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

[Anonymous]

OP it sounds like you and your child unfortunately drank the kool aid that selective schools peddle.

Just because you go to a very selective topX school you're not guaranteed a great job or a great life.

Top colleges aren't the upward mobility ticket to careers they once were 1-2 generations ago.

Social connections will always trump school logos. Perhaps your child can ask their college friends if one of their parents works in a field they are interested in and set up a coffee meeting to get some advice on how to land a job or internship in that field?

Don't rely on the college's career planning office.

[Anonymous]

I went to a no-name school because it was cheap and I worked full time while earning straight A's. By working with the public I learned how to interview really well. That's how I got my internships nad first job out of college -- I'm a hard worker other than just school. Everyone going for those internships is smart -- that part is secondary. No employer cares what your test scores are . Demonstrating hard work and sincere interest in the internship / job is the key.

OP: Sorry your kid may not be a hard worker outside of academia. You need to show other drive.

[Anonymous]

I'm a professor at a business school at one of those lower ranked schools you talk about...think 150+, that end up with internships at such places!

Your post makes me want to do my job 100x better for 100x longer so that my students (continue to) succeed.

Best of luck to your son. Tell him to make an appointment with Career Services to target openings that suit him.

[Anonymous]

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.

+1

And very few companies take all their interns/starting jobs from a small group of universities, they hire at a wide variety. The fact that is not obvious to someone "who is so smart to attend a T25" is astounding.
It is always better to be Top where ever you are. Much easier to do that at a 25-60 ranked school or below where everyone is not 1580+/4.0UW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

This is a fact. Our firm doesn’t hire Ivy League grads anymore because they lack the work ethic and aren’t team players.

What a load of crap. I doubt that you have ever met any current or past Ivy league or MIT students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Can you wrap your mind around the proposition that students at lower ranked schools also work hard?

There are a lot of assumptions in these two sentences.

Not OP. Can you in all honesty say that the AVERAGE kid at a 150+ school has worked as hard in high school as the AVERAGE kid at Princeton or MIT?? I think not but I’d be happy for people to prove me wrong.

- Grad of 150+ school who remembers what his average classmates were like

maybe not the "average kid" at a 150 ranked school. But there will be a decent size group at that school with kids just as smart/motivated/hard working as at Harvard. Just look at the honors college at that school and even beyond. There will be kids at that school who came into their own in college (and were 3.8 students in HS) and will go further than your top kid at Harvard.

[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.

Is this an LAC or a National University Top 25 school ?

Thank you in advance !

[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.

+1

And very few companies take all their interns/starting jobs from a small group of universities, they hire at a wide variety. The fact that is not obvious to someone "who is so smart to attend a T25" is astounding.
It is always better to be Top where ever you are. Much easier to do that at a 25-60 ranked school or below where everyone is not 1580+/4.0UW.

yes, yes, yes.
Husband went to med school at Hopkins. Half his class was from places like Appalachian State or Towson. MUCH easier to do well there and stand out than it is from Yale where every one of your classmates is driven and smart.

[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.

+1

And very few companies take all their interns/starting jobs from a small group of universities, they hire at a wide variety. The fact that is not obvious to someone "who is so smart to attend a T25" is astounding.
It is always better to be Top where ever you are. Much easier to do that at a 25-60 ranked school or below where everyone is not 1580+/4.0UW.

yes, yes, yes.
Husband went to med school at Hopkins. Half his class was from places like Appalachian State or Towson. MUCH easier to do well there and stand out than it is from Yale where every one of your classmates is driven and smart.

yes, and it also translates to professors actually knowing you (because you can stand out) and perhaps doing actual meaningful research as an undergrad. This leads to meaningful recommendations that standout. Plenty of smart kids pick something outside the T25 for various reasons.
For example: my kid is at a T50 school. Placed into "Freshman Orgo" which means thru AP/IB credit. Class was filled with kids (over 50%) who actually had taken organic chemistry in HS but didn't have college credit for it, so they were retaking it. This meant there was essentially no curve for Organic Chemistry. Average on the midterms was 88 and 89 fall semester. Organic Chem is one of the most challenging courses in college---the "regular Orgo class" had averages in the 50s and got a curve. But the freshman class did not. My kid was happy to get out with a B+ in the course, as they had never taken Orgo previously. So still plenty of really smart kids, but I can only imagine what it would be like at a T20 school.and how much "easier" it might have been at a school ranked 100-150.

[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.

+1

And very few companies take all their interns/starting jobs from a small group of universities, they hire at a wide variety. The fact that is not obvious to someone "who is so smart to attend a T25" is astounding.
It is always better to be Top where ever you are. Much easier to do that at a 25-60 ranked school or below where everyone is not 1580+/4.0UW.

yes, yes, yes.
Husband went to med school at Hopkins. Half his class was from places like Appalachian State or Towson. MUCH easier to do well there and stand out than it is from Yale where every one of your classmates is driven and smart.

Especially true for Med school and law school.

[Anonymous]

Not sure why anyone would want to be a doctor these days - but if your kid does, definitely don’t go to a top 25 school…

[Anonymous]

All this talk about going to an easier lesser ranked school. It all depends on your perspective and whether you want to learn from other peers, or merely be the top person in the class.
If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room.

[Anonymous]

Just wait until he starts working for bosses who graduated from schools he considers inferior!

[Anonymous]

You must be one of those full pay folks with no perspective on how the rest of the world works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First of all, disabuse yourself of the notion that students who went to lower ranked schools "worked less hard." Students opt for lower ranked schools for many reasons that have nothing to do with their brains or work ethic - financial, geographic, athletic, etc. Perhaps they do have connections at the firms you mentioned, or perhaps they actually work harder than your son -- higher GPAs, more impressive extracurriculars, leadership roles, relevant work experience, research, etc.

This, this, this
OP, you are not doing your child any favors by teaching them to believe that they are more deserving