<p>ead – where we differ is that a general physician or an elementary school teacher (or in my post, a stay at home mom or dad, or clergy person) can make more of a difference in the world for good by making a difference in people’s lives… their difference can be measured in multiplicative ways by the influence and good done by those they influence… what good does a hedge fund manager do for anybody?</p>
<p>Are you suggesting that a HYPSM education overqualifies an alum for these pursuits? Are you suggesting, as I think you are, that a community college or very large public university provides just the right amount of education for these pursuits?</p>
<p>I infer from your post that all general physicians, school teachers, and (from my post, stay at home moms and dads and clegy persons) are fungible.</p>
<p>Listen, bottom line, after you’ve grown up and dealt with the real world, come back and report if you still feel the same way.</p>
<p>Alas, we live in America. A land where we must consider everybody equal: a top surgeon, a world-famous artist, a nonprofit leader, an Economics PhD… but also an elementary school teacher, a janitor, a fast food worker, a stay at home parent, etc. No wonder this country is about to be steamrolled with regards to economic prosperity by China and India. All of you have a “everybody is a winner” attitude but because of your insane populist views, America will soon be the loser.</p>
<p>By the way, anybody can become an elementary school teacher as long as he/she has some temperance, a loveo f kids and a level head. Only a HYP grad can do meaningful research on the subject of future HIV vaccines, help the Columbian government reach a compromise with the FARC rebels and assist the international community draft a workable law to stop climate change worldwide. Help a dozen elementary school students read “Clifford the Big Red Dog”? I’m sorry but HYP grads have much more important things to do. There is too much at stake to not be elitist and expect the best out of our nation’s top scholars.</p>
<p>“Also, NYC is the indisputably the best city in the world. Take it or leave it. Many people would die for the former.”</p>
<p>Out of all the ludicrous comments on this thread, this one has to take the cake. Like it’s an objective thing or anyone on here can really identify how many students are drawn to Columbia because of NYC vs how many are drawn away from Columbia because of NYC. </p>
<p>Except for maybe the comment that a Cornell grad would be content with a mediocre job, but there’s no way a Harvard grad would as if career aspirations are drawn down the lines of school ties.</p>
<p>I think you’ve hit it on the head EAD – you consider people not equal, but rather separated by their performance in school.</p>
<p>How very sad.</p>
<p>My delight is only that you must live with your own thoughts the majority of the day. What dreadful punishment.</p>
<p>Did I happen to mention I went to Stanford? I’m afraid I may have wasted the half of my after college life I devoted to social service… or the approx. 25 hours per week I spend with my kids when I could be at the office accomplishing something truly Stanford-worthy outside my home. But I’m sure you’ll delight that the other half of my post college years was spent using my MBA to make lots of money quickly.</p>
<p>Please, please tell me that your peers at Duke do not share your very small view of the intrinsic value of people –</p>
<p>that what you appear to be doing here is taking the opposite side of an argument simply to play out with the tension of the ideas. I don’t believe you actually believe what you wrote, but that you’re using this BB as a sounding board to reach some coalescence for the conflicting thoughts about your future.</p>
<p>Who are you to say that being a family physician rather than a cutting-edge medical researcher is a mediocre existence? Who are you to say that being at a medium level in corporate America is a mediocre existence compared to being the CEO? Who are you to say that being an at-home parent who does volunteer work is a mediocre existence?</p>
<p>Perhaps you’re not aware that some people enjoy the intellectual experience that HYP et al provides, even if they’re not dying to be the next CEO or million-dollar-earner? Or is HYP et al simply about where it will get you in life? Because that’s sad, truly sad.</p>
<p>In public school, my children have been taught by Yale grads, Northwestern grads, and probably some other elite-school grads that I’m just not aware of. Why is that a waste of their education?</p>
<p>In fact, a teacher at my children’s high school once said to a student who was interested in education and was contemplating Northwestern, “Why bother going to NU, you could go to Illinois State if you want to be a teacher.” I found that shameful on the teacher’s part. Why shouldn’t this young lady who was interested in NU and that caliber of school go? What does ultimately being a teacher have anything to do with it? If she is smart enough and her family can afford it (which they could), what possible rationale is there for her not to apply or go if she’s admitted?</p>
