Check out http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyl...ndex_lifestyle and the links at the bottom for a more readable format. For some reason, they didn't have my alma mater in the public schools list... it's definitely a public school, don't know what's up with that.

What do you know? My Alma Mater made the list.

They've got a whole section just for engineering schools (see the 2nd link), GaTech is on that list.

This entire discussion overlooks one key factor: look at the types of students that most of these schools admit. For all the ivies, MIT's, and stanfords, the students going to those schools are HIGHLY qualified. They are intelligent, good test takers, have excellent time management skills and are highly motivated. In other words...they're going to be successful no matter where they went. It is NOT due to the schools influence.

Well, I'm gratified to see that my school made the public school list. What, it didn't make the party school list? This is a travesty! :p

A few of these schools are a mystery to me. SUNY-Albany? Who knew? And Cal-Davis, isn't that an agricultural school? What, are half their graduates going out and starting their own vineyards?

Some schools, like Syracuse, Boston College, and Georgetown, are traditional refuges of the rich and upper middle class. It's not only what you know, but who you know. No surprises there.

The University of Vermont is a traditional favorite of well-to-do New Englanders who want a bohemian-type college experience. They go there, or the uber-pricy Bennington, or Brown or Hampshire, or perhaps one of the Maine colleges. But UVM is well known in that regard.

Pace -- gahh.

An Ivy Leage diploma still matters. A friend of mine (Stanford MBA) reported to me that he was locked out of certain, exclusive Wall Street jobs becasue he didn't have an Ivy League undergraduate degree. But you know what? He got a great job anyway, and he eventually made his fortune anyway. :p

MIT -- my brother is an MIT engineering grad, as are his friends -- they've all done quite well. Most of them eventually moved into management, or started their own companies.

It's a shame that the smaller schools were left off of the list. I'd love to see how Amherst College grads would rank. I knew a number of kids who rejected Ivy League schools in favor of Amherst.

Amherst is on the Liberal Arts school list, and relatively high, Cal Davis was founded as a Land Grant school, which means it was started for agriculture, military and home ec. Ohio State, Cornell and Michigan State are as well, but that doesn't mean that they are only an ag school.


MIT -- my dad went there as well -- and even though it is not Ivy League, I throw it in for good measure.

To clarify though, UC Davis is now a comprehensive university. I mean all the UC schools are awesome. Frankly a lot of the UC-XYZ schools are better than the flagship schools of some states.

I think another thing is just what the student body is like. EG the liberal arts list:

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyl...640_page_4.htm

W&L (my alma mater) is ranked a higher than schools that are usually ranked as better than it by US News, such as Davidson, Wellesley, Williams, Wesleyan, etc. I'm fairly sure part of this is because W&L people are conservative and tend to value money extremely highly. Maybe people from Wellesley, for example, are more interested in non-profit work.

W&L has the Williams School which is great for students wanting to go into I-banking. And since COL isn't taken into acct and many W&L alums stay in the South rather than moving to the expensive Northeast (DC excepted), they are definitely getting a lot of return on their COA investment.

My impressions of UC Davis are from way back when. It's part of the UC system, and these days, that speaks for itself.

Benzgirl, I stand corrected on Amherst. :)

I have nothing but respect for W&L. The Virginia schools are awesome.

My father was an engineer as well as my brother. I always loved my brother's engineering friends -- just nice, normal guys.

Right, but it's also public, so I'm pretty sure it should be on that list too, like Illinois is both a party school (whatever that means) and a public school. Probably just an oversight.

The picture they have up for Colorado School of Mines is a picture of University of Colorado, Boulder. I thought that was funny...

These lists are totally random...a zillion good schools are missing, but some commuter branch campuses are included? It amazes me that this "study" from PayScale.com made it into the Wall Street Journal and BusinessWeek as if it was really statistically accurate. It's all self-reported, and from the number of schools omitted, it seems that maybe the PayScale.com folks just didn't know anyone from those schools. I've never even heard of PayScale.com, but I do know a PR stunt when I see one.

Yayyyyyy we're #11

The real winners make big money without getting an MBA and even if they go to schools on that list, make much more than any of the averages shown. As for JDs and MDs...well they make enough to feed pigeons these days I hear.

haha I should have known you would reply to this thread with someone like that. :)

Consider me schooled or whatever. LOL