How competitive are Yale students with each other?

IxnayBob
Sat, 05 May 2018 11:17:54 +0000

@SoftballFan, when I was in college (I’m in my mid 60s now, so do the math ), I had almost nothing other than driving a cab to choose from. There was an unpaid research opportunity and also tutoring.

The competition for qualified interns had forced Yale, and similar schools, to have rules about offers. For example, “exploding offers” (i.e. offers that only last an unfairly short time, a matter of days, before being auto-rescinded) have had to be made illegal for recruiters at Yale who use the Career Office. I’m not sure of the precise rules, but the general intent is as described.

The signaling value of these internships should not be underestimated. After his sophomore internshio, and even more after his junior internship, rival firms of his two “employers” were energetic in their attempts to wine and dine DS; it’s a smaller universe of qualified candidates than you’d think, and if Company A wants him, well, we at Company B should try to get him to consider us.

In that context, Yale student generosity in making opportunities known to classmates is commendable and a mark of the campus culture. However, as your DD discovered, things often get locked down well before the end of term.