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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I’m an alumni mentor for my college (an Ivy FWIW), and I keep seeing a misconception among the college students I’m assigned to mentee — that your job/career will bring you meaning or fulfillment in life.

For example, I was recently paired with a sophomore from my college who was in the same major as me (English). I’m guessing she’s from a low income background as her Linkedin says that she’s a Questbridge student. She reached out to me and asked for suggestions on careers for an English major that don’t require law school — I suggested software sales (my career), corporate communications, management consulting, and investment banking (the last two being more achievable if she double majors in Econ).

She told me that these options sounded “soul-sucking and depressing,” and that she was hoping to go into journalism or publishing. I told her that those are fields only for rich kids — poor kids like her shouldn’t touch those with a ten-foot pole.

I don’t understand why this generation expects work to be meaningful or fulfilling. Work is a way to make money for all but the wealthy. So why the navel-gazing and entitlement? [/quote]

Part of the privilege of going to an Ivy is the ability to get a job that makes a ton of money while also being meaningful and fulfilling. That you haven’t figured this out for yourself makes you a poor alumni mentor. I hope this student realizes this and finds a better mentor.[/quote]

+100. I’m living the cushy life I have today because of connections I got through my Ivy mentors. That’s the job of a mentor— to show alumni how to use the network. Not to tell them to take soul sucking jobs.[/quote]

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