Exactly, and after college, if you know you have the ability, find out what conferences, in your field, that are being held all over the world. Organize your vacation to travel to Italy or wherever and, for a fee, you can become a speaker.
Go to a couple of these conferences it will cost you a few hundred dollars but if you are good, you will make a name for yourself with people who matter.
Never waste a vacation, two days at the Conference - a prepared presentation, and ten days having a great holiday.
At least your CV will stand out among the crowd and you will never get such value for the money you spend even if you went to Harvard.
PS. If you are a guy it helps to have an elegant lady with you, she will really help you NETWORK at these conferences. :)
Good call, cheers for that...
This is only partly true, but it does reflect the one true difference between going to an ivy league (or equivalent) university or 'little ivy' or equivalent liberal arts college, on the one hand, and any of the literally thousands of public and private colleges that are not prestigious: what I've long described as "East Pottowottamie Teachers Normal School and State University."
That is, if one goes to 'old XX' one can (but doesn't necessarily) meet and interact with the children of the elites who have money, position, and/or prestige. Those who will inherit, or will step into the prestigious positions that require connections. And, if one does mingle with them successfully, one can end up on the edges of those circles (or even into them in rare cases) and can take advantage of these sorts of connections to rise oneself. While in the main, it's true that the average student at the top universities is more intrinsically capable, and the faculty is often 'better', the fact is that a student at almost any respectable state university or private college can get the nuts and bolts of an education every bit as good as that which can be obtained at the ivy brand institution. The only reason to pay 'ivy prices' for an education is to actually get the branded product. And even then, it's arguable, unless one takes a very rigorous curriculum and makes a conscious effort to get the most out of it socially as welly. The truly appalling spectacle is watch people pay ivy prices ($50,000+ per year) for colleges and universities that will not provide the networking opportunities and cachet that the brand name schools represent.
My own career went a lot better once I realized that some people are allergic to cats and many people don't like having them walk across the table of hor devours.