Why You Can’t Catch Up (Published 2014) (2024)

College counselors have used this chestnut to assuage ambitious, cash-strapped students for decades: Don’t worry about attending a top college. What matters is where you go to graduate school. A stellar master’s degree can “scrub” an undergraduate diploma from a less prestigious, and more affordable, institution.

“I’ve always been told, and I tell the kids, that your career and salary aren’t really affected by where you wind up at college, and anyway, you can go to a better graduate school,” said Carla Shere, who, in addition to counseling private clients, is director of college planning for Humanities Preparatory Academy, a progressive public high school in Manhattan.

Unfortunately, that consoling bit of advice is wrong, according to Joni Hersch, a Vanderbilt University economics and law professor.

It is extremely difficult for students from less competitive colleges to gain admission to top graduate programs, including law and business schools, regardless of how good their grades and scores are. And those who do rarely attain the earnings power of peers who attended elite colleges. “The myth is that there are lots of entry points in the system, ways for people to rise up, to climb the educational ladder, but the numbers tell a different story,” Dr. Hersch said.