Ivy League son is graduating next month with a rubbish GPA and no FT job offer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I graduated from an Ivy with an engineering degree back in 1991, I only knew one person who got a job by May. We all managed to become productive citizens since. He’ll be fine.

Engineering and you didn't have any internships? No employer offered you and your friends jobs at the end of your rising senior summer internships?

No. Internships were something a small number of kids got back then, not the whole class. Most potential employers were laying people off, not hiring interns.

Well in 2004 my now DH graduated from a third tier school with a degree in engineering. Almost everyone in his major had a job offer by March of senior year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your, it’s insane to go straight into a job

What would you suggest people who aren’t rich and have student loans do after college? This is a very privileged position to take.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has he done anything substantive to show interest in his field while in college? Did he do research for a professor? Did he join any professional societies? Intern during the semester anywhere? Work a campus job? A summer job?

It's been 1.5 years since COVID were rolled back. If he has done nothing to sell about himself, he's just lazy.

I'm his mother and I'm not going to disagree with your appraisal. Now that we have that out of the way, how does he get a good job with a practically vacant resume and one month from earning an Ivy League bachelor's degree?

He doesn’t get a good job, he gets a job and builds up from there. There are plenty of places interested in hiring people with bachelor’s degrees in any field.

ITA. He has to start somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your, it’s insane to go straight into a job

What would you suggest people who aren’t rich and have student loans do after college? This is a very privileged position to take.

Tons and tons and tons of working and middle class people don't have "career" jobs lined up by April of senior year. We work(ed) crappy jobs, often part time with no benefits, until we could get better ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has he done anything substantive to show interest in his field while in college? Did he do research for a professor? Did he join any professional societies? Intern during the semester anywhere? Work a campus job? A summer job?

It's been 1.5 years since COVID were rolled back. If he has done nothing to sell about himself, he's just lazy.

I'm his mother and I'm not going to disagree with your appraisal. Now that we have that out of the way, how does he get a good job with a practically vacant resume and one month from earning an Ivy League bachelor's degree?

Has he tried the school's career counseling dept?

Heck, even my no name state u helped me get an internship and a job.

Even if he is graduating, he might have to just do an internship, possibly unpaid, to get some experience in his field.

What is his major?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are lots of jobs out there I bet he just doesn’t seem them as good enough- child protective services always needs employees (yes you can get some with a bachelor’s degree), paralegal. Hell tell him to get a job in retail and see if he can work his way up to management. That’s what my 21 year old cousin with only a HS diploma did.

I can't see a lazy guy from an Ivy doing any of this stuff.

OP, if your son is too high in the step to work crap jobs, you are either going to have to support him or do "tough love" and make him figure it out and hustle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I graduated from an Ivy with an engineering degree back in 1991, I only knew one person who got a job by May. We all managed to become productive citizens since. He’ll be fine.

Is this 1991?

Yeah when I graduated in 1992 a lot didn’t have jobs but it was a recession. I did internships every summer and had a job within a few months.

[Anonymous]

Temp agency to get foot in the door

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like law school material. At least, my top 5 law school 15 years ago was full of people who were there because they didn’t know what other next steps to take after college.

This.

But really, his Ivy League school should have helped him apply to some kind of 1-2 year training program in consulting or teach for America or something if he had no idea what he wanted to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are lots of jobs out there I bet he just doesn’t seem them as good enough- child protective services always needs employees (yes you can get some with a bachelor’s degree), paralegal. Hell tell him to get a job in retail and see if he can work his way up to management. That’s what my 21 year old cousin with only a HS diploma did.

Of course these aren’t good enough. The kid should be in some kind of professional program not working at McDonalds or CPS which is one step above.

[Anonymous]

If he is good with kids: in my field (K-12 education), it’s common for independent and private schools to have fellow programs, where a recent grad lives on campus of a school, helps out with teaching and coaching, doesn’t get paid very well, but it gives them a year to decide if they like teaching. I’ve known people from those programs who have gone into teaching, and people who have decided it was not for them and headed into different fields.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are lots of jobs out there I bet he just doesn’t seem them as good enough- child protective services always needs employees (yes you can get some with a bachelor’s degree), paralegal. Hell tell him to get a job in retail and see if he can work his way up to management. That’s what my 21 year old cousin with only a HS diploma did.

Of course these aren’t good enough. The kid should be in some kind of professional program not working at McDonalds or CPS which is one step above.

Should be? Maybe he should’ve worked harder then.

[Anonymous]

My dc friend who graduated from an ivy last spring is working a $15 a hour job. Bet they are hiring.

[Anonymous]

What kind of job does he want? Any kid with an Ivy league degree can get *a* job. Seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like law school material. At least, my top 5 law school 15 years ago was full of people who were there because they didn’t know what other next steps to take after college.

This.

But really, his Ivy League school should have helped him apply to some kind of 1-2 year training program in consulting or teach for America or something if he had no idea what he wanted to do.

I'm totally ignorant about TFA and I understand it has a veneer of prestige (or at least used to) but with demand high for teachers everywhere, why wouldn't an Ivy League or any bachelor's graduate just go get a real teaching job and do it for two years? I assume TFA pay is far less than a real teacher gets in total comp.