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Investment Banks, Management Consulting, Big Law, not so much either...granted, a Harvard grad with 3.5 will get more slack than a kid from Random State School

Investment Banks, Management Consulting, Big Law, not so much either...granted, a Harvard grad with 3.5 will get more slack than a kid from Random State School with similar grades and major. But still, many of the companies mentioned above still just look at the GPA - not so much at the actual content. Career coaches for places like that will advise college students to focus on maximizing grades, at the cost of intellectually demanding classes (or anything, really!) because in the end - recruiters don't care whether you took Introduction to Theater, or Math 55 at Harvard. So yes, at least big tech - even though the technical interviews can be tough - are indeed making the opportunities more accessible. You're not getting blanket rejections based on your freshman grades.

neilv 4y ago
> Career coaches for places like that will advise college students to focus on maximizing grades, at the cost of intellectually demanding classes (or anything, really!) At MIT, some undergrads could get hired as research assistants for professor's projects (usually working under the direction of one of the professor's grad students). But MIT undergrads can have punishing courseloads, and it wasn't unusual for students to get overwhelmed with classes, and ghost the research side job. I'd hear grad students say that it seemed silly for one of their undergrad assistants to trade a recommendation from a well-connected professor, for only a slightly better GPA. But, in hindsight, I suppose that the undergrads knew what they were doing.
- hgsgm 4y ago
  > I suppose that the undergrads knew what they were doing. Based on what evidence?