Is it possible to 'hide' a degree?

[sarg123]

only 30% of American-born CEO's of the top 100 companies in the Fortune 500 attended an elite college

That's interesting, I didn't know that!

I just brought in "Ivy Leagues" as a side point. No-one in my family has gone to one, so it was totally theoretical, honestly, I know nothing more about these colleges than what I read in the papers. I just meant colleges that are better regarded, or whatever. Where I live, Rutgers is considered a fairly good college, and a business degree from Rutgers is very respectable. I am not sure how TESU is regarded, I think it definitely sounds good (State College?), so I'm hoping it's good. It's definitely quite a few steps up from the University of Phoenix - a degree from there wouldn't get me into the front door of ANY company (and believe it or not, it's regionally accredited, I checked) I also know that no degree from any college is a guarantee for success. To be quite honest, as I was studying for the Strategic Management TECEP, I was thinking - what are the chances that Bill Gates or Steve Jobs actually took this course and followed what they said? I would think, probably zero. To make it big in the business world, you need something that cannot be found in any class in college.

I think that sometimes it does matter, though - even if not in the way you mean. I have a friend who went to a "big name" college, and in almost every conversation, she'll make sure to "casually" bring in the name of her alma mater - and she doesn't even work in that field any more! Also, I once used a doctor that I'll admit that the main reason I chose him was that he was a graduate of Harvard Medical School.

To your second point (actually the last point in your full post): I don't think anyone here said they the degrees were "exactly the same.

I have been told by my college advisers, and I think it's true, that it doesn't matter where you go for undergrad if you can get into a "good" graduate school. So, for many purposes, the big three and a B&M are indeed "exactly the same". On my end, I'm not planning on going to graduate school, and some of my friends are very skeptical of the utility of a bachelor's degree from TESU. They certainly feel that their degrees (from B&M's) are "better"... There is certainly a bias from some people about getting a degree online. But... I'm betting that once I get work experience, it won't matter where I went. I wasn't willing to bet $60,000 (the cost of a master's degree) the other way...