Originally Posted by Bostonian
Originally Posted by eldertree
The only good definition of "really great college" is one that is a perfect fit for a particular student.
Example: Youngest wants to go to Savannah College of Art & Design. Other Youngest has his eye on Carnegie-Mellon or Simon Fraser. Perfect fit for each of them, crap-tastic if they were switched around. And neither needs to be at Julliard or West Point, no matter how really great each is.

The prestige of a college does matter to some employers. I know of situations where a manager, faced with thousands of resumes to select from, excludes applicants from all but a few select schools. Carnegie-Mellon would make the cut, but the "Savannah College of Art & Design" might not. I got a PhD but realized I was not cut out to be a scientist. The prestige of my undergraduate degree opened doors to a new career.

I'm not saying prestige is all-important or that fit is unimportant, but there are situations where prestige does matter.

SCAD probably wouldn't make the cut for a science degree, no. If one wants to go into a visual arts field, SCAD is a name readily recognized. As for Carnegie-Mellon...it's a helpful name if you're looking at STEM (or bagpiping). Is it $170K worth of helpful? The jury's still out on that one. We have a few years to look around yet; there are plenty of options.

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