It does come down to that, and it makes sense if you think about it.  Fresh grads come in batches of thousands at a time, many of them took the same classes, similar majors, etc, even across schools.  Grades sometimes matter, sometimes don&#x27;t (I had a low GPA because I had a bad habit of picking and choosing what I wanted to learn about, and it didn&#x27;t come in full course increments).  So what&#x27;s left is the network and internships - the demonstrated ability to act human enough that people will talk to you, and listen to your ideas and think enough of you to give you a shot at something.  That&#x27;s why I say Ivies still matter - there&#x27;s access from there to a very different network, and it opens up a job market that people like me would have very little access to.<p>This will be very New England focused, since that&#x27;s where I live, but if my daughter doesn&#x27;t get into an Ivy, I&#x27;d really try to talk her out of Colby or Bates as a consolation prize.  They&#x27;re fine schools, but very expensive, and probably not a whole lot better than some of the state options like UNH, UMaine, UMass, UVM, etc.  They&#x27;re not 20-30k more per year better anyway.