Any Ivy graduates here? Ivy League graduate son in a funk, humuliated, & remains jobless

[Anonymous]

OP leave his GPA off of his resume. Simply post the month and year he graduated from the Ivy.

It sounds like he has not worked the last 3 summers? I'd have him pick up a couple of jobs this summer while he is sending out resumes and networking.

Start running your vacuum at 6:00 am down the hallway outside his bedroom. That is what Mom did when none of us had jobs after college graduation. It motivated us to get jobs and out of the house.

[Anonymous]

My husband worked as a golf course superintendent over the years. They hired several Harvard students and recent Harvard graduates to work as golf course mowers during the summer months.

[Anonymous]

When I graduated in 1991 my Ivy graduate friend was selling shoes at fending bc there were no better jobs. Then he joined an unheard of brand new hedge fund. DE Shaw. He’s okay now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I found americorps to be a waste of life. Underpaid and surrounded by idiot wannabe tyrants. Doesn’t help your resume and not a network of creepy people I ever tapped or ever sought to even associate with after that year.

There are different "tracks" in Americorps-- NCCC, VISTA, and a ton of local programs. Most programs are locally managed and there is a ton of variety. I don't think you can generalize about Americorps because it really depends on the specific organization you're working with. It's like saying "college is a waste" when obviously every school is different.

I suspect PP did NCCC or the old-school Americorps, where you were part of a cohort that did a series of short-term projects. I do think that "track" is less valuable than, say, working in a rural clinic or a domestic violence shelter for a year (which I/ a friend did through Americorps).

[Anonymous]

Coaching a robotics team in Alaska sounds like a killer first job! I wish I were young again, lol
https://my.americorps.gov/mp/listing/viewListing.do?fromSearch=true&id=103986

[Anonymous]

This is ridiculous. It is an undergraduate degree and it doesn’t matter if it’s an Ivy League degree it qualifies him to do absolutely nothing. He needs to get an entry-level job immediately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted a few months ago about my son's looming graduation. Now he is home and moping around. He finally opened up that feels like an idiot, he's overwhelmed and he's humiliated compared to all of his overachieving classmates. He's scared to ask his more connected friends (and their parents) for help because his resume is so vacant and they seem so perfect. He knows he can apply for random entry-level jobs any random college grad can apply for but he feels like he has wasted the opportunity if he settles for anything. He does not mean that in a snobby way–we are just a middle class family–but I also know how that could come across. It was a very expensive education and the opportunity of a lifetime. Any help in coaxing him out of this funk and where he should be looking is appreciated. Should he contact career services at his alma mater or would reaching out to his network of friends and their parents offer far more opportunities?

I want to stress his resume is basically vacant outside of the new BA and his GPA is pretty abysmal, so he thinks he's going to be mocked or his resume will just be ignored.

He needs to recognize his privilege and get his arse into gear. Millions of American kids would kill for his degree. Why? Because it is a golden ticket that can pay dividends for the next 40 years. Anyone can go buy an Ivy graduate degree, the true pedigree is that bachelor's degree. Your son doesn't realize how easy it is. It is as easy as cold emailing a local rich guy who went to the same college. Brief but be sure to include he just graduated, concentration, any honors, and something like "I admire your success and was wondering if you'd have any insights into seeking a full-time offer..." It is THAT easy in these rarefied networks.

My D1 did something similar and was quickly offered a $10,000 summer job a few years ago.

[Anonymous]

Any updates on your DS - OP?

[Anonymous]

Best way to get a job is to have a job, any job.

[Anonymous]

I agree with “any job.” It will get his engine running & show him how crappy life can be if he doesn’t get focused. I had plenty of grunt jobs I never put on a resume.

I’m an ex-military officer with a kid who recently completed Marine OCS & TBS. Marine officer training is way tougher than other services, & from what I can tell, OP’s kid wouldn’t last a month. Try any service except Marines. If not the leader type, swallow your entitlement & try Space Force as enlisted. Once in, education, travel, & promotion opportunities are endless.

Another option is to focus on education, & get it to be the highlight of the resume by getting a master’s degree, even an online one. This will take the spotlight off the low undergrad gpa. The majority of grad programs (though not the top ones) will admit low-gpa students on probation, & that is lifted after completing a few courses successfully.

Any field will do for a master’s, but even better if it’s something in demand. A relative in a similar predicament got a master’s in accounting from a business-focused college even with minimal prior business classes & work experience. He quickly got an accounting job…end of problem.

Another angle with a master’s program is to get it in a subject that is commonly taught in community colleges. A few years of part-time (“adjunct”) teaching would boost his ego & give him confidence to shoot for something better.

[Anonymous]

Another popular route back was to join the Peace Corps.

[Anonymous]

i suggested on your previous thread that your son look into jobs at independent schools; he can go to NAIS jobs. I love the Alaska idea from PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another option is to focus on education, & get it to be the highlight of the resume by getting a master’s degree, even an online one.

Seriously? More education and taking on more student loan debt?  Doesn't sound like a good idea.  

Start emailing all the Ivy alumni that attended the same school he did immediately.  He doesn't need all of them to say yes, just one that says yes will do the job.

[Anonymous]

Some of the comments are amusing. People really, greatly, hugely, exaggerate the ability of a mere Ivy degree to get you a great job. An Ivy degree can make recruiters and hiring managers look more closely at your resume but that's it. There are plenty of Ivy grads who get nowhere. There's no quotas set aside for Ivy grads at premier investment firms and IB isn't what it was 20 years ago either. Yes, the bright kids go on to great things but they proactively made it happen rather than waiting for it to happen. The "networking" is nothing like what some people on here might want to believe. It barely exists. If anything, it's better at UVA than Columbia.

OP, the good news is that your son has a few years to figure out his life. The bad news is that he only has a few years. The next few years really are critical to his long term success. The risk is that he squanders those years ambling around without discipline. He needs to think long and hard about what he'd like to do with his life, study career options and think about which ones appeal to him. A decent way forward may be for him to get one of those BUNAC visas and work in the UK for a year, even in a pub, just to get out of the house into a different country. He can think of it as a delayed gap year. Then during the year he reviews all sorts of graduate programs and figure out what kind of generic master's he'd like that gets him into the industry appealing to him. There's solid jobs in accounting and data management that may not be sexy but with competence and being reliable and smart at it, will get him to six figure incomes quickly and even up to 200k+ as senior managers by his early 30s if he's disciplined and strategic with job hopping.

I've noticed that kids coming out of fancy colleges who aren't already on the law/medicine/STEM phD track or recruited for investment banking or consulting are often afraid of the "dullness" of 40-50 hour week corporate jobs. They sound boring, they're not "interesting," and after being a student for so long the prospect of being chained to a desk for 40-50 hours a week can be scary. But that's adulthood. Don't delay adulthood. And working in a pub for a year is a good way to quickly develop an appreciation for the dull and boring desk job!

[Anonymous]

Make appointments and drive him around to talk to the military recruiters.

He can still pick up a beach job. There is big money to be made at beach work for those with hustle. There is about 8-10 weeks left of the beach work season at Bethany, Rehoboth, Dewey and Ocean City.