Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I always hear that the tough part is getting in and then it's easy. That doesn't seem to be the case for DD. She's at a T5 and the environment is intense. Getting in was step one, then it's the competition for the clubs etc. She has a good group of friends and is doing well but the pressure doesn't let up. Is this the case for all T5-10/20s because colleges are so preprofessional now? My friend's daughter went to Tufts and it was the same. She had a miserable college experience because she was always competing for the next internship. She landed a dream job post-graduation but paid the price during college.

I think this is less about T5/whatever and more about pre-professional kids. My T5 DC has no interest in competitive clubs like consulting so doesn’t experience what you’re talking about. Ironically (or perhaps not, lol), I worked at MBB and DH at a bulge bracket IB.

Anonymous wrote:12:19 poster here. Genuinely curious why these bright young people are so intensely interested in consulting and banking. With parents having done both, DC wants nothing whatsoever to do with either!

Anonymous wrote:12:19 poster here. Genuinely curious why these bright young people are so intensely interested in consulting and banking. With parents having done both, DC wants nothing whatsoever to do with either!

Anonymous wrote:12:19 poster here. Genuinely curious why these bright young people are so intensely interested in consulting and banking. With parents having done both, DC wants nothing whatsoever to do with either!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Besides Harvard, all the T20 schools are pretty tough academically. Students even work hard at Brown. The phrase - the toughest part is getting in - is always used in reference to Harvard, no other school.

As for how stressful and competitive the overall environment is, that varies school by school. But none of these schools are totally chill. The students tend to demand a lot of themselves. But the most balanced schools seem to be Brown, Vanderbilt, Rice, Yale, Notre Dame, and Northwestern.

Vanderbilt parent here. I’ve decided to post on every thread I see in an effort to dispel the myth that Vanderbilt is somehow less intense and more party than the other schools in its bracket. That could have been the case in 1985 — I wouldn’t know.

Keep up the good fight.

- Brown parent 😂

Ha. My kid’s BF is at Brown now and made themself literally ill from the intense process described upthread. Interview, land internship sophomore yr, position self the second you arrive on campus etc.

For these types of young adults, the prize for winning the pie eating contest is …. more pie!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Besides Harvard, all the T20 schools are pretty tough academically. Students even work hard at Brown. The phrase - the toughest part is getting in - is always used in reference to Harvard, no other school.

As for how stressful and competitive the overall environment is, that varies school by school. But none of these schools are totally chill. The students tend to demand a lot of themselves. But the most balanced schools seem to be Brown, Vanderbilt, Rice, Yale, Notre Dame, and Northwestern.

Vanderbilt parent here. I’ve decided to post on every thread I see in an effort to dispel the myth that Vanderbilt is somehow less intense and more party than the other schools in its bracket. That could have been the case in 1985 — I wouldn’t know.

Keep up the good fight.

- Brown parent 😂

Ha. My kid’s BF is at Brown now and made themself literally ill from the intense process described upthread. Interview, land internship sophomore yr, position self the second you arrive on campus etc.

For these types of young adults, the prize for winning the pie eating contest is …. more pie!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Besides Harvard, all the T20 schools are pretty tough academically. Students even work hard at Brown. The phrase - the toughest part is getting in - is always used in reference to Harvard, no other school.

As for how stressful and competitive the overall environment is, that varies school by school. But none of these schools are totally chill. The students tend to demand a lot of themselves. But the most balanced schools seem to be Brown, Vanderbilt, Rice, Yale, Notre Dame, and Northwestern.

Vanderbilt parent here. I’ve decided to post on every thread I see in an effort to dispel the myth that Vanderbilt is somehow less intense and more party than the other schools in its bracket. That could have been the case in 1985 — I wouldn’t know.

Keep up the good fight.

- Brown parent 😂

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Besides Harvard, all the T20 schools are pretty tough academically. Students even work hard at Brown. The phrase - the toughest part is getting in - is always used in reference to Harvard, no other school.

As for how stressful and competitive the overall environment is, that varies school by school. But none of these schools are totally chill. The students tend to demand a lot of themselves. But the most balanced schools seem to be Brown, Vanderbilt, Rice, Yale, Notre Dame, and Northwestern.

Vanderbilt parent here. I’ve decided to post on every thread I see in an effort to dispel the myth that Vanderbilt is somehow less intense and more party than the other schools in its bracket. That could have been the case in 1985 — I wouldn’t know.

Anonymous wrote:Besides Harvard, all the T20 schools are pretty tough academically. Students even work hard at Brown. The phrase - the toughest part is getting in - is always used in reference to Harvard, no other school.

As for how stressful and competitive the overall environment is, that varies school by school. But none of these schools are totally chill. The students tend to demand a lot of themselves. But the most balanced schools seem to be Brown, Vanderbilt, Rice, Yale, Notre Dame, and Northwestern.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This has changed significantly since my time there, but yeah clubs at the school I went to are so competitive now and pre-professional, like tryouts to be part of the consulting club, or the investment club. In my day, the clubs were pretty relaxed and nobody cared about pre-professional clubs.

Freshmen are also WAY more intense because the recruiting cycle for jobs starts in your sophomore year fall.

Can you help me understand this? The recruiting for jobs start sophomore year? So, if a student falls short in that process, what does that mean? They never have a chance at a good job?
Sorry I’m so obtuse, I’m new to this mindset.

Companies come on campus and interview first-semester sophomores for summer intern positions (which will be completed after their junior year) that will likely turn into full time jobs (most of their full time class will be filled with former interns). That means right now they are extending offers for their 2027 entering employee class.

Yes, there are chances to fill additional spots later especially since not every former intern will accept and there are plenty of opportunities later on at places that are smaller, but the easiest way to land a job in certain places (like Goldman Sachs) is through sophomore recruiting. In this process, you are competing based on your resume after freshman year.

That means you need to start building your pre-professional resume the minute you step on campus with clubs (investment club, consulting club, etc.), many of which have competitive recruiting processes--you can't just join. And while the summer after freshman year used to be a time to geta summer job doing something like lifeguarding or retail (what I did at my T5), now it's a time to get some sort of real internship.