Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the comments are amusing. People really, greatly, hugely, exaggerate the ability of a mere Ivy degree to get you a great job. An Ivy degree can make recruiters and hiring managers look more closely at your resume but that's it. There are plenty of Ivy grads who get nowhere. There's no quotas set aside for Ivy grads at premier investment firms and IB isn't what it was 20 years ago either. Yes, the bright kids go on to great things but they proactively made it happen rather than waiting for it to happen. The "networking" is nothing like what some people on here might want to believe. It barely exists. If anything, it's better at UVA than Columbia.

Do you have any data to back this up?

This is directly my experience, as a lower middle class Ivy grad. In fact I think there is very little class mingling at an Ivy except for dating and maybe sports (I am not an athlete so don’t know —- it may be exceptional skill not just team membership that gives you an in?). From what I’ve seen most people are using their parents snd elite high school network (deeper relationships with shared history) and don’t need to interact with college network.

Most of the "Ivy networking" people dream of is more a function of the class of the individual than the school. A wealthy kid from NYC whose father is a connected figure in banking is the one who has "networking" access, not the run of mill Ivy student from an anonymous family. That's why a similar kid from a similar family but who went to, say, Colgate, still ends up in the same position as the Ivy peer. And all the Ivies have their quota of rich kids from connected families, whether Hollywood producers, famous DC journalists, NYC billionaires, etc, but they live unto themselves and it's a different reality for them than it is for the rest of the student body.

For the non connected kids, it's those who play sports, typically lacrosse or football, or in certain fraternities who can overcome this barrier. The sports teams or fraternities can have tightly knit networking post graduation and are intense experiences during the Ivy years where you live and spend most of your time with team mates. Which is why quite a few working class kids recruited to play sports at the Ivies end up on Wall Street. Especially lacrosse as it's a sport that recruits both rich and working class kids and has them in close proximity all the time. The working class kids learn from word of mouth and watching their richer teammates and the richer teammates often do proactively help in the networking.

The idea that there is this extended and entrenched pool of alums eager to hire grads from the same school at any time is a bit laughable. But even for the unconnected, a great value of the Ivy environment is simply being around many bright and energetic kids and learning from watching them make decisions re careers or internships or which classes leads to better careers or what their parents do and so forth. That continual exposure can be a great benefit. If you're smart enough to take advantage of it. But you have to do something about it, sitting back and waiting for something to happen to you ain't going to get you anywhere.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the comments are amusing. People really, greatly, hugely, exaggerate the ability of a mere Ivy degree to get you a great job. An Ivy degree can make recruiters and hiring managers look more closely at your resume but that's it. There are plenty of Ivy grads who get nowhere. There's no quotas set aside for Ivy grads at premier investment firms and IB isn't what it was 20 years ago either. Yes, the bright kids go on to great things but they proactively made it happen rather than waiting for it to happen. The "networking" is nothing like what some people on here might want to believe. It barely exists. If anything, it's better at UVA than Columbia.

Do you have any data to back this up?

This is directly my experience, as a lower middle class Ivy grad. In fact I think there is very little class mingling at an Ivy except for dating and maybe sports (I am not an athlete so don’t know —- it may be exceptional skill not just team membership that gives you an in?). From what I’ve seen most people are using their parents snd elite high school network (deeper relationships with shared history) and don’t need to interact with college network.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He is an entry level person. Why does he think an entry level job is beneath him? It is where he is in life.

Ivy League confers raw intelligence, status, brand power and a class of 2023 bachelor's degree costs in access of $340,000. The key is connecting with employers who pay a premium to have new Ivy grads on the payroll. Many do, to the chagrin of the degree mill proles on here.

Anonymous wrote:This is why your kid is depressed—he knows others are pulling ahead. It’s also why he has to get off his ass and into a program or grad school or good job.

Anonymous wrote:He is an entry level person. Why does he think an entry level job is beneath him? It is where he is in life.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the comments are amusing. People really, greatly, hugely, exaggerate the ability of a mere Ivy degree to get you a great job. An Ivy degree can make recruiters and hiring managers look more closely at your resume but that's it. There are plenty of Ivy grads who get nowhere. There's no quotas set aside for Ivy grads at premier investment firms and IB isn't what it was 20 years ago either. Yes, the bright kids go on to great things but they proactively made it happen rather than waiting for it to happen. The "networking" is nothing like what some people on here might want to believe. It barely exists. If anything, it's better at UVA than Columbia.

