How do kids from lower ranked schools land prestigious internships/jobs?!?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It also turns out that no one in the real world cares about where your kids are going to school. Do you think that the top companies in Wherever do recruits from University of Wherever? They do. There are smart kids everywhere.

Not true. At all. Nice try though. Kids from University of Wherever may get jobs at top companies but it’s through connections, not recruitment efforts by the top company. If you are unconnected and not #1 at University of Wherever, it’s pretty hard to get a job at a top company.

You can convince yourself of that if it makes you feel better. But, for example, the tech firms in SV are taking as many kids of Santa Clara as they are from Stanford. Nike is taking as many kids from U of Oregon and Oregon State as they are from anywhere else. Google, Microsoft and Amazon all have offices in Boulder to specifically attract kids from CU. It’s a new world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’ve said this many times. It doesn’t matter where you go to school if you are charismatic, a hard worker and can network. My husband is one of those people. You never heard of his college. He’s a people person and thrives in social business meetings over dinner or drinks.

He is every bit as smart as me even though he went to a community college and a no name school. You heard of my college. No one asks either of us where we went to college now. No one cares about your degree after your first job.

Amazing that the ability to handle your booze for “dinner and drinks” are crucial to business rather than actual analysis, communicating strategy, proving metrics.

Athlete?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP is a troll, but here's something.

I am a hiring manager for interns at a DC think tank. We get 200-300 intern applications per slot. My team prioritizes diversity of background including beyond the top 20. I prioritize good grades and the willingness to do grunt work if necessary. A 3.9 from a state school with working class job experience is much more interesting than an Ivy student with a B average. Plus the opportunity is going to make a much bigger difference for them.

You do know that LMC/working class kids attend Ivy/top schools as well right? In fact, because of the generous financial aid, those schools end up being the most affordable option for these kids compared to a state school.

I’ve been part of hiring at various companies in NY and DC for 20+ years and have met kids from these top schools for whom going there was the only option because their parents simply didn’t have the money even for community college. The choice was top school or no college at all. I’ve met kids pulling a 3.9+ GPA, impressive extracurriculars and internships and working 20 hours a week to contribute to income at home coming from Ivy plus schools. So I think you should examine your bias.

I believe there are smart, hardworking, talented kids everywhere, from Harvard to universities ranked in the 200+, and that it’s really the kid not the school behind future success. I just disagree with the implication I’ve gotten from some of the posts on here that kids from top schools are entitled, lazy, and dumb. Based on my experience, that’s simply not true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's about the applicant, not the school.

~Parent whose CTCL kid had amazing internships and now has a great job at a FAANG

Why would they name school cohort after lymphoma?

Nothing to do on Friday night save scroll here?

[Anonymous]

What makes you think kids who are at “lesser ranked” schools didn’t work hard? My kid graduated too 10% of our noVA school and chose to go to VT. Guess what? He had an amazing internship summer before his junior year and they kept him on part time. Companies tripped over themselves terrifying him senior year. He went with a job that pays 120k\yr where he could live back here at home and power save.

He specifically chose VT because is the recruitment and internship support. Also not all majors are created equal. Prestige does not equal job opportunities. Social skills and making the best of your college experience through networking and going the right clubs is 80% of the battle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP is a troll, but here's something.

I am a hiring manager for interns at a DC think tank. We get 200-300 intern applications per slot. My team prioritizes diversity of background including beyond the top 20. I prioritize good grades and the willingness to do grunt work if necessary. A 3.9 from a state school with working class job experience is much more interesting than an Ivy student with a B average. Plus the opportunity is going to make a much bigger difference for them.

You do know that LMC/working class kids attend Ivy/top schools as well right? In fact, because of the generous financial aid, those schools end up being the most affordable option for these kids compared to a state school.

I’ve been part of hiring at various companies in NY and DC for 20+ years and have met kids from these top schools for whom going there was the only option because their parents simply didn’t have the money even for community college. The choice was top school or no college at all. I’ve met kids pulling a 3.9+ GPA, impressive extracurriculars and internships and working 20 hours a week to contribute to income at home coming from Ivy plus schools. So I think you should examine your bias.

I believe there are smart, hardworking, talented kids everywhere, from Harvard to universities ranked in the 200+, and that it’s really the kid not the school behind future success. I just disagree with the implication I’ve gotten from some of the posts on here that kids from top schools are entitled, lazy, and dumb. Based on my experience, that’s simply not true.

I agree with you--I've hired great interns from Harvard (both from wealthy and working class families), and great interns from the U of never heard of it. I think what's bothering people here is OP's implication that their top 20 kid should have gotten an internship because of where they go to school and that kids at lower ranked schools didn't work as hard to get into college so they shouldn't. That's a hard no from me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Life is about the hustle. You have to hustle to get anywhere in life. Even going to a top school, you have to hustle. No one gives you anything in life.

My husband owns a company and no longer like to hire from MIT or other top engineering schools because the student are quick to tell you where they went to school but don’t actually work much. The ego and entitlement make them difficult teammates and employees. He would rather hire a hard worker from a second tier university.

My DH is n a similar position and he says the same thing. Students from top tier schools often have massive egos and think they know everything already.

[Anonymous]

A friend who has the most prestigious job I know of (you would know her name) went to a decent but nowhere close to IVY on a full scholarship because they loved her FFA experience in high school, and it’s how she got her job too. Stories of waking up at 4am in sub-zero weather to feed hogs. I think it’s hilarious parents here think that what employers want are nepo kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It also turns out that no one in the real world cares about where your kids are going to school. Do you think that the top companies in Wherever do recruits from University of Wherever? They do. There are smart kids everywhere.

