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My brother recently started a discussion on his alma mater’s alumni website, asking a pertinent question whether reputed colleges can tread down the path of branding. New York University (NYU) recently topped the list of colleges that increased your chances of landing a job upon graduation. It was followed by a veritable stream of reputed universities like Harvard, U Penn, MIT, Stanford, and other colleges that you see on almost all national rankings. In spite of numerous universities in the US, only a handful hog the limelight right from academic rankings to research grants.
For example, Harvard is a brand in itself and has established itself as the premier educational and research institution in the US. No one can deny the clout of the Harvard brand and it can open several doors for you which otherwise would not even entertain your presence. The brand or the name of a university is almost sacrosanct in boosting your career chances. Even if you graduate with an English major from Harvard, you will definitely not be unemployed for more than a week. Just exchange that major with something hot like Bioengineering or Genetics, you will be hounded by employers relentlessly. You have the Harvard brand on your resume and nothing is going to matter more than that. Of course, someone’s talent and skills might easily surpass one of Harvard graduates but alas, that person doesn’t have the brand. He is simply washed away by a name that has established itself over the years as a brand. Doors close even before you see them.
Similarly in India, the IIT or the IIM brand has established itself as the must-have for an intellectual or an aspiring careerist. Graduating from these institutions does not necessarily mean that you are smarter or more intelligent that your peers, who may have opted not to attend but in the end does grant you access to an old-boys network of their esteemed alumni.
So ultimately, does it make sense to establish reputed academic institutions as a brand? You wear Nike to appear cool or sport Oakley to stand out. Of course, the quality of these products is not suspect but branding is such a powerful tool in marketing that minor blemishes are largely ignored. However, can such comparisons be made in the academia? Aren’t manuscripts accepted for publication just because the author is from a particular university rather than for the quality of the research? Aren’t graduates of Columbia or MIT a virtual shoo-in for an interview in the top companies? Isn’t the fact true that you are more likely to get a NIH funding if you are Johns Hopkins than from any other university?
Universities are a brand albeit informal ones. But do they have to take formal steps to establish that brand. Maybe not; because most of the benefits are underlying and manifest themselves through informal channels like alumni networking and preferential treatment by overawed employers. Sirf naam hee kaafi hai - aptly describes academic branding. You just have to be smart enough to recognize the current hot brand, sneak in and ride the wave to success.
by Patrix | on Friday, September 17th, 2004 at 1:15 pm | 
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September 17th, 2004 at 4:38 pm reply
I had a mania for the big schools. It’s a Indian thing…Frankly, it matters, but not to the extent we Indians make it out to be. I’ve seen far many more sucessful people over the last 3 months to convince me that school alone doesn’t matter. It’ll help you get a foot in the dorr for sure….And that idea about English majors from Harvard cornering plum jobs, is a load of bull.
But I’ll say this - It’s a white man’s world. Period :-)
September 17th, 2004 at 4:43 pm reply
I sense a little bit of angst? It’s true that manuscripts are accepted for publication if you are a big name. Not because you are from a big school. That, I can tell you from personal experience ;)
But really, look at the work place…9/10 in the top are White Dudes! No “diversity”. No women despite all that bull about equality.
It’s not a fair world…One must accept that as a fact.
Seen on a Stanford graduate’s car - “My golden retriever is smarter than your graduate”.
“Cockiness won’t get anyone anywhere”
September 17th, 2004 at 4:55 pm reply
one of my sons friends has a an ophthamologist dad……..under grad from U.Penn, grad from Harvard……and Doctrate from Johns Hopkins…………..all the brands have still left him boring and dull………
September 17th, 2004 at 9:39 pm reply
Arunz - Nope, no angst. I had the opportunity to choose graduating bw a ranked reputed school and a not-so well known school. I choose the former because I believed it would give me an edge professionally or academically. But you are right that life is not fair. We just have to work harder at making it work in our favor and trust me, no one is gonna do it for you…gotta do it all by yourself. All the BS about getting what you want by sitting put is not true.
Reputed school lend their brand to their graduates which in turn makes things happen or at least give them a headstart, which sometimes can mean a lot…if you can get it, heck why not, right?
M - Thatz some credentials but I don’t think you would stop your son from doing the same in fear that he would turn out to be boring and dull, right?
September 18th, 2004 at 8:19 am reply
actually i have……i pulled him out of an exclusive private school and put him in a local public school only because i found him enjoying the diversity and competition far more……….i would rather my son be alive and bubbling and having fun- completely mainstream rather than him being a scholar and nerd who walks a narrow limited path. I truly mean that…….( and not because he wouldnt make it- he has an iq of 158…….)
September 18th, 2004 at 4:36 pm reply
Hey, everything in todays capitalism is about branding. So why should education be any different. Why do you choose a particular brand? simply because you know it si of an “acceptable” quality. Same is true with colleges. Recruiters know that students admitted to and graduating from a college of good “brand” will be of an acceptable quality. That’s all there is to it.
September 18th, 2004 at 10:12 pm reply
M - Of course, being among diverse students and exposed to many influences helps. I just hope he doesn’t need the help of a brand
Semantic - LOL! Everything boils down to pure capitalism…the chaff gets seperated from the grain as the years go by.
September 18th, 2004 at 10:55 pm reply
I work for an organisation that specialises in placing or help recruiting IIT and IIM alumni and also Indians who have studied abroad. I have noticed that most of the top Indian companies prefer guys from these schools although there might be much better experienced and intelligent guys elsewhere. Talk of class distinction!
But, I must say, the quality of education and exposure these guys get sure puts them a lil ahead of the others.
September 19th, 2004 at 9:00 am reply
Let me add my two cents/paise.
When I joined my last firm some years ago, I found that we had one of the best teams in the country in what we did. We were a very small company - no brand, no name, but our customers were very happy, and we did edge out Big 5 competitors often. We had problems getting new recruits from the market - we had folks applying from the Global Big 5, as well as the Indian Big 5, and our general disdain for the brands was reinforced at the interviews - they did not measure up to our own rather high standards. So we took the next best way out - invested on recruiting freshers and training them. This turned out to be a roaring success - the folks coming out of our recruitment/training process were really good.
But that made our company a good brand - in the jobs market - you had to only prove that you were from our firm to land an interview at any of the big brand cos in our city. So we in turn lost most of our trained resources to big brands (big 5 - global and Indian).
So what’s the moral of the story? Build a brand where it is required! :)
September 19th, 2004 at 7:00 pm reply
Brand names matter to a certain extent, but I believe it is the students who make the “brand name”. But being Indians, we are obessed with brands and the specs of a univ…can’t help that:)
Bottom line - It all depends on you..and a bit of luck;)
September 20th, 2004 at 3:54 pm reply
Thanks, Seema and Kiran for sharing your experiences. The jury is still out on whether branding matters a lot.
Queer - Not that luck again??? :)