55% of M-A graduates attended a four-year college after graduating in 2024, and 33% of graduates pursued a two-year associate’s degree.
Out of those students, a subset compete for limited spots at highly-ranked universities. Many take AP classes, participate in extracurricular activities, and apply for awards to enhance their applications. The expectation to excel is perceptible nationwide, but it’s disproportionately magnified in the highly educated and STEM-focused Silicon Valley.
Seniors are currently feeling the stress of application season as they begin to receive decisions from colleges. “The talk right now is, ‘Where are you applying?’ and ‘Have you heard back yet?’ It’s like a competition, and there’s a little bit of pressure between students,” senior Calvin Linnert said.
Pressure and competition aside, some students also dream of attending prestigious universities for the plentiful opportunities they seem to provide. Although these colleges do offer valuable networking opportunities, most employers ultimately care more about their employees attending any college rather than the prestige of the institution itself. Experience plays a large part in an individual’s chances of employment, and future earnings and successes are not necessarily dictated by the college you attend.
Since the advent of the Common App, it has become easier than ever to apply to a myriad of universities. This broadens each college’s applicant pool and, in turn, increases competition. Just minutes from M-A, Stanford University boasted a 31% acceptance rate in 1971. In 2024, just 4% of applicants were admitted.
Considering this, it makes sense that so many students spend significant time and effort cultivating impressive and unique applications. Many develop tunnel vision and forget that merely attending college can amplify their future salaries. The National Association of Colleges and Employers found that 70% of entry-level jobs require a bachelor’s degree. High school graduates earn a median of $1.6 million throughout their lives, whereas those with bachelor’s degrees earn $2.8 million, according to Forbes Advisor. That discrepancy is greater than the difference in salary between graduates of competitive universities and less competitive ones.
It’s true that exclusive networking opportunities, well-regarded academic departments, and numerous resources afforded by large endowments all provide students with opportunities other schools may not have, but the importance of those opportunities in a graduate’s success is often over-amplified.
For a high school student who seems to spend every waking hour doing school or extracurricular work, it’s nearly impossible to forget what they are working toward. Every application season, thousands of students across the nation are heartbroken when they see a rejection email from the school they had been dreaming of attending. Science Department Head Lance Powell believes that regardless of where students end up, they can make the most of their experience. “You’ve just got to get there and realize it’s going to work out okay. You’ve just got to trust the journey,” he said.
Guidance counselor Jason Kubo echoed Powell’s sentiment, “Rarely do I have students that feel like, ‘Oh man, I didn’t get into that school, and my college experience was horrible.’ Usually, wherever they go, they enjoy it, and they soak it up,” he said.
Rather than focusing solely on prestige, Chemistry teacher Randy West encourages students to ask themselves “whether the school will provide them with the opportunities they want.”
“Some of the value happened in the classroom, but I would say most of it happened outside of the classroom—being on campus and being independent and living and figuring life out,” Powell said about his experience attending University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Oftentimes, college is what you make of it. “Many people in my grade went to prestigious schools while I went to a state school,” Mia Banks, who graduated from M-A in 2024 and currently attends University of Nevada at Reno, said. “High school was definitely not as fun as college is. The friends I have made in college make it both fun and memorable.”
Professional experience is also crucial to employers. Though some prestigious institutions have elaborate networks of professionals in several disciplines, such as the Harvard Club of New York City, if a student works diligently at the college they attend, they will shape up to be a competitive applicant in whatever field they choose to pursue.
According to Indeed, education credentials can allow you to first be seriously considered as a job candidate, but experience makes your application more impressive. The same can be said for graduate school applicants: extracurricular experiences and college academic performance often matter more than the name of the school they attended.
Erin Coley, Talent Acquisition and International Services Manager at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, oversees the company’s hiring process. SLAC hires a wide breadth of professionals, from engineers to administrative employees.
“It doesn’t necessarily matter 100% what school they go to. What really matters is the quality of the education and the experience that they have,” Coley said.
“It matters that they have taken classes that are related to the work that we’re looking for,” she added. “You can go to a university that’s really strong, but you don’t necessarily apply yourself as well or don’t take advantage of laboratories or projects. For us, I think it really matters the type of things you do, and not necessarily where you went.”
Higher education is a serious investment for any family, with tuition often costing tens of thousands of dollars per year. For many students, this debt isn’t worth the benefits of attending a prestigious college, as a less-expensive school will provide similar resources. “Here’s what I think matters: that you don’t go into massive debt trying to get this education that everybody tells you you have to have,” Powell said.
The importance of where one goes to college can be best described by former president Barack Obama: “I have no idea where most of the people who work for me went to college. I just know: Did they get stuff done, or did they not?”
