Name Recognition and Other Questions

I agree with you Arby...

that the name of the school doesn't indicate much about a person's potential to fit into an organization or a team. But it can indicate something about a person's ability. Not always, of course, but if it NEVER indicated one's ability, then Harvard and Stanford grads wouldn't be making more than Mississippi State grads on a consistent basis and there would be no reason for organizations to publish average salaries for school grads.

For the record, I only think that the name of the school is important for getting interviews, opening doors, and networking. It is far less reliable for determining job skills. But opening doors is what the resume is all about and I find it hard to believe you wouldn't give a computer science major from MIT an interview just because you have tons of applicants with twice as much experience, all other things being equal. The interview is where you will determine whether he can handle the job, but getting in front of you is where the school name can POSSIBLY play a role. My point is, all things equal, don't pass up the chance to take advantage of the school's name. Btw, your situation wasn't what I was describing, because one school fit your situation better than another. I said if all else were equal, except price and school name.

Also, I have seen firsthand where University of Tennessee grads got the job over more qualified candidates because the hiring manager and several of the other high-ranking employees in the company were UT grads. Plus, the company was in East Tennessee. In those instances, the name of the school played the primary role, in my opinion. If your school puts out 10,000 graduates a year rather than 500, your chances of gaining a advantage like that are that much better. No guarantees, of course, but why remove the possibility of an advantage completely?

 

"I have always looked at the Norwich University MBA Program with a degree of interest (probably because it is just about the closest DL MBA program to be geographically, so it wouldn't looks as strange on my resume). Any comments on how you liked/are liking the program? And about the 6 credits of e-commerce, do you find that a lot?"

I only started the Norwich program this past June so I am in the process of completing two semesters of prerequisite work because my undergrad wasn’t in business. Based on this limited experience, I would recommend the program without hesitation. The administrative staff is very responsive and the faculty seems top notch. I also feel like I'm part of the Norwich community and not just some random DL student. Yes, I do worry about the name recognition from time to time but that isn't why I'm really doing this. Getting my MBA is more of a personal goal than anything else.
--
RB

 

These situations do occur in real life.....

This is the equivilant to knowing a friend that works at company A and applying to company A (networking) and being shown favoritism during the hiring process. This is especially true for high-paying jobs that do not require a degree (waiters at high-priced/high tip restaurants, tipping positions at 5 star hotels, airports, etc.). You usually fall into one of 2 categories:

1) You were in the right place at the right time (restaurant JUST opened up, or dumb luck)

2) You knew somebody that worked at the company.

If you really wanted to look at your example more directly, then you could say that hiring only students from the big south would be equivilant to only hiring [any race here] people. Not fair, but it still happens.

There always exist bias when hiring and I never denied this. The point that I was trying to drive home is that not all employers will hold the same bias, so just concentrate on being well-rounded. The student's focus should be on using the degree to get them where they want to be. Not all firms look solely at harvard grads. Do NOT lose sleep over it.

 

Your question about who outside of the region has heard of Coastal Carolina or Barber-Scotia (which recently lost their SACS accreditation, sadly) is the crux of my question. I'm not a "name snob", and I think that as long as the degree will train me to accomplish my goals then whether it came from school X or Y is irrelevant...

But I have not decided where I want to live, and I don't want to have to constantly defend my degree just because someone hasn't heard of the school. Now, as far as "state university" being in the name of the school, you misunderstood me. What I meant was that I would consider public universities that had the name of the state they were located in, in their names... like the Univ. of South Carolina or Georgia State Univ., as opposed to Francis Marion College and Coastal Carolina Univ., for example. But, of course, that will only work with public colleges...

 

I think that I'm probably more of a "name snob" than I thought I was when selecting the B&M I'm completing at now. The wife and I looked at more than a few schools and we eliminated some based entirely on their name recognition (or lack of name recognition).

Another question comes then -- are you better off with a school with a good sounding name but no recognition or with a school that has a good sounding name and common recognition as a "typical tier 4"?

What's the possibility of picking a school/program that is on the way up to strong recognition? Thereby gaining the future value of a reputation not yet aquired....

While I agree that the ability of a school to actually teach you something is important; and that the post-grad performance of the students is important; all things being equal -- a good sounding name on your diploma is a valuable addition.

 

with all things being equal, I think I'd rather go with a school with a good sounding name (legit, of course) that's flying incognito below radar than one with a lowered image/reputation.

I would think that a person from an unknown school would get more of the benefit of the doubt in hiring than someone from a school that's already perceived as having a lower quality of education. I'd rather be in the position of proving myself competent (as all new hires have to do) than proving that my school is competent based on the company's experience with prior employees.

 

Re: What's in a name?

Your reply was patronizing and I am offended.

 

Re: Re: What's in a name?

And the poster (ybfjax) ignored the obvious role name recognition has in degree acceptance.