How does your State's Flagship University Compare to Top Private Universities for Job

[terrifreeman]

My friend, a UGA alum, was saying that his degree from Georgia goes further in Atlanta than any Ivy League degree due to the large alumni network. My Texan friend said something similar about his experiences job hunting in Texas with his UT degree. If you were job hunting in your city, would you rather be a graduate from an elite private university or your state's flagship university?

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by terrifreeman

If you were job hunting in your city, would you rather be a graduate from an elite private university or your state's flagship university?

It's probably field dependant and overall a wash in chicago's case.

Yes, the university of Illinois Urbana Champaign is a very good public university with a large alumni network in Chicago, but this city is also home to elite private schools like the university of Chicago and northwestern each with their own large alumni networks as well. And Notre Dame is nearby and also has a large alumni network in the windy city too.

In reality, in terms of local networking, you'll likely do very well in Chicago with a degree from any four of those schools.

And because Chicago is such a giant magnet for big 10 grads across the Midwest, you'll find good-sized alumni networks to plug into here for those schools as well, particularly Michigan, Purdue, and Wisconsin.

[Crawford]

Any major U.S. metro will have alumni networks from well-known national universities.

So yeah, if you're in, say Atlanta, a Georgia or Georgia Tech degree is probably very valuable, but Atlanta will have alumni networks from universities from coast to coast.

In smaller cities, perhaps no. But even then, I don't doubt a grad from an elite institution will find some alums. There are Yale grads in Jackson, MS or wherever.

[PhilliesPhan]

I am an alumnus of Temple University (not PA's flagship university in the usual sense, but arguably one of three, along with Penn State and Pitt). I graduated with my BBA in Finance back in 2018. Though Penn, by far the best college in PA, sits just across the river, I am very much happy with my decision to graduate from the Fox School of Business. While Penn has an advantage when it comes to prestige, Temple has the clear size advantage: it graduates the most professionals in the Philadelphia area. There are fellow Owls in every level of business and finance here in Philadelphia, and many of them are eager to hire fellow Owls.

Though I'm not in fintech or financial engineering, I make a great salary with some of the best benefits out there--including a pension--at just 26. I owe much of that to the education and experiences I received as a Fox student.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by terrifreeman

My friend, a UGA alum, was saying that his degree from Georgia goes further in Atlanta than any Ivy League degree due to the large alumni network. My Texan friend said something similar about his experiences job hunting in Texas with his UT degree. If you were job hunting in your city, would you rather be a graduate from an elite private university or your state's flagship university?

I guess this is a sign that I'm kinda old, but I could drop my educational history from my resume now and it probably wouldn't even be noticed. My work history is far more important now.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I guess this is a sign that I'm kinda old, but I could drop my educational history from my resume now and it probably wouldn't even be noticed. My work history is far more important now.

This. Academic pedigree matters most when you're out of college with little work experience. Otherwise employers don't care where you went, just that you went if job requires it.

[Steely Dan]

Well, considering that the question was framed within the context of alumni networks, I assumed the OP wasn't talking about mid-career people, but kids fresh out of college looking for their first job who might use an alumni network connection to open a door for them.

[DCReid]

Originally Posted by terrifreeman

My friend, a UGA alum, was saying that his degree from Georgia goes further in Atlanta than any Ivy League degree due to the large alumni network. My Texan friend said something similar about his experiences job hunting in Texas with his UT degree. If you were job hunting in your city, would you rather be a graduate from an elite private university or your state's flagship university?

My guess is that certain regions like the south and interior states (other than the Northeast and Coastal west) may look as favorably and perhaps more favorably on their local flagship state schools and privates than Ivys. Ivys and near Ivys are afterall, mostly based on the East coast ('Yankee' schools if they still use that term) and California ('left coast') and have a fairly progressive reputation, although there are plenty of conservative Ivy alumns. There are plenty of elite private and public schools besides the Ivys.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by DCReid

Ivys and near Ivys are afterall, mostly based on the East coast ('Yankee' schools if they still use that term) and California ('left coast') .

i don't think i necessarily agree with the bolded.

while the lion's share of the nation's most prestigious universities are indeed clustered in and around bos-wash, due in large part to the legacy of the ivy league, the "left coast" doesn't really stand out more than other regions.


