Alumni network

[Sparklette]

How important or valuable do you think a large alumni network like UT Austin or UIUC is ? Or any other large respected university. Could be Wisconsin or BU or many others, Kentucky , Georgia Tech. Does the alumni take care of each other ? I mean is it reasonable to think that they will set you up (decent job) provided you have decent smarts, work ethic, and reasonable expectations?

From the people I know with coveted alumni networks, the huge benefit came more from promotions/recognition than initial job offerings. One guy I know probably got hired initially at Microsoft because he was recruited from his grad program at Harvard, but it was a connection he made from Harvard alumni meetups that put him in contact with the right people he was able to launch his own department within Microsoft. But really varies depending on area/industry. There's a local successful custom shirt company where I live that very heavily hires from the owners' alumni network for their accounting/BI roles, although I don't think those are hugely coveted/high prestige positions.