<p>“I’ve sent out 1000+ plus resumes.”</p>
<p>That’s not how to search for a job. You should be out meeting new people, joining the professional organizations in your target industry, and getting to know people who have the job you want.</p>
<p>I appreciate all the advice and I’m working on switching fields, but what does everyone think about the tips I posted at the beginning?</p>
<p>Should kids spend a lot of time researching their career choices and college options? </p>
<p>Should they try to find a program that matches their style of learning?</p>
<p>Should they consider taking a ‘gap year’ if they’re not ready to treat college like a full-time job?</p>
<p>You should watch Office Space.</p>
<p>Here’s some advice from a down and out drop out from Reed college whom you may recognize …</p>
<p>“You’ve got to find what you love… the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle… Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” </p>
<p>That’s from a commencement speech by Steve Jobs of apple.</p>
<p>Stay hungy, stay foolish … don’t make money your focus. Money will follow. Now get some of that college debt forgiven.</p>
<p>what MomofWildChild wrote…</p>
<p>NU is the the subject of OP’s post… the point is his disappointment with elite private educational institutions, and the implied, but not realized, benefits of graduating from them.</p>
<p>Love that Steve Jobs quote. However, the Alchemist/JLseagull fantasy that we all have our personal treasure is deeply flawed. </p>
<p>If we all approach love in this manner, the world would become a mess, because some people love to work in areas that aren’t economically productive in nature, or love to work in areas that strive to rob productive people (Thieves, Hackers, Obama).</p>
<p>navyarf, you just insulted a lot of thieves and hackers.</p>
<p>“Productive” is a loaded word. Madoff, hedge fund managers, and derivative traders believe they are productive. And our economic system will always reward them. You can produce vaporware and pipe dreams and profit from them. Capitalism breeds suckers and rewards those who seize the “opportunity” … read swindle people.</p>
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<p>Sarcasm or just a jibe at his health?</p>
<p>While I don’t doubt many graduates of top schools become disillusioned when they find out how tough the job market really is (especially for people who graduated after the recession), I’m pretty sure the OP is more concerned about trashing NU than anything else. He put NU in the title yet did not post any specifics about the school. He also created a username just to do it…real slick there.</p>
<p>To address your points:
- If you didn’t find any courses you liked during your four years, you have nothing to blame but yourself lol. if you were a real student, you would have known about CTECs.
2)ummm you don’t have to be from DC to get an internship there. I’m pretty sure people from all over the US and the world do it all the time. if you were a real student at NU, you would have known about the Field Studies Program. - uhhh duhhh if you were a student, you would have known about CareerCat and programs that connect current students with alumni.</p>
<p>Consulting jobs almost never start at 40k, esp for NU and UChicago grads so unless you give us specifics, we are not to take that figure seriously. </p>
<p>In conclusion: dumb ■■■■■ post lol
for some reason, top schools here get a lot of hate from people who aren’t from one…gee I wonder why.</p>
<p>Btw I know some recent alumni and they all loved their NU experience. One is now at HLS, another is at NU Law, one is at McKinsey, another is at Goldman Sachs, and that’s just a small sample.</p>
<p>I almost can’t believe people think I’m a ■■■■■. I created an account to post, yes, but I posted to help give kids advice on how to avoid my mistakes. Is that really ridiculous? I fully accept that I had control over my college experience at every step of the way, but I do not accept that I would not have had a better chance to make more of my four years if I had put more effort into it and if I’d gotten better advice. Guess what? Not everyone at Harvard is happy with their education, either. I live with one, and he posted a 3.6 GPA, so don’t blame it all on the grades. </p>
<p>Some of us want more than to make an upper middle class income at a recognizable, soulless company. Google Malcolm Gladwell’s article on Enron and McKinsey if you want to read about what a farce their reputation is. And… wait a second… didn’t Goldman Sachs and other prestigious i-banks almost just pull the entire freaking world economy into a Second Great Depression? But I thought those people were well-trained geniuses? What could possible have gone wrong?</p>
<ul>
<li><p>I didn’t say that I had to be from DC to get an internship there. I did 3 internships in DC for a total of 12 months. My point was that they were so much more illuminating than my coursework that I would’ve rather done 48 months of internships, even if that meant going to a lower “ranked” college. </p></li>