USNWR top 25 national universities by region: (Ivies in red)

east coast:
1. princeton
2. columbia
2. harvard
2. MIT
5. yale
8. Upenn
9. johns hopkins
13. dartmouth
14. brown
17. cornell
23. georgetown
25. U. virginia


rust belt:
6. U. chicago
9. northwestern
14. wash U
19. notre dame
23. U. michigan
25. carnegie mellon


west coast:
6. stanford
9. cal tech
20. UCLA
22. berkley


the south:
9. duke
14. vanderbilt
17. rice
21. emory


not that USNWR's rankings are definitive or anything like that, but they generally align somewhat well with the prestige/academic reputations for the nation's top universities.

quibble with the individual school rankings all you want, but i think you'd be hard-pressed to find many non-biased observers who would would say the list above is way off the mark, in general, for the top universities in the nation based on overall reputation.

[pj3000]

Yeah, I think there is tendency to believe that the west has more of the top prestigious universities than elsewhere... and I think it's because they are all in California.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

USNWR top 25 national universities by region: (Ivies in red)

east coast:
1. princeton
2. columbia
2. harvard
2. MIT
5. yale
8. Upenn
9. johns hopkins
13. dartmouth
14. brown
17. cornell
23. georgetown
25. U. virginia


rust belt:
6. U. chicago
9. northwestern
14. wash U
19. notre dame
23. U. michigan
25. carnegie mellon


west coast:
6. stanford
9. cal tech
20. UCLA
22. berkley


the south:
9. duke
14. vanderbilt
17. rice
21. emory

These groupings are malleable though... UVA should likely be in "the south".

"east coast" should probably be "northeast", and include Carnegie Mellon.

And "rust belt" should probably be "midwest".

[Steely Dan]

^ yeah virginia was a hair split. in another era, it's 100% south, and arguably still is, but the line is much fuzzier these days with it being so close to bos-wash influence.

i stuck carnegie mellon in with the rust belt because it really has more in common with 2nd generation universities built by the wealthy industrialists of the 19th century, like U. chicago, than it does with the old colonial universities of the ivy league.

additionally, i've never heard anyone describe pittsburgh as "east coast" and that was the starting point for the conversation: east/west coasts vs. "the interior".

[iheartthed]

I think Charlottesville is securely in the south, and I'd consider UVa a southern school. The South has a couple of other high-ranking schools that probably fall just outside of the cutoff (UNC, UGa, Ga Tech), while I can't think of any glaring omissions on the west coast.

[Steely Dan]

^ well, like I said, Virginia could go either way. It was a judgement call on my part, but I'm totally fine if others are more comfortable putting it in "the south". That's certainly where it's squarely been for most of its history.

Cornell is another one that isn't exactly "east coast", but given its ivy league pedigree, I stuck it there anyway.

[JManc]

I worked with a woman from Charlottesville and man did she have a twang. Definitely southern.

Amway here in Texas, if you went to UT-Austin or Texas A&M (or Rice) you have as good of a chance of landing a job out of school as you would a more prestigious private university. Obviously law and finance still want the Harvard/ Yale/ etc on the resume but much of the state's most successful are UT/ A&M grads.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

^ yeah virginia was a hair split. in another era, it's 100% south, and arguably still is, but the line is much fuzzier these days with it being so close to bos-wash influence.

i stuck carnegie mellon in with the rust belt because it really has more in common with 2nd generation universities built by the wealthy industrialists of the 19th century, like U. chicago, than it does with the old colonial universities of the ivy league.

additionally, i've never heard anyone describe pittsburgh as "east coast" and that was the starting point for the conversation: east/west coasts vs. "the interior".