Not true. At all. Nice try though. Kids from University of Wherever may get jobs at top companies but it’s through connections, not recruitment efforts by the top company. If you are unconnected and not #1 at University of Wherever, it’s pretty hard to get a job at a top company.

You can convince yourself of that if it makes you feel better. But, for example, the tech firms in SV are taking as many kids of Santa Clara as they are from Stanford. Nike is taking as many kids from U of Oregon and Oregon State as they are from anywhere else. Google, Microsoft and Amazon all have offices in Boulder to specifically attract kids from CU. It’s a new world.

This speaks to the value of picking a college location can be critical. If you live in Santa Clara you hear about school year internships and can take advantage and you have a strong alumni network in SV. The flip side, is maybe don’t go to Santa Clara if you hope to work in robotics in Pittsburgh (in which case Pitt gets you great jobs alongside the CMU grads).

My kid is looking at some of the CA Jesuit schools and we told our kid that you should be prepared to at least start your career in CA as it could be much more difficult immediately returning to the DMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It also turns out that no one in the real world cares about where your kids are going to school. Do you think that the top companies in Wherever do recruits from University of Wherever? They do. There are smart kids everywhere.

Not true. At all. Nice try though. Kids from University of Wherever may get jobs at top companies but it’s through connections, not recruitment efforts by the top company. If you are unconnected and not #1 at University of Wherever, it’s pretty hard to get a job at a top company.

You can convince yourself of that if it makes you feel better. But, for example, the tech firms in SV are taking as many kids of Santa Clara as they are from Stanford. Nike is taking as many kids from U of Oregon and Oregon State as they are from anywhere else. Google, Microsoft and Amazon all have offices in Boulder to specifically attract kids from CU. It’s a new world.

Those are admin type jobs not SE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is at a top 25 school. He went through the summer internship interview process last year but didn’t land an internship with any of the prestigious employers people talk about here - banks, asset managers, consulting, etc. His school is so bloody competitive and there are so many hard driving and high achieving kids and, I guess, only this many spots at these firms per school. Kid has been pretty devastated.

But what has made it worse is seeing kids from lower ranked schools on LinkedIn, think 150+, who end up with internships at such places! I realise how this comes off but it is deeply upsetting when kid had to work SO hard to get into a top school and then see kids who have worked less hard, coming from schools with 80%+ acceptance rates, end up with opportunities that we have been told are easier to get as top school grads.

Kid just feels, what was the point of busting his behind so hard, he could have taken it easier, enjoyed high school a bit more, could have gone to a lower ranked school and still ended up at BlackRock or JP Morgan or Bain. And, of course, I haven’t shared this with him, but I’ve started feeling the same way.

I by no means am disparaging the kids from the 150+ university…but are they really doing the same internship?

My friend’s kid at 150+ school worked a summer internship at GS. Sounds awesome…except it was as a back-office intern in Salt Lake City.

That is still valuable experience and yes the kid did intern at GS…but not as a quant or IBanker in NYC.

That said, maybe your own kid should look into these types of internships.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP is a troll, but here's something.

I am a hiring manager for interns at a DC think tank. We get 200-300 intern applications per slot. My team prioritizes diversity of background including beyond the top 20. I prioritize good grades and the willingness to do grunt work if necessary. A 3.9 from a state school with working class job experience is much more interesting than an Ivy student with a B average. Plus the opportunity is going to make a much bigger difference for them.

I thought OP was talking about prestigious jobs. Yours is a lower end job that doesn’t care about profit or meritocracy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another hiring partner weighing in. We hire the person with experience. So long as I have heard of your school, you did well and have experience that lines up with our field, you get an interview. Does not matter of it is Princeton or Vanderbilt or Ohio Wesleyan or Cal State Poly or CNU or High Point etc. Once you get the interview, we hire the person with the best personality and experience in our field. The name of the school does not matter.

- Signed person who went to a fancy school who now works along side people who went to schools I had never heard of making a nice amount of $$ and fair amount of prestige.

I appreciate hearing from people like you. So may I ask another question (I"m a new poster). My kid did horribly his first year in a very well respected business school--and still struggles on and off, because of ADHD. He is incredibly and hard-working, but because his GPA is a 2.8, cannot land an internship anywhere for after his junior year. Will he ever be able to get a job? He is personable, earnest, hard-working and smart. Just inconsistent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP is a troll, but here's something.

I am a hiring manager for interns at a DC think tank. We get 200-300 intern applications per slot. My team prioritizes diversity of background including beyond the top 20. I prioritize good grades and the willingness to do grunt work if necessary. A 3.9 from a state school with working class job experience is much more interesting than an Ivy student with a B average. Plus the opportunity is going to make a much bigger difference for them.

I thought OP was talking about prestigious jobs. Yours is a lower end job that doesn’t care about profit or meritocracy.

Right? What a blowhard. Don't worry. My B average finance major kid has no desire to work for performative woke think tank nerds with a chip on their shoulders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I worked for a Big 4 consulting firm starting in the mid 90’s. What a time. Here were some of the valuable KSA’s then:

- Knowledge of Bourbon and Cigars
- Skill to strike a golf ball just so
- Ability to carry on a conversation

Success was about building relationships.

Total garbage zero skilled. No wonder stem majors are winning