As someone at the beginning of the college process, I've been getting so many mixed messages about this. Is it what you do with your education over where you get that education? Will you do better if you graduate at the top of your class at a state school or in the bottom of your class at an Ivy? Is your alma mater an omnipresent tag to your identity (and résumé) or is it just four years of your life?
I have no idea what to think about this anymore.After all, elite schools aren't taking a random sample of high-school students and churning out success stories. They're accepting people who are already on the road to success,
I must say I find that slightly terrifying. the truer thing is that their lives have already been shaped decisively by the sum of their own past decisions—the habits developed, the friends made, and the challenges overcome. Where you go to college does matter, because it's often an accurate measure of the person you're becoming.
So it does matter....but it also doesn't really matter? I agree with this from a "finding the right fit" standpoint, but what happened to the theory that the admissions officers aren't determining your fate? If it's a measure of the person you're becoming, aren't the admissions officers the ones holding the measuring tape?