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Sharing the "Harvard environment" with talented peers can be pleasant, horizon-expanding, and occasionally inspirational. In my experience, though, it doesn't

Sharing the "Harvard environment" with talented peers can be pleasant, horizon-expanding, and occasionally inspirational. In my experience, though, it doesn't often inspire young people to change the world. Instead, it introduces them to lucrative career options (e.g., investment banking) available mainly to Ivy League grads. Given the massive salary differential compared to virtually anything else one could choose, most go that route.

microarchitect 16y ago
Fair enough, this is a valid point. To me, this indicates that there's an opportunity here for folks like Theil who have the ability to command the respect of the students at Harvard to get these students interested in opportunities other than those that lead to a quick financial payoffs but instead might have a bigger impact on society.
mbesto 16y ago
> * Instead, it introduces them to lucrative career options (e.g., investment banking) available mainly to Ivy League grads.* What happens when two bubbles collide? A bigger "POP"?
michaelochurch 16y ago
Instead, it introduces them to lucrative career options (e.g., investment banking) available mainly to Ivy League grads. Given the massive salary differential compared to virtually anything else one could choose, most go that route. Entry-level investment banking compensation is pretty low on an hourly basis-- definitely lower than entry-level technology. IBD is about the only six-figure job available out of college, but it's awful when you consider the nature of the work and most people leave the industry within a year, not capitalizing at all on the "exit options"
- gammarator 16y ago
  Agreed that the work is not nearly as appealing as an outsider imagines. My point is merely that when I graduated (caveat: ~6 years ago, pre-collapse), a majority (literally) of graduates were going into banking or high-profile consultancies. There is no way all those folks came to Harvard with the goal to join The System four years later, so the net effect of their education was to redirect their ambitions into existing power structures.
freshfunk 16y ago
Not Harvard, but Yale has put out more US Presidents than any Ivy league school (or any university for that matter).

microarchitect 16y ago

Fair enough, this is a valid point. To me, this indicates that there's an opportunity here for folks like Theil who have the ability to command the respect of the students at Harvard to get these students interested in opportunities other than those that lead to a quick financial payoffs but instead might have a bigger impact on society.

mbesto 16y ago

> * Instead, it introduces them to lucrative career options (e.g., investment banking) available mainly to Ivy League grads.* What happens when two bubbles collide? A bigger "POP"?

michaelochurch 16y ago

Instead, it introduces them to lucrative career options (e.g., investment banking) available mainly to Ivy League grads. Given the massive salary differential compared to virtually anything else one could choose, most go that route. Entry-level investment banking compensation is pretty low on an hourly basis-- definitely lower than entry-level technology. IBD is about the only six-figure job available out of college, but it's awful when you consider the nature of the work and most people leave the industry within a year, not capitalizing at all on the "exit options"

gammarator 16y ago
Agreed that the work is not nearly as appealing as an outsider imagines. My point is merely that when I graduated (caveat: ~6 years ago, pre-collapse), a majority (literally) of graduates were going into banking or high-profile consultancies. There is no way all those folks came to Harvard with the goal to join The System four years later, so the net effect of their education was to redirect their ambitions into existing power structures.

freshfunk 16y ago

Not Harvard, but Yale has put out more US Presidents than any Ivy league school (or any university for that matter).