Do you have any data to back this up?

Anonymous wrote:What has your son done the last 4 summers? He needs to pick up a job or multiple jobs and keep looking.

Work history means a lot. My employer would hire a young person from Community College with work history over a college graduate who has never worked anywhere.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the comments are amusing. People really, greatly, hugely, exaggerate the ability of a mere Ivy degree to get you a great job. An Ivy degree can make recruiters and hiring managers look more closely at your resume but that's it. There are plenty of Ivy grads who get nowhere. There's no quotas set aside for Ivy grads at premier investment firms and IB isn't what it was 20 years ago either. Yes, the bright kids go on to great things but they proactively made it happen rather than waiting for it to happen. The "networking" is nothing like what some people on here might want to believe. It barely exists. If anything, it's better at UVA than Columbia.

Do you have any data to back this up?

It’s true. The boost comes from seeing other privileged high achievers and their friends and family at close range and observing their choices and strategies up close so you can make similar ones. Then once you have a perch there’s more insiders helping insiders like a team of field horses. But you have to get and keep your perch, and you have to stay on trajectory or you lose your privileges and access.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the comments are amusing. People really, greatly, hugely, exaggerate the ability of a mere Ivy degree to get you a great job. An Ivy degree can make recruiters and hiring managers look more closely at your resume but that's it. There are plenty of Ivy grads who get nowhere. There's no quotas set aside for Ivy grads at premier investment firms and IB isn't what it was 20 years ago either. Yes, the bright kids go on to great things but they proactively made it happen rather than waiting for it to happen. The "networking" is nothing like what some people on here might want to believe. It barely exists. If anything, it's better at UVA than Columbia.

Do you have any data to back this up?

Anonymous wrote:Some of the comments are amusing. People really, greatly, hugely, exaggerate the ability of a mere Ivy degree to get you a great job. An Ivy degree can make recruiters and hiring managers look more closely at your resume but that's it. There are plenty of Ivy grads who get nowhere. There's no quotas set aside for Ivy grads at premier investment firms and IB isn't what it was 20 years ago either. Yes, the bright kids go on to great things but they proactively made it happen rather than waiting for it to happen. The "networking" is nothing like what some people on here might want to believe. It barely exists. If anything, it's better at UVA than Columbia.

Anonymous wrote:Some of the comments are amusing. People really, greatly, hugely, exaggerate the ability of a mere Ivy degree to get you a great job. An Ivy degree can make recruiters and hiring managers look more closely at your resume but that's it. There are plenty of Ivy grads who get nowhere. There's no quotas set aside for Ivy grads at premier investment firms and IB isn't what it was 20 years ago either. Yes, the bright kids go on to great things but they proactively made it happen rather than waiting for it to happen. The "networking" is nothing like what some people on here might want to believe. It barely exists. If anything, it's better at UVA than Columbia.

OP, the good news is that your son has a few years to figure out his life. The bad news is that he only has a few years. The next few years really are critical to his long term success. The risk is that he squanders those years ambling around without discipline. He needs to think long and hard about what he'd like to do with his life, study career options and think about which ones appeal to him. A decent way forward may be for him to get one of those BUNAC visas and work in the UK for a year, even in a pub, just to get out of the house into a different country. He can think of it as a delayed gap year. Then during the year he reviews all sorts of graduate programs and figure out what kind of generic master's he'd like that gets him into the industry appealing to him. There's solid jobs in accounting and data management that may not be sexy but with competence and being reliable and smart at it, will get him to six figure incomes quickly and even up to 200k+ as senior managers by his early 30s if he's disciplined and strategic with job hopping.

I've noticed that kids coming out of fancy colleges who aren't already on the law/medicine/STEM phD track or recruited for investment banking or consulting are often afraid of the "dullness" of 40-50 hour week corporate jobs. They sound boring, they're not "interesting," and after being a student for so long the prospect of being chained to a desk for 40-50 hours a week can be scary. But that's adulthood. Don't delay adulthood. And working in a pub for a year is a good way to quickly develop an appreciation for the dull and boring desk job!