I just read an interesting article over at Bloomberg that discusses the value of our alma maters as a source of connections (i.e. networking). Not surprisingly, of course, the article starts-out by discussing the premium value placed on the Ivy League schools like Harvard and Wharton whose names are tossed-around Wall Street on a daily basis. There's no doubt that graduates of these schools have wealth of networking possibilities due, simply, to the immense size of the alumni populations from such schools. What's really interesting, however, is what the author found about schools in general - ivy league or otherwise.
Simply, we're happy to help those who share something in common with us. It speaks to human tendencies in general, I suppose. Birds of a feather, right? Well, those of us who graduated from schools with less well-known alumni networks may be happy to hear that the bonds between alumni may be even stronger for the very simple reason that there are fewer people out there to take advantage of those networks. It makes a lot of sense, when you think about it.
Harvard, for example, has such an enormous alumni network that there is no doubt that thousands are looking to benefit from that network on a daily basis. Conversely, graduates of smaller schools may encounter a fellow alumni rarely; consequently, these rare encounters are all the more special and may thus result in that much more value to each member looking to benefit from these networks in some way. Hurray!
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