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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I believe TFA provides at least some structured training and a path to a teaching license.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It is, and it is not easy to get in to. But they do provide training and support to learn how to teach. There may now be state and county programs that do that, though - pair you with a mentor, summer training, etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I believe TFA provides at least some structured training and a path to a teaching license.

Gotcha. I thought I read districts were so hard up for teachers they're hiring non-licensed teachers on a pathway-to-license basis as well.

[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.

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.

+1 I graduated in '92 around when the recession hit. Even my low rated no name state u had local internships that paid but weren't glamorous jobs. They were boring office jobs, but I wanted the experience and the pay. That internship resulted in my first job right out of college - $26K.

[Anonymous]

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

? doing what? What did they major in? I find this incredible. Do they have family money? What a waste.

[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.

+1 - or look into something like Teach For America (is that still around) or something along those lines that will put experience on his resume that he can later leverage into work he's actually interested in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Yes, folks, thanks for the history lesson. Guess what? Things have changed since 1991 and since 2004.

[Anonymous]

Starbucks, McDonalds, Lowes, Home Depot, taking practical classes at a local community college that are designed to train for specific jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Yes, folks, thanks for the history lesson. Guess what? Things have changed since 1991 and since 2004.

Well, in 1989 most of my graduating class was not able to find a job by graduation, and most of us had to work doing whatever we could find until we received that first professional break.

Schools and temp agencies are hiring OP. Lots of federal internships are also available but there is competition. There are plenty of federal problems for young college graduates and usually large Universities have career fairs in person or even virtual career fairs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He also blamed lack of summer internships on Covid, so his resume has practically nothing on it. Is it truly this difficult to land an offer in this uncertain economy, especially this late in the school year, or is he lying to us? Or is he nearly vacant resume as a graduating senior a huge red flag? He said he has submitted his resume to dozens of posts on the college's online job portal but he never gets responses. I have no way of verifying this.

I have a junior at a midwest flagship who has had internships or jobs every summer including during COVID, and has a job already lined up for after graduation. My child was very pro-active in creating and pursuing these opportunities, and their experience is common for their University.

Just a basis of comparison.

[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?

Starbucks or equivelant while he searches for something more substantive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Yes, folks, thanks for the history lesson. Guess what? Things have changed since 1991 and since 2004.

Well, in 1989 most of my graduating class was not able to find a job by graduation, and most of us had to work doing whatever we could find until we received that first professional break.

Schools and temp agencies are hiring OP. Lots of federal internships are also available but there is competition. There are plenty of federal problems for young college graduates and usually large Universities have career fairs in person or even virtual career fairs.

+1 goodness, younger people act like we had it easy in the 1980s early 1990s. No, we didn't. If anything, it's much easier now to apply for jobs than back in the early 90s when you literally had to cold call, go to the career center and look at the job boards, or read the want ads in the newspaper.

[Anonymous]

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

I don't know. He doesn't know. Ideally, he'd like to make a lot of money. But I don't think he realizes the degree isn't enough? His classmates who are going to make a lot of money have excellent resumes and/or lots of family connections. He/we have neither.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

I don't know. He doesn't know. Ideally, he'd like to make a lot of money. But I don't think he realizes the degree isn't enough? His classmates who are going to make a lot of money have excellent resumes and/or lots of family connections. He/we have neither.

Here, my employer is hiring in software sales. They’re kinda a-holes to work for on the development and support side, but they are very supportive on the sales side and love people who want to make a lot of money. https://www.kaseya.com/careers/software-sales-development-program/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

I don't know. He doesn't know. Ideally, he'd like to make a lot of money. But I don't think he realizes the degree isn't enough? His classmates who are going to make a lot of money have excellent resumes and/or lots of family connections. He/we have neither.

He can temp until he finds something. I did that after graduating from an Ivy. (I have a great job now.)