Actually it isn't even graduating at all that makes the difference.Kbg wrote: ↑Sat Mar 16, 2019 8:10 am + 1 on WiseOne’s comment. Seriously, USC???
While I did not, I had some good friends who went off to some very top flight grad schools in various disciplines and we were discussing their educational experiences at the 10 yr HS reunion. We had all gone to the local state land grant school who lets almost anyone in. I asked them if they felt disadvantaged or behind when competing with students from the top elite schools where most of their fellow grad students were from and to a person they said not at all. In fact they were surprised at how well they were prepared and equally didn’t quite understand what the big deal was with those schools was anymore.
Obviously my friends were pretty bright or they wouldn’t have got into these grad schools but there are a fair number of studies that indicate the school doesn’t matter when predicting post graduation success...those predictors are a function of the individual’s personal characteristics. So super smart, immense drive, great problem solving, creative thinking etc. etc. leads to success not the graduation location.
It's being smart enough to apply to a selective school... even if you don't get in.
"Applicants, who shared similar high SAT scores with Ivy League applicants could have been rejected from the elite schools that they applied to and yet they still enjoyed similar average salaries as the graduates from elite schools. In the study, the better predictor of earnings was the average SAT scores of the most selective school a teenager applied to and not the typical scores of the institution the student attended."
(https://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/ ... nings-myth)