Stanford or ?

Got this from AXJMS--

Very interesting series you have going here. How important is it to go to one of the "best" schools?

Another excellent question.  And the answer is...beats me.  But here is what I know from personal experience.

A "best" school is very important in landing that first job.  The top employers go to the top schools and interview.  Case in point--me.  As pointed out I graduated University of Illinois MBA school in the worst recession since the Great Depression.  Another example of my great sense of timing.  My strategy was to interview with anybody and everybody.  The most fun I had was interviewing with Wilson Sporting Goods.  They were looking for salespeople and the first interview was with two guys that looked like they played for the Bears.  I am not the athletic type.  I should be but I am not with a center of gravity around my neck.  But somehow got through that interview and to headquarters which was fun with golf clubs, tennis rackets, running stuff everywhere.  Tennis was really big back then until it wasn't and the company owner, Pepsico for some reason, dumped the company in the middle of my interviews so no job offer.

But then I ran into a company that interviewed only at the "best" schools--The Quaker Oats Company.  Seems they had an emergency job to fill and they sent out the call to schools besides Stanford, Wharton, Harvard, Northwestern, UC and the other "best" schools.  Probably figured they were a little late in the school year so they widened the search.  The call went to the placement office at Illinois and since I had studiously cultivated the student employees in the office, I got the call and was in Chicago like a shot.  And I got snubbed, kind of.  The "best" school bias was there but I did my best to fight it off.  The Steve Martin line "I was born a poor black child..." came to mind. 

Guess they figured I was the best of a bad lot and I got the job.  I became a member of the Class of 75.  Not many companies do this anymore but Quaker followed the Proctor and Gamble model of hiring fifty or more MBA's per year.  So I started and ended up in the auditorium with 49 other people.  49 from the "best" schools and me.  They showed a little film with the Quaker man, went through benefits, the Chairman showed up, and I got a warm feeling about the company.  Went over to thank the HR VP and he brought me back to reality.  "In five years there will be five of you left here."  Yikes.  He was wrong.  On my fifth anniversary I went through the company directory and there were three of us left.

The point here is that MBAs from the "best" schools do not always succeed.  Oh, some of those 49 went to better jobs but a lot flopped, failed, got fired.  Because even smart people from the "best" schools do stupid things.  Smart in school doesn't necessarily translate into smart in business.

But you do get your foot in the door but that is it.  The first year I probably got asked where I went to school ten times.  The second year, five times.  Third year, once.  After that, never.  What you did counted more than where you went.

There is much made of the "Old Boy" network.  Maybe it exists.  I don't know because I was never an "Old Boy."  But I do know that American business is too competitive to put up with an idiot no matter who he or she knows.

That said, the best finance guy I ever met or worked for went to Harvard.  But he would have been the best finance guy I ever met or worked for even if he went to a junior college.

The fact is a name school will get you a job.  If you have the money and the talent, go for it.  I didn't have the money or the talent so it wasn't a choice for me.  But I did ok.  And I'm not knocking the University of Illinois.  It was, and is, a good school.  Which doesn't matter either because you learn the same thing wherever you go for an MBA.

We will discuss that tomorrow since I have been to Illinois and I have been to Stanford.  Wait a minute--Stanford does have one major advantage over Illinois, besides location.  So we will have a contest--let me know if you think you know the advantage.  More tomorrow.

Comments

[cahoots]

stanford is well placed for jobs (in and around bay area)?

[Will]

Better weather?