S18 also found public affairs much more interesting than PoliSci and Econ: he liked the applied orientation and he was able to concentrate on urban planning. But the career orientation of most students in the major (and the focus of most professors) was very different: they were mostly looking at public sector or non-profit jobs, with a few aspiring to law school and politics. One well known professor had told her students that she didn’t believe in grades and would give everyone an A (she also conducted the graduation ceremony and refused to recognize any of the prize winners, simply saying “lots of people won prizes and you can read about them in the program”).
Almost no attention was given to business or consulting and S’s friend who went to a high powered FAANG job had to hide it from her classmates and professors (and pretend she was doing Teach for America) least she be criticized for working for a company that supposedly exploited poor people.