What a prestigious school will get you ...

[Yondorf]

What will a degree from a prestigious school get you and what it won't?

Reading many of your threads, I get the feeling that almost everyone puts lots of stock in getting the right school lables on their CVs in France.

One thing I can assure you of is that everyone's less mesmerized by this issue in the US (and even less again in Germany). Maybe it's because:
In the US:
- there's such a hugh selection of excellent universities
- great jobs are spread out over many cities
- you can earn more with a degree from Ohio State in business than from Harvard in French literature (just a nasty example )
In Germany:
- there's no elite university hierarchy worth mentioning

Have I been reading you wrong or is this really different in France, i.e. no Parisienne = no life ?

[Thomas]

ohio state is one of the best university in US (MBA ranked 30th by The Economist), irrelevant example

[frenchkid]

That's exactly the point I was arguing in the other thread. French people (and not only students) tend to put way to much faith in their College Diploma. Which I guess isn't that bad if they stay and work in France since everybody seems to think that way anyway ( education is the first thing on a French CV). But from what I've seen they definitely don't get hung up as much on diplomas in the US ( and england, but I don't know England that well....).

I think it has to do with the more pragmatic approach that most Americans have to business, if you can get the job done, and previous experiences show that clearly, then you're good to hire, no matter where you come from or the diploma you have. In France,in my opinion, there's still a form of cast system where certain positions require you to have done certain schools.

[Yondorf]

ohio state is one of the best university in US (MBA ranked 30th by The Economist), irrelevant example

Now I understand how all of those absurd ranking discussions get started. When I read you comment, I was instantly tempted to check other rankings of Ohio State to defend my example

At the same time, you support my other point that rankings and prestigious lables are less critical in the US since there are sooooooo many good schools.

And just for the jucks, check out: http://rankings.ft.com/rankings/mba/rankings.html?queryParam=Ohio+State&selectorField1=&selectorOption1=&selectorField2=&selectorOption2=&selectorField3=&selectorOption3=&lastSort=&sortBy=&x=25&y=4 Rankings can be a nasty bag of worms.