Agreed that Virginia is border-y. I would say that it's still a "southern" school primarily... at least more so than it is an "east coast" school. Otherwise, Duke could fall into the east coast category as well (if anything Duke is probably more "east coast", i.e., Bos-Washy, Ivy-like than UVA is.)

Carnegie Mellon... certainly a "newer" school, though it fits in well with the Johns Hopkins and MITs... and the grads and affiliations are definitely pulled in the bos-wash direction (primarily towards the NYC-wash section). No, Pittsburgh is not east coast (only people I hear referring to it as that are from out west or places far enough away that "East Coast" is just a generality. I've heard it, and I'm always like "no, not really")

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I think Charlottesville is securely in the south, and I'd consider UVa a southern school. The South has a couple of other high-ranking schools that probably fall just outside of the cutoff (UNC, UGa, Ga Tech), while I can't think of any glaring omissions on the west coast.

I would say Wake Forest, Miami, Tulane, and University of Florida are considered more prestigious universities than University of Georgia.

[pj3000]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

Cornell is another one that isn't exactly "east coast", but given its ivy league pedigree, I stuck it there anyway.

Yeah, I agree. Not technically East Coast, but a lot of its programs are in NYC. And obvs fits in with the Ivies.

[SFBruin]

No idea, but it seems that many people in middle - upper class professions in Seattle went to UW.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by pj3000

Agreed that Virginia is border-y. I would say that it's still a "southern" school primarily... at least more so than it is an "east coast" school. Otherwise, Duke could fall into the east coast category as well (if anything Duke is probably more "east coast", i.e., Bos-Washy, Ivy-like than UVA is.)

Carnegie Mellon... certainly a "newer" school, though it fits in well with the Johns Hopkins and MITs... and the grads and affiliations are definitely pulled in the bos-wash direction (primarily towards the NYC-wash section). No, Pittsburgh is not east coast (only people I hear referring to it as that are from out west or places far enough away that "East Coast" is just a generality. I've heard it, and I'm always like "no, not really")

I would say Wake Forest, Miami, Tulane, and University of Florida are considered more prestigious universities than University of Georgia.

Well, let's see.

As a graduate of Johns Hopkins (BA) and Duke (MD) I can tell you that Duke was and remains very much "southern" and arguments to the contrary tend to come from people who see the South as some backwater not entitled to claim a top school because such a place can't have such schools. But when I was going there, Durham was "dry" (meaning there were no bars serving other than beer and wine), KKK recruitment billboards still existed on some rural roads and statues commemorating the Confederate dead dominated the town squares of most towns around the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area.

Like Hopkins, however, it does have a national student body. At Hopkins I had roommates from New York City, East Tennessee (Kingsport), and Chicago. At Duke I had them from Southern VA (Danville), Miami, San Marino CA, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Orlando.

And most of these people gravitated back where they grew up after graduation. I am probably the most striking exception, having grown up in the Maryland suburbs of DC and ending up first in FL and then California (the kid from NYC did wind up practicing in Minneapolis).

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by JManc

I worked with a woman from Charlottesville and man did she have a twang. Definitely southern.

Amway here in Texas, if you went to UT-Austin or Texas A&M (or Rice) you have as good of a chance of landing a job out of school as you would a more prestigious private university. Obviously law and finance still want the Harvard/ Yale/ etc on the resume but much of the state's most successful are UT/ A&M grads.

Almost everywhere, within a state grads of that state's premier public university are as hirable as people with degrees from selective private schools, especially those in another section of the country.

But the problem for public university grads comes if they go to another region. For example, I consider the U. of Virgina a top school but in California it isn't seen as such by most locals for whom it's top UC schools (Berkeley, UCLA), Cal Tech or Stanford or perhaps one of the small non-"university" colleges like those of the Claremont grouping.

I did my post-graduate training at U. of Florida which means something in Florida but not so much elsewhere (I also did some training at UCSF which helps in CA).