But none of the images now records the complete reality in the Ivy League. A better place to watch is the Whitney, a museum in New York. In September, 800 students there were organized by the Shaw, a hedge fund, to mix between snacks and sculptures. The purpose of the event, the attendees say, was to push this young and influenceable cohort to a certain image of success.
For example, look at where Harvard graduates end up. In the 1970s, one in 20 that went into the staff after graduating, jobs found in the will of Finance of Consulting. By the eighties that was a maximum of one in five; In the nineties, one in four. That may not be a shock, especially given that it was the tree times for Wall Street. But in the last quarter of century there has been an even more pronounced shift: in 2024, half of Harvard graduates who entered the workforce took jobs in finance, advice or technology.
More than before – more than when your correspondent came to Harvard less than ten years ago – live on campus as a quick track to the business world. Around the same time as the Shaw party in the Whitney, Harvard had an activity fair for new first -year students. Hundreds of clubs explained their wares: the beekeepers, the Belingers, the UN-Team model.
But while the first -year students wandered between stalls, they would soon clock a pecking order. One of the most coveted clubs were pre-professional groups in advice, investing and the like. Different allowing only a single -digit percentage of applicants, which grants a cachet that the clubs would like to compare with the selectivity of admission to the university itself: the “5% of the 5%”. The fortunately do not become “members”, in the language of some clubs, but rather “partners” or “managing directors”: less dormitory, more Wall Street.
“They are attracted to exclusivity, such as a Firefly attracted by a lantern,” says Luke (a pseudonym), a student in his fourth year that such a club runs. Those in Luke's club can expect them to make connections at investment banks such as Goldman Sachs and hedge funds such as Citadel. “We have alumni with all the big names.”
The pre-professional clubs are only the most visible part of a penetrating process of acculturation, a process that slowly reforms the worthy ambitions of many students to make a difference, poorly defined and unrealistic, although they can be, in a plan To get a management consulting internship. Annushka, a second -year student, remembers an “overwhelming flood” of groups that throw a career leg on new arrivals. “You are constantly bombed,” she says. She opposed the temptation to become a member, but attended information sessions.
Luke, on the other hand, arrived in Harvard and expected to concentrate on politics and policy, but did not stop there. He turned to the more concrete and quantifiable world of finance at the start of his second year. That was quite late in the game, due to his settlement. Even he is surprised at how early the career hustling starts: he receives phone calls from students who have not started their first year. “I have something like that:” I won't talk to you, explore, do other things, enjoy your first first year. “
It was never the case. Twenty years ago, says Deb Carroll, the head of Harvard's Careers Office, summer internships (often served after the third year at the university) can only be secured a few months in advance, even in competitive areas such as investment banking. Nowadays, bank internships start the recruitment process for two years. Some students already have plans for the summer of 2026. “It's a shame,” says Mrs. Carroll, “but it's not something we can stop.” Ivies students feel the crunch; At Yale, some second -year students offer students on technical internships that are intended for the third year by claiming that they will graduate early.
All this raises the question of what a university is meant. Ivy League schools exist in the imagination as places to look for someone's calling, whether it is to become a playwright, a cancer researcher or another surprising opportunity. Or yes, a banker of Wall Street (a few people know that the suit fits them at a young age). Today, business recruitment has become a dominant characteristic that forms campus life from the moment students get in. Some students such as Annushka can eliminate this career and attract others such as Luke. Anyway, their experience with the university is formed by recruitment.
A female classmate of Luke's, who last summer at an investment bank at an investment bench, met your correspondent in a Scandi-chic café near Harvard Square, the kind of place where a Latte $ 8 costs. In addition, demonstrators handed out flyers and said that a student had been fired like a barista for trying to set up a union.
“I went to university and didn't really know what I wanted to do, hoping that inspiration would strike,” she says. “So I fell into the financial thing.” She cannot stay in it for more than five years. She suspects that she would rather be a teacher. But she asked not to be mentioned for fear of hurting her prospects on Wall Street.
Even the protests against the war in Gaza cannot escape the recruitment drive. Students who demand that universities are extracting companies that are linked to the war may seem to be awkward with the more knotted potential partners in Luke's Club. But these are not always different people. Some students of students partially cover their faces with masks or Keffiyehs to ensure that compromising photos do not float in the hands of potential employers. (Some opponents of the protesters, such as Bill Ackman, a hedge fund boss, have urged recruiters not to hire them).
Just keep my options open
Top companies benefit from the wishes of young people to prevent risks, which suggests that it is greater than it should be. Isaac Hacamo and Kristoph Kleiner, economists at Indiana University, have studied “forced entrepreneurs”. Students who graduate from top lectures during periods of high unemployment start more companies. These companies are also more likely than average to survive, to receive venture-capital back, and to be taken over.
That is a lot of pressure for students. But they are young enough to change thoughts. An intern at a company in Silicon Valley Venture Capital will not necessarily be a technical brother today. In 2011, Marina Keegan, a Yale student, wrote an essay about the lost potential of classmates who consider jobs as bankers or consultants: “I want to watch Shloe's films and I want to see Mark's musicals and I want to do volunteer work with Joe's Non profit and eat in Annie's restaurant and send my children to schools Jeff's reformed. “
Tragically enough, Keegan died a few days after graduating in a car accident. More than ten years later, however, your correspondent went through the LinkedIn profiles of the people she was concerned about. Nowadays everyone works now, or fairly close to the field in which she had hoped that they would end up. Strivers nowadays can also find their true calling – even if it is not necessarily the consultancy courses they land while they are on Harvard.
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