In the UK, is there a distinct career advantage to attending a top university

Top in the sense of A-level achievements and entry standards?

If there are entry standards I would venture a guess that yes it does matter, but one of my friends who has a bachelor's and master's degree in engineering from Oxford is at an accounting firm. I bet (s)he could have done the same coming from an ex-poly with a bachelor's degree in business. Overeducation much?

So I'm really curious. In the US, there is a website called "Ivy leagued and unemployed" where jobless ivy leaguers lament their joblessness, student debt and the lack of a marketable degree. There is a Duke grad who laments having majored in pre-med and is now making six figures after having studied computer programming by himself.

From my own experience (as an Ivy league grad) yes there are CV advantages when you apply to McKinsey, JP Morgan, or other such firms, or if you're an international student when you apply to domestic firms of prestige like central banks or government institutions or other conglomerates. But if you're dead set on immigrating I think a more applicable degree may be the wiser choice unless you can ace yourself at Harvard (or in the UK, Oxford). \

So to summarize :

1. Is prestige university>other universities in terms of employment opportunities

2. Is employable major>academic major in prestige school for prospective immigrants?

PS I'm not looking to immigrate by the way just asking.

This is TSR... If you say 'it's not the be all and end all' you get angry 16 yearolds telling you that you just said London met is exactly equal to Oxford.

having said that... it's really not the be all and end all.

proof:
https://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/publications/wps/wp201606.pdf

This is TSR... If you say 'it's not the be all and end all' you get angry 16 yearolds telling you that you just said London met is exactly equal to Oxford.

having said that... it's really not the be all and end all.

proof:
https://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/publications/wps/wp201606.pdf

This is TSR... If you say 'it's not the be all and end all' you get angry 16 yearolds telling you that you just said London met is exactly equal to Oxford.

having said that... it's really not the be all and end all.

proof:
https://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/publications/wps/wp201606.pdf

A cursory look at this says to me

1. You should study a well-paying subject
2. Birmingham=Cambridge if you are average at both schools
3. The Top at Top (top performers at Cambridge etc) are those who get it all.

A cursory look at this says to me

1. You should study a well-paying subject
2. Birmingham=Cambridge if you are average at both schools
3. The Top at Top (top performers at Cambridge etc) are those who get it all.

Seems to say that the highest paid Oxbridge & LSE graduates really are paid *a lot*... don't think it really teased out if they were the highest attaining students in their cohorts - I think it's possible to be great at 'doing academics' without being great at getting ahead in the world of work.

TSR has become entirely focused on two issues:

1. University rankings and their effect on future career prospects and
2. Whether access to Oxbridge is denied following disappointing GCSE results.

I think life boils down to

1. income
2. satisfaction

education gives you almost all of 1 and some of 2
so yes I think the choice to do a degree is inevitably tied to future income AND tradition.

Where does entrepreneurialism fit with that model?

So to summarize :

1. Is prestige university>other universities in terms of employment opportunities

2. Is employable major>academic major in prestige school for prospective immigrants?

PS I'm not looking to immigrate by the way just asking.

1. not for most jobs
2. I don't know what this means... if it's what I think it is, then no your degree course makes no difference to immigration

This is the second, or maybe third, showing of this chart on TSR today:



Source: http://www.cbi.org.uk/index.cfm/_api/render/file/?method=inline&fileID=DB1A9FE5-5459-4AA2-8B44798DD5B15E77

(If you are interested, I have an international version - it's very similar.)

BUT if you are no longer a "fresh" graduate then your degree has decreasing relevance to any employment anyway. The longer you are working with real professional work experience, the less your academic background matters (for most jobs).

I don't buy this. Interview or questionnaire respondents are either unaware of their own subconsious bias, or are unwilling to admit their known bias. What people do is far more instructive than what they say.

I don't buy this. Interview or questionnaire respondents are either unaware of their own subconsious bias, or are unwilling to admit their known bias. What people do is far more instructive than what they say. That hypothesis is demonstrable if recruiters are shown cvs with and without universities identified.