Pro's and Con's of Attending a College with a "very good reputation".

Even though people don't like to admit it, everyone does want to go to a university with prestige. UCLA did a survey of 203,967 first-year students at 270 U.S. four-year colleges and their number one reason for choosing a school was because the college has a "very good reputation". So we are picking schools because we will "look good" going to them? We mentally rank these schools and automatically assume that generally, people who go to UCLA are much smarter than people who go to Cal Poly.Why are we choosing our schools with reputation in mind?  Is it to show off? Is it because of the promise of a better job? What ever reason it is, there are pros and cons to this issue.

Pro: When finding a job, saying you graduated from a prestigious university "looks good" on your resume. 
My sister is graduating from UCLA this year and is now applying for jobs. Lets say she is competing for a job with someone from Northridge. They have the same qualifications except that they came from different schools. They would pick my sister over this Northridge grad because she is from UCLA. This not only works to my sisters advantage but also the companies advantage because they can boast about their UCLA grad as an employee. People, employers will assume from the school you attend that you are smarter and more qualified.


Con: The prestigious route tends to be the more costly route. 
As most people know, attending a private can be much more costly than a state school or a community college. The difference can be $10,000 to $20,000 and at the end of your college education, someone from a private can be $100,000 in debt where as someone who went to a community college first and then transferred is $10,000 in debt.
At one point I thought I would be attending a community college next year and when I would tell people this, they would make this face

 and it would be followed by a whinny "whyyyy?", as if community college is where souls go to rot. In reality, community college, although it doesn't "look good" to go there, is a great stepping stone! This contrasts with a prestigious school because you much pay more but get to say "Oh yea...I go to Stanford ;)"

Pro: You worked too damn hard in high school to NOT attend a prestigious university!
As freshman, I think everyone, if not most of us were aiming for UCLA, USC, Stanford or Pepperdine. As the high school years flew by, most of us got distracted, lazy or maybe just more realistic and aimed for schools that we thought we would actually get into. But there were the few that kept working hard, didn't get lazy and didn't get distracted. They were the ones up late at night studying their butts off. They were the ones who still had their eyes set on those top schools. They were the ones who put blood, sweat and tears into their personal statements and they were the ones to get those USC, UCLA, and/or NYU  acceptances! They honestly deserved it.

Con: Although it is great to go to a school that "looks good", it does not define you in the work place or anywhere else. 
Remember that little example about my sister getting a job? Well let's say she does get the job but she's just a terrible worker and she has no idea what she's doing. The UCLA degree got her foot in the door but it doesn't guarantee her a permanent spot there because that can only be guaranteed by her performance, performance that a degree doesn't guarantee but is only assumed. Look at all the famous college drop-outs that made a name for themselves without the help of a college degree.









In the end, the important thing is not where you get the degree but what you do with that degree that matters.