[crikey]

Does it really matter to you whether the job applicants are graduated from prestigious universities?

Will you call the fresh graduate for an interview if she has a beautiful GPA from an unimpressive university?

I'm trying to decide if it is worthwhile to change to a much better university - it is not an esay decision since the expense will increase a lot. Any comment would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[KnowItAll]

It is not the prestige that counts, it is how good the program is and the courses they've taken.

In the past, we've hired grads from lesser known Universities to find out that they had basically breezed through an easy program and not really learnt a lot. I'm talking about graduating from an american university and not being able to string together a 100 word writeup.

One thing, if you're doing really well at a lesser known Uni, try and upgrade by seeking a slightly better university with a better financial assistance package.

From where I stand, I've worked for over 15 years and have never had an employer even bother to ask me what university or what my grades were. All my jobs, including the first ever job I got were through referals. The first job was with a company I interned with and then I got headhunted a couple of times.

[Laughing_Monkey]

Its not just the name of the Uni that counts. Sometimes a 'lesser' university has the best faculty or department for that topic/ profession...

None of HK's unis are in the top 100 internationally - but if you did your undergrad elsewhere it looks good on your CV to have moved abroad, adapted and seen it through. Its also a good 'life experience'. If its too easy you might consider using it as an opportunity to do more things - i.e. work part-time or voluntarily, but at the end of the day if your not confident that your qualifications mean anything you wont be confident in job interviews...

[crikey]

"In the past, we've hired grads from lesser known Universities to find out that they had basically breezed through an easy program and not really learnt a lot"

Errr...indeed. Quite a number of my HK classmates in the same uni are basically "breezing through", mainly through plagiarism and the lenient marking criteria.

To be honest, my uni is crap - according to the ranking released from the Australian Govt this year, my uni was ranked at the bottom in Oz. But it's not just because of the ranking that I mind, it's the standard of students I've seen around me. God, I can't believe that I already top the class (not a healthy phenonmenon as you can imagine). I do learn a lot though because I've been a very dedicated student.

Now I have a chance to change to the University of Melbourne next year if I want to, but still wondering about the issue of cost-effectiveness...

[dropdedfwed]

ummmm....

difficult to give u a straight answer here... it depends a lot on your degree, area of interests etc. some departments of melbourne uni may not be as good as corresponding departments of the smaller uni's in melbourne. in saying that, if you have the oppurtunity to "upgrade" to melbourne uni, and you really beleive the calibre of both the course and students to be much higher than where you are presently, then upgrade. it really is a small cost now (i know on a student budget, any expense is huge, but think of tomorrow.. we've all been there..).

i think that it is possible that those employers in your industry would probably have worked out which uni spills out new-grads that are as useless at t*ts on a bull, and be looking for new graduates with qualifications from a uni they have esteem for... obviously, once you have worked a few years, where u went to uni matters not one iota, but for your first posting or 2, it may make a difference, especially if your course is reknown for crappy graduates.

just out of curiousity, can u PM me what uni u are in? just for my mental database (my wife and i have both done a few post grad degrees/dips/cert's etc between us, and often have friends of friends ask for advice/hearsay on certain uni's/campuses, often overseas students...)

cheers, and good luck,

PS - are u in HK looking to relocate to Melbourne? or are u in Oz looking to relocate? are you Aussie local student, or are you an international student? if international, looking to move to Oz, you REALLY need to know how much better Melb is... the cost will vary enormously if your are an international student in melbourne...

[kirlex]

Originally Posted by Laughing_Monkey

Its not just the name of the Uni that counts. Sometimes a 'lesser' university has the best faculty or department for that topic/ profession...

None of HK's unis are in the top 100 internationally - but if you did your undergrad elsewhere it looks good on your CV to have moved abroad, adapted and seen it through. Its also a good 'life experience'. If its too easy you might consider using it as an opportunity to do more things - i.e. work part-time or voluntarily, but at the end of the day if your not confident that your qualifications mean anything you wont be confident in job interviews...

Depends on what source you use (stupid Wikipedia, everone nowadays is quoting that dumb site). I saw a ranking that had 3 HK universities in the top 20. American rankings will put American universities higher, naturally.

On a side note, how could they put the University of Toronto AND UBC higher than McGill? Sacrilege!

[howard_roark]

My Quick take:

* Top school offers good cohort; excellent collaborative learning atmosphere and excellent future networking opportunities. It is a negative stereotype that you can't party in top schools but at the same time peer pressure is huge.

* Depends upon your career choice; for MBA types - good school will be a huge plus if you are trying to get into top IB/Consult. jobs; for IT types it will not a matter a lot

* if you are into research or advanced science - top schools may have access to unique facilities; like super-accelerators in physics or NASA funding for astronomy or access to a Nobel laureate (I am using the US as an example - but I guess you can extrapolate it to your situation)

* However, if you have the extra edge you can be successful irrespective of your school. The world is run by "C" grade students. You will notice that just a fraction of CEOs in Fortune 500 firms are graduates of ivy leagues.

* Also going to the top schools means paying 3 X the tuitions and being in debt - I question the wisdom of it.

Hope this helps,
Tesh.

ps: Before you make yor decision watch the movie "PaperChase"

[Laughing_Monkey]

Having done my undergrad at a supposedly 'top international university' in London i can tell you that by no means does a top ranking mean that your classmates will actually be intelligent or that the course will be challenging.

Unfortunately, education these days seems to be about making money to the institutions and getting a piece of paper to the students. If your looking for a mental challenge your better off to get a book of brain teasers...

Where you study matters only for your CV - if your doing law or something like it then matters where you study, not what you study, and this is the same for a few degrees. Otherwise, its where or what that are more interesting/ important on your CV.

I'd recommend working out what it is you want to achieve from going to UNI and use this to aid your decision. Its worth remembering though that this is prob the last of the kind of freedom that comes with studying so do it somewhere fun! (rules out canberra)

[dropdedfwed]

Originally Posted by Laughing_Monkey

... Its worth remembering though that this is prob the last of the kind of freedom that comes with studying so do it somewhere fun! (rules out canberra)

you cruel B@#%^d!!

he he he

actually, despite it's grey and bleak image, Canberra is rapidly becoming one of the more desirable cities.. serious. I was shocked at how nice it has become on a recent visit - it is really picking up on "liveablilty" (not just my opinion, have mates there now, and also read in some blurb in "The Age" 12 months ago...)

[PDLM]

Originally Posted by Laughing_Monkey

None of HK's unis are in the top 100 internationally

The HKUST Executive MBA was recently rated #2 in the world by the Financial Times, behind Wharton, with the London Business school third.
http://rankings.ft.com/rankings/emba/rankings.html