Does a School Name Count

Hey everyone I have an honest question. Does it really matter where a person graduates from as long as the school is accredited for employment? Obviously a graduate from an an ivy league university will have an upper hand. However, it is my belief a person can get an excellent education from a small inexpensive private liberal arts college or local state u. Am I wrong? It is my belief for a potential job, it is the applicant that makes the grade not the degree. All a degree really does is show a potential employer that a potential applicant has recieved training in a certain discipline and the degree helps get the interview. Am I wrong here too? The reason I ask this because I graduated from Touro University International and my family snickers at me as I completed my degrees online saying "Touro is nothing but a correspondence school which hands out their degrees to everyone". I am also told by them, "I will never get a job as I attended a school which is not reputable!" I know such comments are silly. However, I have been trying to find work as a health educator after graduation from TUI and havent been able to obtain employment. I will admit I have no professional work experience (which I feel is my problem not where my degree came from. Maybe I am wrong there too.) I feel I recieved an good education at Touro. Is it common for graduates not to be employed a few months after graduation? If so, for how long. I graduated in June 2005 and have yet to find a professional position. Has anyone here been in the same boat as a young person? Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

Research suggests that prospective students do little research on the library facilities, faculty members or many other attributes of a higher education provider. Name, reputation and (IMHO) university rankings are the major indicators.

Cheers,

George

 

While you're waiting for other responses you might want to read this thread
http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23000
Jack

 

If you're talking about reputations, of course they matter.

If you're talking about strange names vs. traditionally sounding names, I believe so. While the subject wasn't one of my research questions in my dissertation, the results strongly indicated it.

If no one's heard of your school, it helps if it has a traditionally sounding name.

That said, it would be WAY down my list of considerations, with tuition, instructional methodology, entrance requirements, residencies, and many other issues preponderating.

 

Last week I was flying in first class next to a gentleman who was apparently an executive for a fairly well known entertainment company.

I peeked a bit at the packet he was reviewing during the flight; it was apparently a detailed business analysis regarding the potential purchase of a chain of stores from a large, very well-known entity. The packet included financial reports, third-party analyst reports on this portion of the entertainment sector, and background information on the prospective executive team.

With respect to the information on the prospective executives, the following information was included: a paragraph-length CV, credit scores from all three agencies, and one or two bullets pertaining to education.

All of the prospective management team held a baccalaureate, but none was from a particularly prestigious university. Only one or two held an MBA, and those were from recognizable but not particularly impressive schools.

I concluded that with respect to qualifications, the most important things to this particular executive were (in order):

-work history
-ability to handle one's own finances
-education

 

I'm going to suggest that school name is more important than many would like to admit. It's probably as equally important as any other consideration.

I say this simply because this topic is brought up either directly or indirectly in this forum every single week.

If it wasn't a significant concern or at least a major consideration, it wouldn't be mentioned so often.

We can argue that it's not important to potential employers or future grad schools but, if the prospective students ask the question repeatedly then doesn't it follow (at least to some degree) that HR and grad admissions people have the same thoughts?

Now, there are a few schools that are universally known. The likes of Harvard, Oxford, Yale, Princeton, etc...

There are some that people think they know. The likes of University of XYZ or XYZ University.

Then there are 100s of colleges (good and bad) that nobody has ever heard of outside the local market. Places like Barber Scotia College, Catawba College, Anderson University, Winthrop University... (just a few out of my area that we know but most don't)

It's not 1981 anymore. Most HR and grad admissions people know COSC and TESC and Excelsior and UoP.

My suggestion is that if name recognition is of greatest import; you won't be happy with a degree from less than the highest tier, well known universities. Even then, those Yale people think Harvard sucks and those USMA people think USNA sucks and.... You'll never win at that game.

I kinda think that Belford University and Almeda University have better sounding names than Excelsior College or Wingate University. I'd not want a degree from one of those better sounding names though.

just a few thoughts...

 

Robert_555,

My bet is that lack of experience is more important than the name of your school. Often students from first tier schools have difficulty finding work immediately after graduation, with some exceptions like ROTC, Criminal Justice, teacher education and professional professional programs (excepting of course the lucky children of privilidge who have a position awaiting them).

I am a staff employee of a top 20 school and see each year, in just my department, a new batch of recent graduates with no job. Some of our positions annually are filled by our former student workers who have no where to go after graduation, in-spite of having great academic credentials. Sometimes it takes several years before they find a position in their field. They have a great degree from a great school, but no experience and no connections, so it takes them time to get hired. It sounds like you are in a similar position. So while it's not great that you haven't found the right job, you might take some comfort that you're situation is not rare, and you can still be proud of your degree.

 

I have heard of all of them but I lived in Charlotte, NC for a year

 

Yes, of course it matters. Sometimes a lot -- sometimes not. Factors are weighted differently in different contexts.

 

name recognition

name recognition counts when you have to back up something as a scholar ...if they need an opinion from a "so-called expert" on a given field , the name may be important ....

but when it comes to getting hired in a job ...no ....it is not important .....

 

Re: name recognition

Depends on the job. Name recognition may be important for certain high-paying jobs. For example, people going into investment banking will find it much easier to land a job with a degree from Warton than those with a degree from Excelsior University.