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

[Anonymous]

Military recruiters.

My sister and several other Wharton Business School from her Ivy went into the Marine OCS.

She was surprised to see other classmates in her program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

Not to be rude, but a huge part of the problem here seems to be that both you and he think there's something really special or different about getting a job out of an Ivy League school than any other school. Sure, there are differences, but get over it.

Yes, he should absolutely contact his career services office.

How many 22 year old Ivy League graduates are minted each year? It is pretty rarefied air and some employers do actually pay a hefty premium to employ them.

This kind of stupid attitude is how he ended up where he is.

It’s not stupid at all. I know Harvard MBAs are recruited right out of school or at least they used to be. Do they have recruiters come in to talk to the undergraduates? Have you thought of graduate school? (Not law school, there are too many already)

Harvard and other top MBAs do not recruit MBAs out of undergrad and has not done so for a long time. It's basically impossible to go straight out of undergrad. The few people I knew who did it were nontraditional undergrads that were also working full time during the day at the same time, or they were part of unusual joint programs where the MBA was combined with another degree like a JD or a PhD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

Not to be rude, but a huge part of the problem here seems to be that both you and he think there's something really special or different about getting a job out of an Ivy League school than any other school. Sure, there are differences, but get over it.

Yes, he should absolutely contact his career services office.

How many 22 year old Ivy League graduates are minted each year? It is pretty rarefied air and some employers do actually pay a hefty premium to employ them.

This kind of stupid attitude is how he ended up where he is.

It’s not stupid at all. I know Harvard MBAs are recruited right out of school or at least they used to be. Do they have recruiters come in to talk to the undergraduates? Have you thought of graduate school? (Not law school, there are too many already)

Harvard and other top MBAs do not recruit MBAs out of undergrad and has not done so for a long time. It's basically impossible to go straight out of undergrad. The few people I knew who did it were nontraditional undergrads that were also working full time during the day at the same time, or they were part of unusual joint programs where the MBA was combined with another degree like a JD or a PhD.

Only weaker mba programs typically take people out of college and weaker mba plus no post college full time work experience is basically a kiss of death for getting a post mba job

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Military recruiters.

My sister and several other Wharton Business School from her Ivy went into the Marine OCS.

She was surprised to see other classmates in her program.

This is very good advice. They’ll take you with no experience and give training. Then you get to go to a great grad school on mil scholarship. And after you have tons of veterans hiring programs. Plus they will knock some reality into him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have him volunteer on a political campaign while searching for a role job or applying to grad school.

If he is interested in politics or policy at all, this is a good suggestion, if he is willing to work hard. They won’t care about GPA, and it can often lead to a full time job if the candidate is elected and your son makes a good impression. I know quite a few successful people who got their start this way.

Amplifying this - political campaign or fundraising gigs is a great idea. If you are in the DC area and know anyone who does this work, have your son reach out. Or just have him cold call.

Also, if you are in DC, staff assistant on the Hill is an option. Start asking neighbors and friends for contacts. Even an unpaid internship could lead to a full-time spot.

Finally, I think others have mentioned paralegal work - that work is often in-person and some firms are having trouble finding people who want to work in-person full-time. Again in DC area, there are so many lawyers and he can reach out to family friends and neighbors.

Good luck, OP - I hope he has found something!

[Anonymous]

Has he found something?? Let us know. Happy to help if we can…

[Anonymous]

I went to an Ivy, and I took crappy entry-level jobs after I graduated. I had a humanities degree and very poor job prospects, despite the Ivy degree. I eventually went to grad school and had a career, so all worked out. But an Ivy degree does not give you entry into great jobs. Many of my classmates were waiting tables, doing admin type jobs, nothing fancy after they graduated. An Ivy gives you a great education, but does not prepare you for the job market.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Military recruiters.

My sister and several other Wharton Business School from her Ivy went into the Marine OCS.

She was surprised to see other classmates in her program.

This is very good advice. They’ll take you with no experience and give training. Then you get to go to a great grad school on mil scholarship. And after you have tons of veterans hiring programs. Plus they will knock some reality into him.

