Whether you’re trying to decide on what colleges to apply to, or staring down a stack of acceptance letters (if the latter, congrats, great work), you might be asking yourself: Does it really matter what college I go to?
The short answer? Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
Which probably doesn’t seem super helpful. But there’s no great short answer here beyond “It depends on a lot of stuff.”
The long answer?
Let’s dive into the nuance.
So… How Much Does College Choice Affect Your Life?
Yeah, there’s really no universal rule here.
Instead, there are a bunch of factors to consider, including things like
academics
and social prestige if that’s important to you (though we’d caution you there—a lot of people probably put way too much weight on the social prestige of attending certain schools)
and networking and career opportunities
and personal growth
and campus culture
and financial impact (as in, are you having to take out massive loans?)
So there are a lot of ways where you go can affect things.
But as you read this guide, please keep one thing in mind: where you go can matter, but what you do once you get there, and the choices you make after, will generally matter a whole lot more.
With that in mind, here are some lenses to consider when asking “How does where you go to college affect your life?”
Field of Study & Career Path
In certain industries—like business consulting, investment banking, and some areas of tech—where you go to college can help open (or close) doors. Elite schools often have recruiting pipelines that others don’t. (For example, some consulting companies only hire from the top business grad schools.)
In many other fields—like teaching, healthcare, social work, or creative industries—your skills, experience, and portfolio often matter more than your school’s name.
Graduate School Aspirations
Planning on law school or med school? In general, admissions committees care a lot more about your GPA, test scores, and recommendations than the name on your diploma.
That said, some elite colleges may offer stronger advising and networking support.
Alumni Network & Opportunities
At some colleges, the alumni network is incredibly strong. Who you know (and who they’re willing to help) can be a major factor in launching a career.
And as you think about these lenses, please keep this in mind:
Most American CEOs of the top 100 companies did not attend an “elite” university. And that same thing plays out across other companies and fields—where you go to college tends to have fairly little predictive power for things like well being or income.
(With the exception maybe of members of Congress or the Supreme Court—something like 40% of congress people went to an elite college, and many of them hold a law degree, and all current Supreme Court justices attended either Harvard or Yale for law school, and 7 of 9 attended the Ivy League for undergrad.)
Weighing Income vs. Passion vs. Life Satisfaction
When people ask if it matters what college they go to, we’d guess they’re often thinking in terms of income.
But what you major in, and what skills and knowledge you develop, will tend to impact income a lot more than where you get your degree. (There’s a pretty clear correlation between different majors and income levels.)
And it seems important (to our minds) to spend some time weighing income vs passion and joy vs overall life satisfaction—they’re not the same, and thinking that one equals another will probably mislead you. (Though it’s important to understand that higher incomes above a certain threshold tend to correlate with less stress and greater life satisfaction—thinking money has no impact on happiness is wrong. But money’s impact is also often culturally over-emphasized.).
Here’s what the data tells us as far as income goes:
What majors make the most money on average? Things like
Engineering
Computer Science
Finance / Economics
Nursing
What majors pay the least on average? Things like
Education
Social Work
Arts & Humanities
(For more on career earnings by college major, check out this resource from the Hamilton Project.)
But income probably (well, more like definitely) shouldn’t be the only metric you’re weighing by when it comes to mapping out your life. (Especially since American culture tends to condition people to drastically overvalue things like being rich, or fame, or praise from others.)
So a key question to ask yourself: To what degree do I want to prioritize money or passion or joy or life satisfaction when choosing a path?
And if that feels like a tough question, here are three more to help explore:
How important is it to you to have a job that makes you excited to get up in the morning?
How important are stability and financial security?
Do you want a mix of both—and to what degree are you willing to trade some income for fulfillment, or vice versa?
Many people find that long-term satisfaction comes from pursuing curiosity and passion while balancing practical needs. Meaning the “best” choice looks different for everyone.
A note on “life satisfaction” and “well being”
I want to drill down a bit into what we mean by “life satisfaction” and “well being” vs, say, “happiness.”
“Happiness” is a tricky, nebulous word.
You can use it to refer to your daily emotional well-being. But you might also mean something like “life satisfaction,” which generally means a different thing.
Emotional well-being is a specific thing—it’s usually measured by asking people about their emotions the previous day. Like: “Did you experience the following feelings a lot of the day yesterday? How about (insert emotions like “stress” or “happiness” here)?”
Income can be pretty impactful here—being able to afford access to things like healthcare and a safe place to live makes a difference in your day-to-day emotional experience.
Life satisfaction is multifaceted, but one way to think of it (and how it’s different from daily emotional well-being) is that it’s more like your answer to the question, “On a scale from 0-10, relative to the best life possible for yourself, where does your life rank?”
(If you really want to dive into the Cantril Scale, check this out.)
Many things play into life satisfaction. As far as its relationship to income, life satisfaction keeps increasing without a clear tipping point regarding income, but non-linearly. As in, if you make 60K a year, adding 10K has a bigger impact than adding 10K for someone making 120K a year. But the 10K correlates with higher life satisfaction regardless.
Another really important thing to reflect on here is your values: People frequently connect income with social status (I say “frequently” because they don’t have to … you can separate those things).
Is social status something you value? How much do you worry about other people’s perceptions of you, and of how you compare to them?
Some part of how income influences happiness likely relates to “keeping up with the Joneses”—how people rate their subjective well-being often depends on how they perceive where they are relative to other people.
Which, to be blunt, I don’t think is a very smart or useful way to live and evaluate a life.
But we’re probably biologically wired to compare ourselves to others. So when the impulse to evaluate your life based on how other people are doing arises, I’d recommend ignoring it as best you can.
Ultimately, this is really on you—what are your values? What do you want your life to look like when you look back on it?
Skills and Experience > Name Brand (Most of the Time)
We mentioned this above, but here’s a huge piece of the puzzle to understand: What you do during and after college often matters more (a lot more) than where you go.
In general, employers value:
Internships and hands-on experience
Leadership roles on campus
Research projects
Networking and mentorship
Soft skills like communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills
In other words, a motivated student at a state school who hustles for opportunities may end up with more options than a disengaged student at an Ivy League school.
So… Does It Matter What College You Go To?
We’re back to the It depends. (But hopefully with a clearer sense of why it depends.)
As in, it depends on you, your goals, how you want to live your life, how you value something like safety vs adventure.
It matters more if…
You’re entering fields like consulting, finance, or some tech roles where prestige and pipelines carry more weight.
You thrive in environments with strong networks and want to leverage those connections.
It matters less if…
You’re pursuing a career where skills and experience outweigh prestige (which is most careers).
You’re proactive about finding opportunities outside of the classroom.
Final Takeaway
Instead of asking only “Does it matter what college you go to?” try reframing:
What kind of learning environment will help me thrive?
What balance of income, passion, and life satisfaction do I want to aim for?
How can I make the most of my opportunities wherever I go?
When I look back at my life, what do I want it to have looked like?
Because here’s the truth: The college you attend is just one part of your story. The choices you make during and after college often shape your trajectory far more than the name on your diploma.
Andrew Simpson, CEG’s Editorial Director, has worked as an educator, consultant, and curriculum writer for the past 20 years, and earned degrees from Stanford in Political Science and Drama. He feels most at home on mountain tops and in oceans.
Top Values: Insight/Growth | Truth | Integrity
