[quote=Anonymous]The answer is that you are both right. The institution certainly does not define your success later
in life.
Here's what does: reading, writing, and communication skills, personality, hard work,
and most important of all, your resilience in the face of failure.
For certain professional paths, the social capital you have acquired is important too.
It not about the school- it's all about the values- if you value honesty, teamwork, hard work, and giving back, you are
well on your way to a solid future, regardless of where you went to college. And if you look at college outcomes, that's
not opinion, it's fact.
The answer is that you are partly correct. For certain professions it absolutely matters where you go to school. Good luck getting a job in investment banking, or top consulting firms, as examples, without a degree from a top school. And that is not just social capital, it is a demonstration of many of the other attributes you mentioned. Same goes for your chances of getting into top graduate programs in many different disciplines. Now, having the skills and personal characteristics that you mention are the attributes of successful people. And many more of them end up at top schools. The networks are hugely valuable, fact, not opinion. By no means is going to a top school a guarantee of success in life, and by no means is not going to a top school a guarantee of a less than successful life. But in terms of optionality, going to a top school creates more.
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