Reply to Harvard or Columbia - Where would you go?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'd probably go to Harvard.  We can debate whether it should be true, but I've done enough hiring at this point to know that having that word on your resume is a huge difference maker.[/quote]

Ditto. It's a leg up in life and is massively helpful if your son ever desires to work overseas. Instant credibility, even though it's not deserved IMHO. Columbia and Harvard are diametrically opposite experiences.

I've worked with and spent a lot of time around the Harvard crowd - my ex went there and I'm still close with much of their network, spent a lot of time around the Final Clubs crowd. Out of the hundreds of Harvard folks I've met, I'd say less than 20% really wowed me with their intellectual prowess. Harvard churns out a lot of grad with solid 'soft skills.' Most are wealthy kids who have successful parents and ride those connections into finance, law, politics, or med school. To be frank, the vast majority of Harvard grads are not any better than those who go to Duke, NYU, U of Michigan, or any other selective college. There also continues to be a vert strong tradition at Harvard that it's a "finishing school" for young wealthy women who intend to drop out of the work force by the time they are 30. Take that for what you will.

If your son wants a career in finance, he should absolutely go to Harvard. There is no reason for him to ever get an MBA after Harvard. All the individuals I know who went to Harvard undergrad and straight into finance did well and did not bother with MBAs. A few are partners at Goldman, but most end up at smaller boutique firms in leadership roles or running their family office. All are making high 6 figures or low 7 figures annually. The crowd I know graduated right after the tech downturn, so there are less of those folks in my network. I know that more recent classes do well at placing grads in established tech giants - Facebook, Amazon, Google, etc where soft skills now matter more than raw coding talent.

I'm consistently impressed with people who went to Yale, MIT, and Smith College. I've never met a slacker or dummy who came out of either of those schools. I can't say the same about Harvard undergrad.[/quote]

You did not attend Harvard correct?  Your ex wife  was primarily in the final club circle correct?  So basically you know some people from 5% of the student body and have generalized the whole place. What is wrong with you???  Is you goal to shit on your ex’s world??  That microcosm is not “Harvard”. Moreover,
Your access meant of people appears extreme. [/quote]

I'm not sh#tting on the university at all. But if you're looking for intense academics and to be around a crowd of savants, it's not at Harvard undergrad.

I ran around the crowd at Harvard that literally funds the school. We are talking annual donations of 6 and 7-figures. A sizable portion of the class is there through sheer financial firepower and they are more prominent at Harvard than most other US universities. There are also legit frictions between that element of Harvard and the students who got there through raw intellect. Some students move easily between those two crowds, but for many others it's like oil and water.

I will say that the smartest and nicest people I met who came out of Harvard were those from middle class backgrounds who ended up pledging Final Clubs. They didn't go into finance, but instead end up at CIA, DoJ, and other public facing jobs. It was an interesting and noticeable trend.

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