> What's more valuable is the network and access to the alumni network of others who will hire you into their company just because you went to the same school as them.
This seems completely untrue in my 20 year career experience. I have hired dozens of people for both large and small companies, and networks do matter… but I have never once seen the network be from school. It is always about people you have worked with before. Even my coworkers with degrees don’t have contact with their schoolmates anymore, it is always people they worked with.
It depends on the school and often aligns more closely with something like a fraternity. I have definitely known people who got their job through a frat brother’s recommendation or literally knowing the secret handshake.
This seems completely untrue in my 20 year career experience. I have hired dozens of people for both large and small companies, and networks do matter… but I have never once seen the network be from school. It is always about people you have worked with before. Even my coworkers with degrees don’t have contact with their schoolmates anymore, it is always people they worked with.