DC graduated Berkeley with a 3.9 in Math and Philosophy. She's now moving to LA to work for a popular defense firm doing something with rockets that I'm too stupid to understand. Offer was 80k, but she bumped it up to $85k. Had a competing offer from some data firm in Denver for 110k as a SWE.

Also, the Duke grad did belong to a fraternity.

Anonymous wrote:Both DS and DD recently graduated on May '24 along with three other nieces and nephews:

- DS graduated from Ivy and still looking for a job, had internships in both sophomore and junior year,

- DD graduated from Duke and is still looking for a job,

- Nephew #1 graduated from JMU. Received a job offer from a financial service because he was an athlete at JMU, and that job via athletic alumni,

- Nephew #2 graduated from UCLA; got a job offer from one of the political donor connections because he played music at one of the private fund-raising events, and made friends with several young people at the event. Their parents are rich political donors,

Niece #1 graduated from UNC; got a job offer as a government contractor PM job because her father is a SES in the government,

Both DS and DD are still looking. Without "networking" with decision makers, it is difficult to land a job these days. They both now realized that it is not the school you attended, it is who you know that matters. FWIW, nephew #1 is trying to leverage his skills to get both DS and DD a job where he is at.

In which type of business did the Ivy League student have internships ?

Relative graduated Duke. Was an athlete. Nice, professional appearance. Parents both have graduate degrees (MBAs). Close with teammates--some of whom came from very wealthy families which owned/controlled a business. Still vacation together multiple times each year. Took 3 years to find a full-time position after graduating. Even took advantage of becoming a "double-Dookie" by earning a one-year masters degree from Duke's Fuqua School of Business. (The student had no internships because he played--had to be invited--his sport in summer leagues hoping to go professional.)

Anonymous wrote:Both DS and DD recently graduated on May '24 along with three other nieces and nephews:

- DS graduated from Ivy and still looking for a job, had internships in both sophomore and junior year,

- DD graduated from Duke and is still looking for a job,

- Nephew #1 graduated from JMU. Received a job offer from a financial service because he was an athlete at JMU, and that job via athletic alumni,

- Nephew #2 graduated from UCLA; got a job offer from one of the political donor connections because he played music at one of the private fund-raising events, and made friends with several young people at the event. Their parents are rich political donors,

Niece #1 graduated from UNC; got a job offer as a government contractor PM job because her father is a SES in the government,

Both DS and DD are still looking. Without "networking" with decision makers, it is difficult to land a job these days. They both now realized that it is not the school you attended, it is who you know that matters. FWIW, nephew #1 is trying to leverage his skills to get both DS and DD a job where he is at.

First, as a parent you need to tell your Duke or Ivy kid prior to freshman year, that your actual schoolwork/academics now ranks like 3rd or lower in priority if your kid intends to enter the workforce after graduation (i.e., this isn't the same advice for someone planning to go to a PhD or Med School route). Your kid should be attending on-campus networking events with various successful alums, and looking to join a fraternity or other organization to create networking with your peers.

It's too late for your graduates...although, alums are usually open to young current students/grads if your kids have experience/interest in their field and reach out.

My non-athlete Ivy kid has made incredible connections with alums that are senior partners at major VC and P/E firms, senior execs at some unicorn start-ups and execs at Nvidia and other top SV companies where my kid has an interest. Some came by just signing up for one-on-one sessions with visiting execs that give a talk and then hold "office hours" with students (which my kid found were sparsely attended by fellow students which was surprising), others through the fraternity my kid joined, etc.

The athlete angle is useful, but only if your athlete kid is happy to take the jobs/work in industries that athlete alums/athlete networks kind of hand to you. Honestly, that isn't a major problem for many athletes who are more than happy to go with the flow and make some bank.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Twins
DS1: Swarthmore, Art History Major, 4.0w/ all the awards, going into investment banking with a firm he interned for junior year
DS2: UVA, CS Major, 3.9w/all the awards, currently no job and applying like mad, past internship with Tesla
You can imagine my shock

Was DS1 an athlete? The athlete SLAC liberal arts major to IB path seems quite common.

DS1 was not an athlete, can hardly toss a ball to save his life

Insulting question. Your son got his job by being extremely smart and hardworking. Sports are children’s games.

diversity hire? serious question - it’s real at my firm. 100 new hires 90% diversity

Can you send me your firms info? I can hardly find a firm with more than 1 other person in the office whose black like me, so I'll take what your firm is doing, since it seems I can just waltz in

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Twins
DS1: Swarthmore, Art History Major, 4.0w/ all the awards, going into investment banking with a firm he interned for junior year
DS2: UVA, CS Major, 3.9w/all the awards, currently no job and applying like mad, past internship with Tesla
You can imagine my shock

Was DS1 an athlete? The athlete SLAC liberal arts major to IB path seems quite common.