<li><p>I know about CareerCat. How many jobs for international development orgs do you see posted there? Maybe 1 or 2 a year. Guess how much UCS knows about getting those jobs? Nothing, because I freaking went in and asked them when I was in E-town. All they know how to do is get people into consulting, finance, tech, and law school. Everyone else is on their own. And do you friends really love law school? Do they find the material inherently fascinating or are they in student-mode and finding it interesting enough to justify the paycheck they’ll get when they go work out corporate law firms? Have you ever been to a law school lecture? Have you ever asked a law student or lawyer if law school even prepares you for a career in law? Ask my dad. He’s an attorney. He would laugh in your face. Ask my friend who’s dropping out of law school because it’s awful. Ask my friend at Columbia Law who says it’s kind of interesting, but who can’t wait to be done. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Are you a current 'Cat? Did you really learn much in your freshman seminars? Do you know why they make you take them? Do you know why they make you take 2 Values courses? Do you go to basketball games and yell “No smoking!” when the PA announcer gives you your cue? Do you hang out at the landfill? No, nobody does. I have a ton of fellow graduates who feel the same way as I do, and if you don’t know anybody like that maybe your friends don’t like to have any awkward conversations. I really don’t care. Would I really know something like that you pronounce SESP “sess-pee”? Brat. If you want to know why most NU kids keep to themself, it’s because there are enough people like you to ruin the fun with your lack of thoughtfulness. Guess what? In the real world, nobody cares that you got a 740 on your SAT Math. You’ll be just another uninteresting, rude jerk with no real human relationships.</p>
<p>I know about CTECs. I picked the best courses I could find. Did you really find that CTECs were useful in finding out which classes you would like even if you’d never taken a class in the department? I took classes in Biology, Economics, English, History, Math, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Religion. I liked maybe 3. Do you really like all of your classes? Why would you like most lectures? They could be converted into course readings if the professor took the time. Class time is better spent demonstrating and checking student’s understanding. Maybe you think you don’t need that to get good grades, but you absolutely need to learn a skill to be the best worker you can be. What can you really do with your degree? What complicated, novel conclusions could you make if I gave you a simple problem to solve?</p>
<p>Let’s try it:
- Assume that we collected data on the average lifespan of all people as well as their levels of health insurance.
- We found that the average lifespan of people who had insurance lived exactly as long as people who never had insurance.
- What do you conclude from this data? Do you think this proves health insurance is not healthy?</p>
<p>(I’ll wait for you to post your response and then post the answer)</p>
<p>Maybe the OP’s a ■■■■■, maybe not…</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If you thought life and working was going to be all “caviar and champagne” just because you graduated from college you were/are naive.</p></li>
<li><p>If you think that you would have access to interesting society-altering internships and jobs with a high school diploma and some on-line classes, you are delusional. If you think the same people who loaned you $100K to go to college would have given you the money to start a business fresh out of high school you’re down right insane. Like it or not, a college degree is a “hall pass” into a world filled with more opportunities not fewer. Yes there are success stories of people who achieve greatness without a college degree, though they’re rarely whiners, moaning “woe is me”.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Finally,</p>
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<p>So, what’s stopping you? Are we to believe your Northwestern degree is now somehow impeding you from doing something grander?</p>
<p>knowbefore,</p>
<p>First of all, you mentioned GW but GW is even more expensive. Only 25% of their revenue was offset by scholarships and its sticker price is higher. At NU, that percentage is 33%. Also, someone told me less than 50 recruiters came to GW job fair few weeks ago and most of them were govt agencies. He was complaining to me how pathetic the campus recruting was. That’s right, less than 50 and most of them were from the Fed. At NU, at least you got a lot more, without depending on the Fed. So maybe this gives you a deeper perspective; maybe your expectation was too high for just about any school anyway. Finally, I hope you are not thinking Fed job is more interesting than your “boring consulting job”. At least you are working with UChicago/Northwestern grads; some of the most imcompetent and impossible people I’ve ever encountered work at the Fed. </p>
<p>Coming from a foreign country, I do think that tuition here is way too high. But US schools run at a higher operating cost than those in other countries for a reason; that’s the price we pay for US universities to stay on top of world rankings and money matters.</p>
<p>Not even 2 years out of college? You are still a baby. You are responsible for your own life, not your college, not your employer. If you have lost touch with your soul and your passion in the endless grind to succeed, maybe you need to take a step back and find it. Noone is going to find it for you and hand it to you. </p>
