7 ms·

Dunno if it was Harvard as a whole, but a couple of years ago I read a rapport that Harvard feeds roughly 66% of all their grads into Finance, Management Consul

Dunno if it was Harvard as a whole, but a couple of years ago I read a rapport that Harvard feeds roughly 66% of all their grads into Finance, Management Consulting, Big Law, and Tech - basically elite white-collar jobs - despite only around 25% of their student mass studying anything related to those fields. I guess most Harvard grads go where the money is. EDIT: But a bit more related to the OP, when I studied EE (undergrad) in a college with close ties to the oil and gas industry, we were all wined and dined by big oil for the last 2 years. During one of those dinner events, hosted by a big service company, they told us to just sign our names and major on a form they passed around - if we did that, we'd get a job offer in the mail a week later. Some of the larger oil (production) companies guaranteed free housing for the first two years, and they'd cover 50% of the mortgage for 5 years if we decided to purchase a house. That was on top of a high starting salary w/annual bonuses. Should be mentioned that this was during the height of a boom cycle.

siva7 4y ago
Why study at Harvard to end up in a low-paying sector? No need for a degree from a famous institution.
- asimpletune 4y ago
  To help people
- s_dev 4y ago
  Some things are more important than money. Studying at Harvard can offer a lot more than a good ROI on your degree -- including the opportunity to work and get to know some very smart people. Lots of people graduated from Harvard to go on to make very little money but large contributions e.g. Richard Stallman is the parsimonious example that comes to mind. Noam Chomsky and other top academics probably aren't rolling around in cash either.
  - ghaff 4y ago
    It may not be Big Tech/Law/etc. type money, but tenured professors at elite schools have a pretty comfortable lifestyle--assuming of course that academia is your thing. (And, of course, depending on a lot of specifics like ability to consult, write books, get paid speaking engagements, etc.)
- HPsquared 4y ago
  Power, prestige and influence
- BaculumMeumEst 4y ago
  to feel superior
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- twic 4y ago
  The one that really puzzles me is management consulting. Finance, law, and tech are at least intellectually extremely engaging, as well as well-paid. Isn't management consulting just running round showing people bullshit powerpoints?
  - xyzelement 4y ago
    It has this reputation but it doesn't match my 2nd hand experience. Dated two management consultants in my life. One was deeply involved in deciding the next CEO of Disney after a few years out of college, as an example. The other reported being basically in charge of a turnaround effort at a fortune 500 company. Both examples required them to deeply understand the situation and the options and then to advocate for the path they have chosen. Seemed fun and impactful.
    - MichaelZuo 4y ago
      Are you sure they weren't exaggerating? It's difficult to imagine they would be anything more than assistants to the real decision makers.
      - hd95489 4y ago
        It’s possible they were young and couldn’t see the big picture of who was power playing where and how
      - xyzelement 4y ago
        // anything more than assistants to the real decision makers. Of course but it's the same thing. Executives and the board make the decisions and take responsibility for them. But generally they make these decisions based on the framing and options presented to them by people who work for them. As a consultant, you get to decide what dimensions matter to the decisions, gather data and arguments, and present the executive with a choice. The executive skill is to have oriented you around the right topics, deciding whether to trust you and your analysis, and ability to stand behind the decision made. The "assistants" do the work to enable this. It's a big deal.
- p0pcult 4y ago
  Yale Undergrad,then Teach For America for 5 years. I felt it was my moral imperative to actually help people, in particular, because I eas well served by the public shool system where I gre up.
  - rayiner 4y ago
    And then you became a public school teacher? Because lots of people do TFA en route to big law (or finance, etc.)
    - p0pcult 4y ago
      And then I became a shoe salesman, because education seems to have a lot of intractable problems.
- boh 4y ago
  To get into politics. 8 US presidents were Harvard grads.
  - otoburb 4y ago
    It seems "only" 5 US presidents were Harvard graduates[1]. Harvard, Yale and Princeton (colloquially known as HYP[2]) can lay claim to 10 US presidents, or 22% of the 46 US presidents. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidents_of_the_United_States_by_education https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidents_of_the_Unit... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Three_(colleges) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Three_(colleges)
- xyzelement 4y ago
  I agree with you but also want to share this anecdote. I went undergrad to a state school, studied CS and graduated to a great tech/finance job. But something I recognize in retrospect I never got in college was "being challenged by my peers." I didn't really get this until I started doing recruiting for my company. I would go to career fairs at most colleges and the kids would remind me of kids I went to school with. Then I'd visit a "top" school and the kids blew me away: they were mature, articulate, focused and ambitious. It came through in how they talked about their careers. The student body at a top school makes it harder for you to coast as an unfocused mushmouth. So you have 4 years of being shaped by the environment and challenged by your peers. I didn't get that until after I graduated and lucked out into a company that gave me such an environment.
  - strikelaserclaw 4y ago
    same here, when you are surrounded by high achievers, it kinda wants to make you achieve and push your limits and boundaries, not to mention the many learning opportunities from the peer group.
    - xyzelement 4y ago
      Yes, and I think it just changes your own idea of what's acceptable. In my college, I probably ranked pretty high on "articulate and driven" so there was no motivation to elevate that. At MIT, I would have probably been below average on these categories, and you don't want to be below average so you naturally do it more and better.
rayiner 4y ago
Contrast that statistic about where HYP grads go to this speech Barbara Walters gave at my brother’s graduation at Yale: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7llYZ2XqLX4 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7llYZ2XqLX4 It’s one of the dumbest speeches I’ve ever heard, but what made it especially delicious was knowing that 2/3 of the kids she was talking to apparently were “finding their bliss” working for Goldman Sachs and McKinsey.

