What's in a Name?

It is ingrained in your head as a youth…you should go to a good school and be a doctor. If you get into an Ivy-League school like Harvard or Yale you are set for life. I soaked all of this in as a kid and let it guide my in my studies and point me in the right direction. When I got into Dartmouth, one of the lesser known Ivies (and one of the least pretentious in my opinion), I was told I would be set …that’d I’d be writing my paychecks. Fast forward about six years later and you find me working in a great law firm, making some decent money and contemplating about my future.

I wasn’t a stellar student by any means- I was pretty much average. My first few terms were rough which dragged my GPA through the mud and made me have to climb and claw my way back into a GPA over 3.0. I graduated above the average, did some sports for a bit, joined a dance group and a few clubs, studied in Rome, Italy, had a couple of jobs here and there that were good resume fodder, and got some nice reviews from professors. I had a few friends that went to a state school in Georgia who used to cheat off of me in high school on physics tests and math tests. One of them studied advanced physics throughout her time there and was receiving A’s all through her career. What the hell? I’m scraping and struggling for A’s in philosophy, English, and anthropology classes and someone that struggled with high school science is now a science major. What kind of crap is that? So the question is: which one would you hire? Obviously it depends on the position in this case…but consider this: say two women worked the same jobs, did the same number of sports, did wonderful volunteer opportunities and can fluently speak at least one other language. All of that is identical. One of the women, woman A, went to a State school and was at the top of her class- possible valedictorian/salutatorian. Then you’ve got woman B who went to an Ivy League school. Now this one’s around a B/B+ average. Who do you pick? If you went to an Ivy League…you’re probably going to pick the other Ivy Leaguer but…if not…what do you do?

My views on this are kind of weird as I’m not 100% sure how I feel on the subject. I don’t have this sense of entitlement (or an unrealistic one at least) that’s like I went to an Ivy…I’m better than you. One…if you look at the yearly post that U.S. News (or one of those papers makes) about the top 100 schools…the first ones are not always Ivies. Duke is regularly tied or above Dartmouth as is Stanford and others. Granted this list counts number of professors doing research etc so these so the numbers are a tad skewed in favor of larger institutions (Dartmouth is TINY!) but, the top 8 are not always the Ivies. Now, I don’t regret my choice as I love love love Dartmouth, but looking ahead to law school…I’m not sure I’ll make the same decision. Graduate schools are a bit different in that often, no matter where you go, as long as you place in the top few in your class, you’re good. I hear this is especially true for medical schools, not so sure on law schools yet. I will be making my choice based on curriculum, location, and opportunities this time around so hopefully I can find a happy balance and an experience similar to the fun I had at Dartmouth.

So who would I pick? The Dartmouth Grad (if there is one) because I know that person is ready for the job at hand and because we can talk about our experiences and share! In lieu of a Dartmouth grad…I’d have to go with the one I feel better about. Gut instinct would have to decide….