<p>If you know a lot of grads who feel like you do, perhaps you are hanging out with bitter, cynical people. </p>
<p>I’m going to tell you what I tell anybody when they get surly and negative. I suggest you start volunteering somewhere, serving meals at a soup kitchen or caring for animals at a shelter or digging beds in a community garden or building houses for the homeless. Nothing gets you out of your own head like volunteer work. And you will meet excited people who feel good about themselves and the world.</p>
<p>Its never too soon or too late to make a change. Take a risk. Really. School is over. Life is on. Go for it.</p>
<p>I haven’t read the whole thread. But just needed to add positive feedback on Northwestern.</p>
<p>A local student went to Northwestern and LOVED it. At graduation she had a great journalism job lined up. Her mother was just so impressed by all of the wondeful opportunities for Northwestern students.</p>
<p>People oversell grades and education to kids. Education is valuable, but you need to find some of the value in your personal enrichment. The job market is highly structured and seldom values your education on a detailed level. It is a rude awakening, but most of us have to do what somebody is willing to pay us to do. You can design a better and healthier shoe, but if people won’t buy it, you will be out of business. If they buy flashy junk, you will probably have to design flashy junk. After graduation, you have to go after a certain set of entry jobs, and you have a problem if none of them fit you. Later, you will find other obstacles. Old experience does not count. If you did something relevant ten years ago, some interviewers may care, but most HR offices and interviewers will discount it. You are in a position in which you must maintain, or appear to maintain, a logical career progression. They also can’t hire you unless there is an opening. Patience and ability to stick with tedious tasks probably matters more than most of what you learned. There are exceptions - the one who always gets the job, always can make it work, but that isn’t most of us.</p>
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<p>I appreciate that. My S is seriously considering Georgetown and American; Gtown is a super reach for anyone, but American is more likely, and even though it’s a lower ranked school than what he could typically shoot for, the opportunity to do the internships and be in DC may be a better one for him ultimately than going to a “better” college that doesn’t offer those opportunities quite at the same level. And that includes Northwestern, where he has a shot and where he’s a double legacy.</p>
<p>However, that is not Northwestern’s fault if you chose Northwestern over DC schools that offered more immediate access to the types of internships that are of interest to you. Any more than it would be Northwestern’s fault if you chose it over a rural school and then complained that it didn’t offer a rural environment that was to your liking. You have to take some responsibility for your choices.</p>
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<p>So do it! What’s stopping you? My fellow NU alums include fundraisers and advocates for non-profits that have personal meaning to them, someone who owns a yoga studio / theater company, a minister in Iowa, someone who is a career Peace Corps person (not sure of her exact title), and plenty of other things beyond big-corporate / medicine / law. The sky’s the limit - but you have to take the initiative.</p>
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<p>That was a totally unrealistic expectation about what your life was going to be like.</p>
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<p>All jobs have a certain amount of tedium and stress.</p>
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<p>That would really be taking advantage of a system that isn’t free to provide. Professors need to be paid, institutions need to be maintained. That wouldn’t be fair to all the students who are paying tuition.</p>
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<p>You’re complaining about the four years you got to spend studying interesting things like that? Do you know how many people wish they had had your opportunity?</p>
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<p>Of course college is not magic. Why did you think that it was? If you don’t think your degree is opening doors for you then that just shows how young you are.</p>
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<p>Maybe you don’t interview well. If the sense of how much you expect to be entertained from a job comes across in your interview then I certainly wouldn’t hire you.</p>
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<p>That’s just marketing. You can’t hold an institution responsible for that kind of result.</p>
<p>I’ve yet to meet even HYPSM grads as self-entitled as the OP. At least we’d have reasons to be. Imagine if s/he went there instead (although s/he probably couldn’t get in).</p>
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<p>Really? It isn’t?</p>
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<p>But you can believe that: “Northwestern is…a place that is guaranteed to prepare you for a life of leadership in the field of your choice.”</p>