siva7 4y ago

Why study at Harvard to end up in a low-paying sector? No need for a degree from a famous institution.

asimpletune 4y ago
To help people
s_dev 4y ago
Some things are more important than money. Studying at Harvard can offer a lot more than a good ROI on your degree -- including the opportunity to work and get to know some very smart people. Lots of people graduated from Harvard to go on to make very little money but large contributions e.g. Richard Stallman is the parsimonious example that comes to mind. Noam Chomsky and other top academics probably aren't rolling around in cash either.
- ghaff 4y ago
  It may not be Big Tech/Law/etc. type money, but tenured professors at elite schools have a pretty comfortable lifestyle--assuming of course that academia is your thing. (And, of course, depending on a lot of specifics like ability to consult, write books, get paid speaking engagements, etc.)
HPsquared 4y ago
Power, prestige and influence
BaculumMeumEst 4y ago
to feel superior
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
twic 4y ago
The one that really puzzles me is management consulting. Finance, law, and tech are at least intellectually extremely engaging, as well as well-paid. Isn't management consulting just running round showing people bullshit powerpoints?
- xyzelement 4y ago
  It has this reputation but it doesn't match my 2nd hand experience. Dated two management consultants in my life. One was deeply involved in deciding the next CEO of Disney after a few years out of college, as an example. The other reported being basically in charge of a turnaround effort at a fortune 500 company. Both examples required them to deeply understand the situation and the options and then to advocate for the path they have chosen. Seemed fun and impactful.
  - MichaelZuo 4y ago
    Are you sure they weren't exaggerating? It's difficult to imagine they would be anything more than assistants to the real decision makers.
    - hd95489 4y ago
      It’s possible they were young and couldn’t see the big picture of who was power playing where and how
    - xyzelement 4y ago
      // anything more than assistants to the real decision makers. Of course but it's the same thing. Executives and the board make the decisions and take responsibility for them. But generally they make these decisions based on the framing and options presented to them by people who work for them. As a consultant, you get to decide what dimensions matter to the decisions, gather data and arguments, and present the executive with a choice. The executive skill is to have oriented you around the right topics, deciding whether to trust you and your analysis, and ability to stand behind the decision made. The "assistants" do the work to enable this. It's a big deal.
p0pcult 4y ago
Yale Undergrad,then Teach For America for 5 years. I felt it was my moral imperative to actually help people, in particular, because I eas well served by the public shool system where I gre up.
- rayiner 4y ago
  And then you became a public school teacher? Because lots of people do TFA en route to big law (or finance, etc.)
  - p0pcult 4y ago
    And then I became a shoe salesman, because education seems to have a lot of intractable problems.
boh 4y ago
To get into politics. 8 US presidents were Harvard grads.
- otoburb 4y ago
  It seems "only" 5 US presidents were Harvard graduates[1]. Harvard, Yale and Princeton (colloquially known as HYP[2]) can lay claim to 10 US presidents, or 22% of the 46 US presidents. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidents_of_the_United_States_by_education https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidents_of_the_Unit... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Three_(colleges) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Three_(colleges)
xyzelement 4y ago
I agree with you but also want to share this anecdote. I went undergrad to a state school, studied CS and graduated to a great tech/finance job. But something I recognize in retrospect I never got in college was "being challenged by my peers." I didn't really get this until I started doing recruiting for my company. I would go to career fairs at most colleges and the kids would remind me of kids I went to school with. Then I'd visit a "top" school and the kids blew me away: they were mature, articulate, focused and ambitious. It came through in how they talked about their careers. The student body at a top school makes it harder for you to coast as an unfocused mushmouth. So you have 4 years of being shaped by the environment and challenged by your peers. I didn't get that until after I graduated and lucked out into a company that gave me such an environment.
- strikelaserclaw 4y ago
  same here, when you are surrounded by high achievers, it kinda wants to make you achieve and push your limits and boundaries, not to mention the many learning opportunities from the peer group.
  - xyzelement 4y ago
    Yes, and I think it just changes your own idea of what's acceptable. In my college, I probably ranked pretty high on "articulate and driven" so there was no motivation to elevate that. At MIT, I would have probably been below average on these categories, and you don't want to be below average so you naturally do it more and better.

rayiner 4y ago

Contrast that statistic about where HYP grads go to this speech Barbara Walters gave at my brother’s graduation at Yale: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7llYZ2XqLX4 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7llYZ2XqLX4 It’s one of the dumbest speeches I’ve ever heard, but what made it especially delicious was knowing that 2/3 of the kids she was talking to apparently were “finding their bliss” working for Goldman Sachs and McKinsey.