Anonymous wrote:My '25 grad has a return offer from his internship with a gov contractor for after graduation, whether or not he stays for a 1 year MS ( would then be a May 2026 grad). CS major. Has TS/Sci clearance, now starts the 2 year countdown for keeping that clearance active.

Same with my DS, data science major. They are also letting him continue his internship remotely/part-time during school. He's not 100% sure he wants to do DOD work so will also explore other options but nice to have an offer in hand going into senior year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

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).

A few years ago, I met an intern at my job(law office)who already had a job offer from Deloitte for consulting. They majored in History, but at Brown… so I guess it tracks.

What skills does a consultant even need? I've seen a fair share of DCs' humanities friends land into consulting.

You can be a mediocre student at an Ivy and become a consultant

that explains a lot about some of the consultants I've worked with over the years.

Dp. It was the backup career at Yale. Saw total idiots get management consulting jobs, must be a tough world for McKinsey to hire so many meatheads.

Backup career for what?

DP, different ivy: consulting or working for think tanks is considered a backup for ivy kids: taking a year or so off before law school, phD, or even premeds (yes medical consulting is a thing). These companies are happy to have ivy grads for a couple of years . The students make bank and hone their resumes in other areas too

Working for a think tank is a complete piece of shit job that barely pays anything. At least consulting pays bank.

No. The top ones pay 80-100k . It is excellent money for a new grad.

NP

My understanding is that think tanks are very low paying positions. Think below $50,000.

Which think tanks are paying recent college grads 70k, 80k, or 100K ? Sorry, but I do not believe that any are paying new college grads 70k or 80k since top professionals with many publications do not get paid that much at think tanks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

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).

A few years ago, I met an intern at my job(law office)who already had a job offer from Deloitte for consulting. They majored in History, but at Brown… so I guess it tracks.

What skills does a consultant even need? I've seen a fair share of DCs' humanities friends land into consulting.

You can be a mediocre student at an Ivy and become a consultant

that explains a lot about some of the consultants I've worked with over the years.

Dp. It was the backup career at Yale. Saw total idiots get management consulting jobs, must be a tough world for McKinsey to hire so many meatheads.

Backup career for what?

DP, different ivy: consulting or working for think tanks is considered a backup for ivy kids: taking a year or so off before law school, phD, or even premeds (yes medical consulting is a thing). These companies are happy to have ivy grads for a couple of years . The students make bank and hone their resumes in other areas too

Working for a think tank is a complete piece of shit job that barely pays anything. At least consulting pays bank.

No. The top ones pay 80-100k . It is excellent money for a new grad.

Seriously, people here suck and are so out of touch. Making 70k out of college is a really great starting point, let alone the pay think tanks give. Not everyone starts out in IB making 200-300k.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

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).

A few years ago, I met an intern at my job(law office)who already had a job offer from Deloitte for consulting. They majored in History, but at Brown… so I guess it tracks.

What skills does a consultant even need? I've seen a fair share of DCs' humanities friends land into consulting.

You can be a mediocre student at an Ivy and become a consultant

that explains a lot about some of the consultants I've worked with over the years.

Dp. It was the backup career at Yale. Saw total idiots get management consulting jobs, must be a tough world for McKinsey to hire so many meatheads.

Backup career for what?

DP, different ivy: consulting or working for think tanks is considered a backup for ivy kids: taking a year or so off before law school, phD, or even premeds (yes medical consulting is a thing). These companies are happy to have ivy grads for a couple of years . The students make bank and hone their resumes in other areas too

Working for a think tank is a complete piece of shit job that barely pays anything. At least consulting pays bank.

No. The top ones pay 80-100k . It is excellent money for a new grad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

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).

A few years ago, I met an intern at my job(law office)who already had a job offer from Deloitte for consulting. They majored in History, but at Brown… so I guess it tracks.

What skills does a consultant even need? I've seen a fair share of DCs' humanities friends land into consulting.

You can be a mediocre student at an Ivy and become a consultant

that explains a lot about some of the consultants I've worked with over the years.

Dp. It was the backup career at Yale. Saw total idiots get management consulting jobs, must be a tough world for McKinsey to hire so many meatheads.

Backup career for what?

DP, different ivy: consulting or working for think tanks is considered a backup for ivy kids: taking a year or so off before law school, phD, or even premeds (yes medical consulting is a thing). These companies are happy to have ivy grads for a couple of years . The students make bank and hone their resumes in other areas too

Working for a think tank is a complete piece of shit job that barely pays anything. At least consulting pays 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

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).

A few years ago, I met an intern at my job(law office)who already had a job offer from Deloitte for consulting. They majored in History, but at Brown… so I guess it tracks.

What skills does a consultant even need? I've seen a fair share of DCs' humanities friends land into consulting.

You can be a mediocre student at an Ivy and become a consultant

Any major, and personable, with an ivy or ivy-plus. No Business or econ needed. Urban studies? Great. English? Great. Physics? Great.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

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).

A few years ago, I met an intern at my job(law office)who already had a job offer from Deloitte for consulting. They majored in History, but at Brown… so I guess it tracks.

