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Comment by orthoganol | Hacker News Reader

> I do not think the pressure comes directly from the need for higher grades.

I strongly disagree, it entirely comes from the narrative instilled in all of us that we're screwed if we don't get top grades, that I am a huge failure if I can't get into an elite program. If that pressure wasn't there, neither would this problem. Some kids literally think it's the end of their life if they don't get into x,y,z school. There's no one telling them that college doesn't actually matter a fraction as much as it's built up in their head. Just get a degree, but I mean, at this point, 5 years out of college, you're not limited in the slightest by where your degree came from, not in this industry, where what skills you have and your hustle dictates all (granted a degree from an elite program gives you a marginal boost, but still marginal). My fellow Ivy League grads would get blown out of the water by some of the people I work with.

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I'm not sure what parallel reality you're living in but what you're saying is not universally true. Here in India , it makes a huge difference where you went to college. Whether it comes to jobs , opportunities or even raising funding for your startup having that top college pedigree makes all the difference. Almost all the top startups are by alumni from the well known places.

Some companies won't even give you an interview if you're not from a top place. I myself sometimes regret not being able to get into a good place.

So , even I wish that what you said was true. But sadly it isn't.

Grades matter a lot , atleast as a signalling device if not anything else and kids are making the most logical choice among the options available to them and noone can blame them for it.

My experience has been the same as OP. It's not a parallel reality, its the US. It definitely does not matter where you go. If you work hard and and keep pushing yourself into more challenging positions, you'll be a highly competitive candidate for employment no matter what school you went to. Some may argue that those who get into good schools have a greater propensity to push themselves and achieve regardless of their situation - we hope that's true. But I have never in my experience seen such blindness toward graduates of lesser schools.

That hasn't been my experience. Students at top CS schools have much more access to recruiters at well known companies, who assign recruiters to particular schools. It's a lot harder to get an internship at such a company from a school without an assigned recruiter. Good CS schools also help students to get internships earlier in college, after freshman year.

I asked a professor in charge of admissions for a graduate program about their desired gpa. His response- 'What school did you go to?'.

Students at good schools don't have some innate willpower to push themselves harder- they have better opportunities available to them. That isn't to say that students at other colleges don't do just as well, it's just takes more effort.

I guess I'm biased from my personal experience. I started working on internships in high school. By the time I was in college, the better internships found themselves. I went to a good, but not top!, LAC but I still did well. Had my choice of grad schools based on my work - not my school. But I decided to drop out for other reasons. I have since had no issues making the 6 figs... So to anyone who tells me you need a top-college degree to get somewhere or make good money, I'd say there are probably other things at play. Now maybe I won't get a CTO position without a degree, but that is not being addressed here.

Seriously, if you feel like you are in an unfair position or want to talk about this stuff, send me an email. I love talking about this stuff. It's not about the school you go to - it's about what you do (have done) with your time.

If it mattered that much, I would not have been able to find jobs in US (and I did, in big name ones). My university is a shitty, unknown (but state run and legitimate) school in ex-USSR.

I have heard this about India and other countries as well. I think the original article is mainly talking about the United States though, and as others have said, the University you attend here matters very little for most jobs. The main exception is your first job after graduation.

That is completely untrue. It may be true for tech jobs which rely on hard skills, but for any sort of management jobs, graduate school admissions, banking jobs - virtually anything else - pedigree matters a lot.

The majority of tech jobs here in Europe will expect a degree in CS or something similar in the listings.

At least in the UK, it is definitely not like that.

Most IT-related jobs do not mention a degree as requirement, and of those that do, many have an "or equivalent experience" clause.

This is how I remember it to be when I was looking for a job 2 years ago, but I also made a quick search for "devops", "senior developer" and similar positions in London through indeed.co.uk just now to confirm it.

yes, but that's it. be it the best UNI in europe or worst in most cases doesn't have any impact at all, in worst is a very minor disadvantage that can be easily overcomed by showing skillset.

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