What if every college in the United States was part of a franchise like McDonald's is?  Suppose you knew that all colleges were exactly the same—same classes, same quality teachers, same majors and clubs and support services.  And every student graduated with exactly the same degree from McDonald's University.  What would you do to stand out and show potential employers that you weren’t just another student version of a Big Mac?

You’d probably go out of your way to stand out before you ever graduated.  You’d go to every class and get to know your professors.  You’d take on big projects in your clubs, look for valuable internships or programs to do over the summer, and learn as much as you possibly could.  From the first day of college, you’d be doing whatever it took to show people four years later that you got a lot more out of your college experience than the average student did.

Given that colleges aren't like McDonald’s at all, what if you did those things at the school that was a great fit for you?  You’d be unstoppable when you graduated no matter what the name of your school was.