Originally posted by: dr150
An engineer from a no name state school will make far more than a liberal arts major from an "Ivy" level school.

is my sarcasm meter broken or what? You can't be serious?

no. He actually knows what he's talking about.

Do you know what the ave. salary of a liberal arts major is?

Average salary of Harvard grad in 2007 was $59,000 before bonuses. This includes graduates going into extremely low paying professions in Teach for America, non-profit, free-lance, etc. Harvard does not have a dedicated engineering program.

And alot of them are goign to be going up REAL quick after they get law degrees or start making it in buisness. Maybe if you said people with liberal arts degrees and never got another you might be sorta right (though not "far" more), but I've got to believe that your liberal arts people are going on to bigger and brighter (buisness school, medical school, law school) and after that alot of them are going to make more money then you could ever hope to make doing engineering. Also, please don't confuse starting salary and overall earnings, engineering jobs really look great at starting salaraies but its hard to ever become wealthy as an engineer, basically it would require getting bumped a few spots into management and then would you really still be an engineer or a buisnesman? Just another of note, I attend Vanderbilt, the MEDIAN salary of the parents of kids who attend here is $250,000, and at Harvard I would have to say its alot more, if you assume that kids will do relatively equal to their parents in the long run then that sort of shows you where people who attend a place like Harvard will end up. Engineering salaries are nice when you are comparing them to crappy jobs not when everyone you know will become a doctor, lawyer, or sucessfull buisnessman.

 

[Boo025]

Originally posted by: narreth
I'm sorry I didn't specify program/etc. I'm interested in compsci/comp engineering/chemical engineering/material engineering. I'm still in HS as well. I'm looking at colleges now. Do any of you guys know anything about University of Waterloo.

Waterloo is a well known Canadian engineering/math school, but just as other already mentioned it's usually the program+name that matters and doesn't mean much after you gain some experience.

Btw, one thing about Waterloo is its co-op program where you study-work-study-work-etc for 4 months each term.

edit: you don't get any summer break with co-op program, minus the two week winter break and spring break.

 

[Drako]

Originally posted by: dr150
Drako,
Maybe you're the azzhat who has an inferiority complex.

Nah, like I said my experience is purely anecdotal. I've been an Engineering manager for 20+ years now, and that has been my experience. When I look to hire someone, I'm primarily looking for team players with problem solving ability.

Originally posted by: dr150
I'm a grad from one of those N. Cali schools and I have good friends from the others you mentioned--all hard working.

I'm sure there are some out there .