DS1 was not an athlete, can hardly toss a ball to save his life

Insulting question. Your son got his job by being extremely smart and hardworking. Sports are children’s games.

diversity hire? serious question - it’s real at my firm. 100 new hires 90% diversity

Both DS and DD recently graduated on May '24 along with three other nieces and nephews:

- DS graduated from Ivy and still looking for a job, had internships in both sophomore and junior year,

- DD graduated from Duke and is still looking for a job,

- Nephew #1 graduated from JMU. Received a job offer from a financial service because he was an athlete at JMU, and that job via athletic alumni,

- Nephew #2 graduated from UCLA; got a job offer from one of the political donor connections because he played music at one of the private fund-raising events, and made friends with several young people at the event. Their parents are rich political donors,

Niece #1 graduated from UNC; got a job offer as a government contractor PM job because her father is a SES in the government,

Both DS and DD are still looking. Without "networking" with decision makers, it is difficult to land a job these days. They both now realized that it is not the school you attended, it is who you know that matters. FWIW, nephew #1 is trying to leverage his skills to get both DS and DD a job where he is at.

Jesuit university, `24 grad, Spanish studies major, working for a large financial services corp.

Art School—internship led to job at Photograohy studio, parttime may go full time but prefers freelancing on side.

Anonymous wrote:I have consistently heard from friends that their kids start internships the summer before junior year.

I think this is the norm. DCUM parents have a lot more connections, and/or kids go to schools with a lot of connections, but by and large, most get internships as rising juniors/seniors.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is discouraging! Don't really understand why entry level market is so tough when unemployment is low.

Unemployment has always been low in my life when people desperately need to work to survive, not because the market is any good. Nowadays for an entry level job, it is not uncommon to fight against 1000 other applicants, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to stand out with the insane amount of early career training and work that students are taking up. I was saddened, but not surprised, to hear that all of DC's freshman friend group has internships this summer, and DC was stressed throughout the entire year trying to get a job.

Would you mind sharing which college your DC attends? I’m betting freshmen summer internships were arranged by parents.

Penn. Nothing “arranged” just the school’s hustler culture.

Have a rising Sophomore at Penn. None of kid’s friends had internships this year- engineering. Don’t know any freshman locally (from any undergrad) who have internships, unless arranged/facilitated by family connections.

Also have a rising sophomore at Penn engineering. My kid and all friends (5) have internships out West (Google and others) with no family connections.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Twins
DS1: Swarthmore, Art History Major, 4.0w/ all the awards, going into investment banking with a firm he interned for junior year
DS2: UVA, CS Major, 3.9w/all the awards, currently no job and applying like mad, past internship with Tesla
You can imagine my shock

How does art history lead to investment banking? This is not a snark comment. I'm genuinely curious as that would not be my expectation (though I know little about either as a career and college major).

Perhaps the kid is just a good writer and critical thinker and it came out in networking?

That school also places well on Wall Street so it could be that.

Not much competition given the school is so small.

Liberal arts colleges do extremely well for placement on Wall Street. much less internal competition.

Swarthmore has a good rep in the northeast. Some kids just interview well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is discouraging! Don't really understand why entry level market is so tough when unemployment is low.

Unemployment has always been low in my life when people desperately need to work to survive, not because the market is any good. Nowadays for an entry level job, it is not uncommon to fight against 1000 other applicants, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to stand out with the insane amount of early career training and work that students are taking up. I was saddened, but not surprised, to hear that all of DC's freshman friend group has internships this summer, and DC was stressed throughout the entire year trying to get a job.

Would you mind sharing which college your DC attends? I’m betting freshmen summer internships were arranged by parents.

Penn. Nothing “arranged” just the school’s hustler culture.

Have a rising Sophomore at Penn. None of kid’s friends had internships this year- engineering. Don’t know any freshman locally (from any undergrad) who have internships, unless arranged/facilitated by family connections.

Interesting. We know several kids, bio(premed) or engineering who have research/innovation jobs this summer, at penn or close, through CURF(penn sponsored) and by asking professors. Curf is paid, others mostly not. No family connections.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any other updates? So much chatter about getting in, so little about results. I thought DCUM loved to brag? Give me some hope that the $ is well spent!

Once kids graduate, parents stop looking at the college forum.

Not if they have younger kids too!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is discouraging! Don't really understand why entry level market is so tough when unemployment is low.

Unemployment has always been low in my life when people desperately need to work to survive, not because the market is any good. Nowadays for an entry level job, it is not uncommon to fight against 1000 other applicants, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to stand out with the insane amount of early career training and work that students are taking up. I was saddened, but not surprised, to hear that all of DC's freshman friend group has internships this summer, and DC was stressed throughout the entire year trying to get a job.

Would you mind sharing which college your DC attends? I’m betting freshmen summer internships were arranged by parents.

Penn. Nothing “arranged” just the school’s hustler culture.

Have a rising Sophomore at Penn. None of kid’s friends had internships this year- engineering. Don’t know any freshman locally (from any undergrad) who have internships, unless arranged/facilitated by family connections.

I don't really see engineers strive for many internships. Econ/Finance kids get a lot more. A Wharton student with an internship first semester isn't outrageous.

They all applied and no one selected. Lots of local friends in lots of majors with no success without connections.

DC is a rising sophomore at USC and has an internship from an alum. During Spring break, DC's friends from the area came over, and a few were worried about the summer search, but I just asked and 3 of the 4 got an internship in the end and 1 is working with DC! I am continuously shocked how much more prepared this generation is than I ever was.