Originally Posted by Bostonian
A large fraction of Ivy League graduates go into finance, where employers value a "competitive win-streak". A big reason Harvard and Princeton can find families willing to pay $65K per year is the perceived inside track to finance and consulting jobs. The absence of engineering, accounting, nursing, and other pre-professional majors means that many Ivy league graduates are not qualified to do much else, except go to graduate school or Teach for America. Rich alumni in finance and other fields helped build those 11-figure endowments. And a reason the Ivies recruit athletes is that Wall Street likes them.

This sounds like schools like Harvard and Princeton are deliberately seeking out people who will end up on Wall St. or in other finance jobs. Which would mean that factors leading to this career path would be more important than anything else and that the colleges aren't interested in academic ability except as it applies to earning enough money to help add another zero to the endowment.

Originally Posted by HowlerKarma
I'm not talking about the type of competitiveness that celebrates a big tennis win, or enjoys chess trophies so much as the kind that enjoys the defeat of one's opponents by ANY means necessary. It's not the process, it's the notches on the belt, if you see my point.

Isn't that the whole point of many jobs in finance?

Last edited by Val; 09/16/14 12:52 PM.