Ok, but this advice is not for everyone. He should have interest in being in the military.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have him volunteer on a political campaign while searching for a role job or applying to grad school.

If he is interested in politics or policy at all, this is a good suggestion, if he is willing to work hard. They won’t care about GPA, and it can often lead to a full time job if the candidate is elected and your son makes a good impression. I know quite a few successful people who got their start this way.

My daughter is in the same boat. How so you suggest she approach volunteering for a political campaign? (sorry for my ignorance. DD was an IR major, but spouse and I are scientist/tech sales, respectively). Do campaigns advertise these opportunities? Or should she target local candidates she believes in and email the “chief of staff” to offer her full-time services?

Also, what kinds of work would she be expected to do? I want to discuss this idea with her but I am not sure howto explain what political campaign interns do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Military recruiters.

My sister and several other Wharton Business School from her Ivy went into the Marine OCS.

She was surprised to see other classmates in her program.

This is very good advice. They’ll take you with no experience and give training. Then you get to go to a great grad school on mil scholarship. And after you have tons of veterans hiring programs. Plus they will knock some reality into him.

Marines are hard core. I would suggest air force unless you really want to be a Marine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Military recruiters.

My sister and several other Wharton Business School from her Ivy went into the Marine OCS.

She was surprised to see other classmates in her program.

This is very good advice. They’ll take you with no experience and give training. Then you get to go to a great grad school on mil scholarship. And after you have tons of veterans hiring programs. Plus they will knock some reality into him.

Marines are hard core. I would suggest air force unless you really want to be a Marine.

I know at least two Ivy league grads who went straight into the Air Force and have had great careers. Retirement by age 42 with a pension and lots of post retirement job options is a great position.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have him volunteer on a political campaign while searching for a role job or applying to grad school.

If he is interested in politics or policy at all, this is a good suggestion, if he is willing to work hard. They won’t care about GPA, and it can often lead to a full time job if the candidate is elected and your son makes a good impression. I know quite a few successful people who got their start this way.

My daughter is in the same boat. How so you suggest she approach volunteering for a political campaign? (sorry for my ignorance. DD was an IR major, but spouse and I are scientist/tech sales, respectively). Do campaigns advertise these opportunities? Or should she target local candidates she believes in and email the “chief of staff” to offer her full-time services?

Also, what kinds of work would she be expected to do? I want to discuss this idea with her but I am not sure howto explain what political campaign interns do.

Better to work in a call center than as a volunteer for a political campaign. Call center workers get paid while building up their resumes. Call centers often are highly structured and highly supervised environments which is a good entry into the private sector.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have him volunteer on a political campaign while searching for a role job or applying to grad school.

If he is interested in politics or policy at all, this is a good suggestion, if he is willing to work hard. They won’t care about GPA, and it can often lead to a full time job if the candidate is elected and your son makes a good impression. I know quite a few successful people who got their start this way.

My daughter is in the same boat. How so you suggest she approach volunteering for a political campaign? (sorry for my ignorance. DD was an IR major, but spouse and I are scientist/tech sales, respectively). Do campaigns advertise these opportunities? Or should she target local candidates she believes in and email the “chief of staff” to offer her full-time services?

Also, what kinds of work would she be expected to do? I want to discuss this idea with her but I am not sure howto explain what political campaign interns do.

Better to work in a call center than as a volunteer for a political campaign. Call center workers get paid while building up their resumes. Call centers often are highly structured and highly supervised environments which is a good entry into the private sector.

Huh? Working in a call center does not help the resume of a college graduate. If anything, it hurts.

Volunteering at a campaign would be a chance to network.

[Anonymous]

What is the original thread and is there an update to this story?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is his resume vacant? Was there any internship? Work-study? Tutoring? Volunteering?

Can he network with professors or connected classmates for any referral?

Similar thing happened to me. I had a bad GPA so I couldn’t get internships in my field. Coming from a state school, my
Resume was probably thrown in the garbage!