What skills does a consultant even need? I've seen a fair share of DCs' humanities friends land into consulting.

You can be a mediocre student at an Ivy and become a consultant

that explains a lot about some of the consultants I've worked with over the years.

Dp. It was the backup career at Yale. Saw total idiots get management consulting jobs, must be a tough world for McKinsey to hire so many meatheads.

Backup career for what?

DP, different ivy: consulting or working for think tanks is considered a backup for ivy kids: taking a year or so off before law school, phD, or even premeds (yes medical consulting is a thing). These companies are happy to have ivy grads for a couple of years . The students make bank and hone their resumes in other areas too

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS graduated from Brown with a degree in history, and is still looking for a job. The job market is very bad right now. In the meantime, he is living at home and teaching Pickleball for spending money.

Consulting is always hiring

Not right now. There’s been numerous articles in WSJ about post-MBA options in tech and consulting dwindling. The bench is deep in consulting right now, people are getting counseled out and others are not leaving for industry jobs because there are fewer. They really overhired a few years ago.

DC at Princeton had an easy time walking into Consulting with a 3.4. It's really not difficult if you are decently smart.

…and from a T10…everything is easier from that level of school, even for a below average 3.4

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

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).

A few years ago, I met an intern at my job(law office)who already had a job offer from Deloitte for consulting. They majored in History, but at Brown… so I guess it tracks.

What skills does a consultant even need? I've seen a fair share of DCs' humanities friends land into consulting.

You can be a mediocre student at an Ivy and become a consultant

that explains a lot about some of the consultants I've worked with over the years.

Dp. It was the backup career at Yale. Saw total idiots get management consulting jobs, must be a tough world for McKinsey to hire so many meatheads.

Backup career for what?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS graduated from Brown with a degree in history, and is still looking for a job. The job market is very bad right now. In the meantime, he is living at home and teaching Pickleball for spending money.

I've been inundated with job offers regarding the National Park Service here in the DC area. Working through USAJOBS to get the cert to be hired is a pain, but if I were a history major, the National Parks would be one of my first stops. https://www.nps.gov/locations/dc/jobs.htm

You are right. That Visual Information Specialist job would be great for someone with a history degree!

Anonymous wrote:My DS graduated from Brown with a degree in history, and is still looking for a job. The job market is very bad right now. In the meantime, he is living at home and teaching Pickleball for spending money.

What was he / is he hoping to do?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As some PP mentioned, GPAs should be near the bottom of the priority list, unless you go to law or med school. Connections and networking should be the number one priority on the list, because they will get you jobs after graduation. My Ivy kids learned that too late.

As someone whose kid graduated from a “regional” university, yet is making $110k in their first banking job out of college, I disagree. Maybe to pp’s point, it does not matter if you are at an Ivy. But for kids chasing merit at “less than” schools and looking to make six figures upon graduating, you better at minimum have close to a 4.0 in your major with your full GPA not much below that.

The GPA reference was for top schools. Agree GPA is crucial (along with networking and all the other things mentioned) for many other schools.

GPAs are not crucial in getting jobs. It is the connections and ability to demonstrate your knowledge at the interview that matters. I work in tech and many grads have 3.0 GPAs from UVA & VA Tech, and get hired at 120K salary.

That’s different than a 3.0 from Frostburg or Lynchburg or another regional school.

Frostburg and Lynchburg are not what I meant by regional schools. See the U.S. News definition: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/regional-universities

Frostburg is ranked 111 in North regional universities…so it is what you meant.

Lynchburg is ranked 345 for national universities. Ok…it’s not regional…but does that distinction matter at #345?

14:14 here, the pp who provided the link to regional universities and mentioned them upstream. This is kind of both funny and embarrassing, but I never clicked the “load more” after the first screen of regional universities. I thought there were just eight or ten, maybe 12 per region! Looking at these lists, thats all I’d recommend anyway!

Anonymous wrote:My DS graduated from Brown with a degree in history, and is still looking for a job. The job market is very bad right now. In the meantime, he is living at home and teaching Pickleball for spending money.

I've been inundated with job offers regarding the National Park Service here in the DC area. Working through USAJOBS to get the cert to be hired is a pain, but if I were a history major, the National Parks would be one of my first stops. https://www.nps.gov/locations/dc/jobs.htm

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS graduated from Brown with a degree in history, and is still looking for a job. The job market is very bad right now. In the meantime, he is living at home and teaching Pickleball for spending money.

Consulting is always hiring

Not right now. There’s been numerous articles in WSJ about post-MBA options in tech and consulting dwindling. The bench is deep in consulting right now, people are getting counseled out and others are not leaving for industry jobs because there are fewer. They really overhired a few years ago.

DC at Princeton had an easy time walking into Consulting with a 3.4. It's really not difficult if you are decently smart.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS graduated from Brown with a degree in history, and is still looking for a job. The job market is very bad right now. In the meantime, he is living at home and teaching Pickleball for spending money.

Consulting is always hiring

Not right now. There’s been numerous articles in WSJ about post-MBA options in tech and consulting dwindling. The bench is deep in consulting right now, people are getting counseled out and others are not leaving for industry jobs because there are fewer. They really overhired a few years ago.