Forbes surveyed nearly 300 subscribers to its Future of Work newsletter, with three-fourths of respondents holding direct hiring authority. Among those in charge of employment decisions, 33% said they are less likely to hire Ivy League graduates than they were five years ago, with only 7% saying they were more likely to hire them.
Both my kids recently attended Ivy League colleges or equivalents, and my observation is that broad statements like the one above hide a lot of information as to what's happening under the surface.
The most selective employers, such as those in finance or consulting, and the most selective PhD programs, will continue to disproportionately choose students from the Ivy+ colleges, regardless of what's going on at these colleges. Why? Because that's where a disproportionate level of talent ends up after high school. For example, roughly half of the national science award winners typically end up in either MIT or Harvard. Those students will have no problem getting the post-bachelors outcome they desire, despite any protests.
The Ivy League students that will be affected are those outside the top echelon. There are a good number of students at these colleges that are academically indistinguishable from the top students at a typical state flagship. Their employment prospects were going to take longer anyway, and no with the unwanted attention from the protests, they could very well end up underemployed relative to their degrees.
