The importance of elite schools

One of my friends had an interesting response to an article I sent around last week:

I had to comment on the absurd quote at the end of the article about the competition for admission at elite colleges.  “I know why it matters so much, and I also don’t understand why it matters so much,” said William M. Shain, dean of admissions and financial aid at Bowdoin. “Where we went to college does not set us up for success or keep us away from it.” 

 

Is he serious?  I Googled Mr. Shain and his bio says he graduated from Princeton and earned a law degree at Columbia.  This bio hardly suggests that he has the personal experience to offer opinions about where one goes to college.  I know from personal experience, as a graduate from York College, a CUNY school in Jamaica, Queens, about how the reputation of a school, or lack thereof, can affect your future success. 

 

When I interviewed at certain elite law schools, two of the admissions directors were quite frank with me and said they had never had a candidate from York and they were unsure of what to do with me, even though I graduated summa cum laude.  Needless to say I was not accepted at those schools, but thankfully was accepted at some other elite schools including my law alma mater, Georgetown. 

 

Maybe Mr. Shain's comments are what helps him sleep at night after rejecting thousands of students, but getting into the right college, particularly if you're a minority, low-income student that survives the hellacious K-12 experience, means everything for one's future success.  If Mr. Shain's comments were true, there wouldn't be so many applicants for elite schools.