<p>…So while reading about other University Medalists to find inspiration for this speech, I noticed a common trend. They all had pretty remarkable plans medical school at UCSF, a PhD program in computational engineering at Stanford, masters program in evolutionary anthropology at Harvard. All that I have lined up is a summer research job that pays $13 an hour…</p>
<p>But even the average 2011 CRS graduate who reported salaries were being paid $35k, which translates to about $17.50 an hour if working 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year. Not only is Olliff graduating in 2012, a (slightly) economically healthier year to graduate, but crucially, he’s the University Medalist. You would think that the University Medalist would garner a better job than does the average graduate. </p>
<p>I don’t know what everyone is trying to imply here but based on the article, the fact that he has that low paying research job is because he cannot reach a decisive conclusion about what he really wants to do with his future and the summer job is just a buffer before he can figure something out. We all know most well compensated and interesting jobs (like swimming with the dolphins) in the biological, forestry fields required advanced Phd research degrees. I don’t know if he didn’t get into any good grad schools or didn’t apply but the fact that he didn’t have a glorious-sounding-world-saving-get-rid-of-poverty future plan sounds to me like it’s his own decision to take things slowly and not because of the fields he pursued, the school he went to, or the bad economy.</p>
<p>Plain old case of avoiding committing to a career. University Medalist has nothing to do with it. Take the easiest of courses to game the GPA game…</p>
<p>Who cares how much money he makes working for someone else? Stop worrying about money and start being happy for once. Especially talking to you sakky.</p>
<p>I don’t think you guys understand the point of his message. Life isn’t a rat race where you are scrambling to go from point A to point B. You can be happy doing many things. Rather than worry about the future, celebrate what you have accomplished. Life is uncertain. The only thing that’s certain is death. </p>
<p>Knowing him, I believe that he will definitely be successful and that I will someday be reading about him in the paper.</p>
<p>I know Eric personally, and he is very smart.</p>
<p>With high GPA from Cal and the diverse experiences he’s had, it’s not tough to get a high paying job. Investment banking and management consulting firms would easily hire Eric if he put some time into his application to these firms.</p>
<p>But alas, Eric is not interested in making money, and does not care about the aforementioned firms. He has other priorities. Whether these priorities align with yours or society’s is not relevant to the University Medalist award.</p>
<p>Then I’ll talk right back to you: I don’t care how much money he makes. Indeed, if you knew anything about me at all, you would know that I’ve expressed deep misgivings about the standard money-making career tracks that many college students undertake. I’m also highly sympathetic to the notion of taking post-graduation time to find out what you want to do.</p>
<p>But at the same time, you would still think that he could find something other than a $13 an hour summer posting. If he truly didn’t care about money at all and just wanted to find himself, he probably wouldn’t take any job at all but, say, take a backpacking tour around the world. Or volunteer with an NGO. (That’s what I would do). Or, like he said in the link that UCBChemEGrad supplied, just go live in his Winnebago in Yosemite. Heck, that actually sounds pretty good to me right now. </p>
<p>Or, yes, be heading to a PhD program in one of the myriad topics of which he’s clearly so adroit. I’m sure he could win admission to many…and let’s not forget, you don’t need to stay in those programs once you start. You are free to leave at anytime. PhD students drop out all the time, some after only a few months or even less. But at least you’re funded while you’re there. Again, the fact that he took that $13 an hour job implies that he does somewhat care about money {otherwise, why even take a job at all?}</p>
<p>sakky, you’re looking for something that’s not there; come on, it’s a SUMMER research job, maybe he needs a few months to gather his breath to stay in Berkeley (I am assuming the research posting is in Berkeley) a few months after graduation and find a jobs that at least pays part of his living expenses and not immediately uproot himself to something as drastic as living in trees among orangutans or commit to a grad program. Everyone knows they can leave grad programs but they don’t go into one with the mindset of “I can’t leave anytime if I don’t want to continue” especially when he is a dedicated and committed student that has made him the person that he is.</p>
<p>If one is just trying to pay the bills here via a temp position, it makes sense to find something that pays the most per hour so that you have more time to pursue other interests. The whole GPA cutoff for this University Medalist process seems ridiculous since it’s not normalized by difficulty per department/class. The two likely contributing factors: he didn’t hustle for something that pays better and the high GPA alone was not sufficient to get a high-paying job.</p>
<p>hard to believe this person beat out the other university finalists. i’m not trying to put him down since he is an amazing student and an inspiration to his peers and underclassmen to pursue their passions; i’m just saying the other finalists were also quite noteworthy.</p>
<p>how is the university medalist chosen? Also Sakky posts a lot of controversial options, which is kinda neat to read the back and forth debates that come because of it, but sometimes Sakky or his/her opponents rebuttals seem to hit dead ends or run in circular logic (not usually but sometimes), in my opinion anyway (not that I can come up with better arguments, which is why I usually abstain).</p>
<p>Given this biography as evidenced by UCBChemEgrad’s link, it seems as if periodically uprooting himself has been a common theme in his life. He spent 6 months in Yunnan, which is a rather exotic locale in China. Later he went to Polynesia for a biology research project, and he spent another summer in northern Nicaragua. Clearly this is a man who has been unafraid of exotic endeavors. So why not now?</p>
<p>But that’s actually beside the point. I think the real issue is that, whether we like it or not, we live in a world where not only do employers/schools demand evidence of dedication and focus, but also a world that is effectively becoming a surveillance state. As many of us have discovered to our chagrin, schools and employers right now peruse Facebook, Google, Twitter, and various other Internet sites specifically to gather information to screen potential admittees or hirees. It would be most trivial indeed for an employer/grad-school to find Olliff’s University Medalist speech - which is now public information - and then begin to question his focus or even wonder whether other employers/grad-schools found something disqualifying and that’s why can only garner that $13 an hour research job. “His resume/CV is stellar but the attitudes as expressed in his speech regarding never seeming to know what he wants to do gives us pause” could well be the narrative that hiring managers or adcom officers would take.</p>
<p>Now to be clear, I personally don’t endorse this attitude. Indeed, I deplore it. I am well aware that plenty of people are unsure of what they want to do until later in life. And if I truly had my druthers, I would entirely ban employers and grad-schools from using the Internet to effectively pry upon candidates (although I concede that such a ban would be unenforceable). But what can I say? We don’t live in a world of my choosing. We live in this world - a world where employers and schools will seek out personal information about you to use against you. {Apparently [12%](<a href=“37 Percent Of Employers Use Facebook To Pre-Screen Applicants, New Study Says | HuffPost Impact”>HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost) of hiring managers who use Facebook were specifically seeking reasons not to hire somebody.} Other than certain specifically enumerated protected categories such as race or religion, companies & adcoms are entirely free to not hire somebody for any reason at all, or even no reason. </p>
<p>So even if you’re entirely conflicted and confused, even if you haven’t a clue about what you want to do once you graduate, even if you can’t (or choose not to) find something better than a $13/hour post-grad summer gig, don’t say so in a public speech that will be forever attached to your name. Hiring managers and adcom officers are watching and listening.</p>
<p>There are plenty of private universities that will even pay for your education for the sake of learning experience. Why waste a tax payer funded institute and deprive other kids that wanted to learn, get a career and improve their own and their family’s economic conditions?</p>