<p>What’s so funny is that there is nothing “extraordinary” whatsoever in being a hedge fund manager or i-banker. It makes a lot of money, sure, but it’s not extraordinary. My fellow alums who went on to do extraordinary things went nowhere near hedge funds and i-banking. They invented their own things / concepts and that’s why they’re successful.</p>
<p>It’s interesting how you explain how the profession is prestigious without touching on what a consultant or investment banker actually does. The only reason you cite is the competition, but what makes everybody flock to this field? To me it seems like it’s just the money because I just don’t see the appeal in it. </p>
<p>ken285, an intersting paragraph in the link you posted:</p>
<p>"When students were asked to set financial concerns aside, they said they would prefer to work in the arts, media, and public service rather than in business, consulting, and finance (20 percent said they would remain in those sectors).</p>
<p>Only 20% of the graduates who took employment in business, consulting and fianance actually prefer to be there… I guess this is a case where “opportunity” leads a person to make choices against their own preferences.</p>
<p>I suppose it proves it is really difficult to find a career that is both soul satisfying and lucrative.</p>
<p>Following is a post from a reader responding to a story about a Harvard student who established a student group to discuss non finanance/consulting/business career paths.</p>
<p>"Do the best schools have a responsibility to encourage students to consider public service careers? Well only if they want to offer their students the very best education they can offer and turn out the most fully developed leaders they can shape. </p>
<p>Only if they believe that the sum of a person’s life is measured by the effect they have had on others, not by the amount of wealth or prestige one has acquired for oneself."</p>
<p>The second paragraph more elegantly states the position I was taking in post #161 above.</p>
An HYP grad is more likely to do all those things. These are the most well-rounded, passionate and accomplished kids in the country. Sure, there are people like this in other schools but they are few and far between.</p>
If they really loved teaching that much, they would have gotten PhDs and become professors. Why teach young kids when they can educate young adults who have more of an ability to influence and shape the world we live in? People who go to low-level state schools and community colleges aspire to be elementary school teachers. HYP grads have received a top-notch education and can do so much more.</p>
OMG, you’re such a little hypocrite and you disgust me. You’re a management consultant and you’re preaching against materialistic attitudes. It’s a little easy to encourage young Americans to impractically “follow their passions”, whatever they may be, when you’re a management consultant and your husband is a doctor and your combined income is like 400k isn’t it? So many Americans today that are barely struggling to make ends meet. They are living without health insurance, defaulting on their home loans and are unable to drive to work anymore because of the price of gas. Try telling them to forget about money and lucrative jobs.</p>
<p>What do you know about the real world Miss Northwestern? Very few Americans, especially minorities, today have an opportunity to get an elite education that will give them the opportunity to make six figures and live a comfortable life. You honestly want to tell a poor Mexican from an LA who’s been admitted to Harvard to squander all his parents’ money on an elite education only to persuade him to become an artist who has little chance to earn a decent wage without extraordinary luck? Never mind that financial security and ability to generously give back to his own family, parents and his hometown relatives had he become an ibanker or a lawyer.</p>
<p>The ability to pursue your dreams should be derived from your financial security and the stability of your life. Hey if you’re family’s in a good spot financially and life at home is stable, then sure, go ahead and dabble in the art you’ve always been interested in. But to do that when you know you won’t be able to give your future family a proper life and the parents the peace of mind they deserve in their old age because you can’t make enough money, then that’s called being selfish.</p>
<p>Until you quit your cushy career as a consultant and do something “meaningful” with your life, then you have no right to claim you know more about the “real world” than anybody. If you can’t walk the walk, then don’t talk the talk.</p>
<p>EAD, they are not “few and far between” at all. Just you wait til you get out in the real world. Wherever you work, you’re going to find smart people from all kinds of educational backgrounds. Gasp – state schools and all.</p>
<p>You’re going to be the kind of person who looks down on the secretaries at your future work, aren’t you? Because they’re “only” secretaries, may not have fancy educations, and so on. Just you wait. Your arrogance will come back to bite you.</p>
<p>And your snobbiness about “only” elementary school teachers is very sad. There’s nothing wrong with any honest job, well done. </p>
<p>If you are representative of the kind of student found at Duke, then Duke doesn’t deserve to be a top 20 school. Brains without humility mean nothing.</p>