Recruiters: Columbia, MIT Are So 'Second-Tier'

If you didn't graduate from Harvard, good luck getting a top job
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 12, 2011 7:19 AM CST
Recruiters: Columbia, MIT Are So 'Second-Tier'
Massachusetts Institute of Technology students play football outside the Maclaurin building October 10, 2003 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.   (Getty Images)

If you’re determined to get a great job, you might want to quit your course of study at Cornell or Dartmouth and transfer to one of the "top 5" schools: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and Wharton. A new study shows that recruiters for the best law firms, investment banks, and consultancy firms are only looking at graduates of those schools, Business Insider reports. And even if you’re one of those elite grads, recruiters want to make sure you’re not—in their words—"boring," a "tool," or a "bookworm."

The study's author found out, among other things, that a resume from a Rutgers grad would go "into a black hole." MIT grads who show up at job fairs get the reaction, "God bless him for the effort but, you know, it’s just not going to work." Columbia is described by some recruiters as "second-tier" or "just OK," the Chronicle of Higher Education reports. And in order to satisfy their desire that you not be "boring," you better be a nationally-ranked athlete (in the right sport—not ping-pong), member of a world-renowned orchestra, or a person who has climbed Mount Everest.
(More higher education stories.)

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