In the science-fair atmosphere of the Career Fair, students packed the corporate section in Alumni Hall, exuding fear, confusion and a healthy dose of skepticism. Enthusiastic first-year analysts and consultants threw around seductive words like "expense account," "social events" and "collegiate environment" while evading the inevitable question: "Do you like your job?" While some seniors seemed more thrilled by the free candy, pens equipped with tiny post-it notes, and the opportunity to catch up with their favorite '06 corporate surprises, others were dead set on their career ambition: selling their souls to The Man.
It is only Fall term, but seniors are in a panicked rush to submit resumes, compose Pulitzer-worthy cover letters, and, above all, score a job after college. Or, for those with their sights set on (even) higher education, gain admission to graduate or medical school. In typical overachiever fashion, even the least competitive students are rising to the occasion. Must. Have. Job.
After a four-year investment of time and money, Dartmouth seniors are wondering: does a Dartmouth education secure a good job? Is signing on the dotted corporate line or applying to grad school the only sure bet for success?
By senior year, Creative Writing major Julia Baxter '06 decided to be "realistic" and concluded that she wouldn't make any money from her writing. "I didn't know what my job would be, but I already knew I wouldn't be writing for a living," she said. "I kind of wondered, What am I going to do?"
After attending the career fair, Baxter knew the traditional business route was not for her. Since passing on the finance interviews, Baxter has become one of the latest success stories of the class of 2006. And it is all because she attended an information session for the Columbia Publishing Course and decided to apply -- a decision she calls her best career move.
After gaining admission to Columbia, Baxter revealed her creative writing background to Program Director Lindy Hess. Hess promptly gave her name to a book agent, who read Baxter's senior thesis, a coming-of-age novella set during World War II. The agent signed Baxter to develop it into a full-length novel. A pretty sweet deal; something she wouldn't have achieved if she had signed on at, say, Morgan Stanley.
Soon afterward, "Outside" magazine publisher Don Welsh spoke to the Columbia class about launching "Go," an offshoot of "Outside." Baxter expressed interest in the project, Hess passed Baxter's name on, and Welsh hired Baxter as his assistant. Again, pretty sweet.
"It's much more rewarding to do a job where you really want to be there every day and you feel like you're contributing something valuable to your industry," Baxter said, her voice revealing her enthusiasm. "You just have to fine-tune your career search a little more and it's okay to hold out rather than just locking into something."
Baxter is the first to admit that publishing is not a high-paying industry. "You can definitely make a living, but people get involved in this because they love the written word," she said. "I could care less about the salary."
As for Dartmouth's role in recent success, Baxter believes that Career Services could do more to promote jobs that are neither volunteer work nor corporate. But she speaks glowingly of the impression a Dartmouth education makes in her industry.
"Just saying you went to a liberal arts college and saying Dartmouth, it's assumed you have a good all-around education," she said.
At the same career fair that repelled Baxter a year ago, her fellow classmate Taylor Cornwall '06 made the last-minute decision to "go corporate," eventually with Mercer consulting firm. This year, he returned to Dartmouth to recruit for his company. It was a big step for the history major that spent his junior summer teaching in China.
"I've always been interested in business and consulting lets you see a lot of fields because you work on cases from two to six months," he said. "It's kind of like a liberal arts job. It gives you a lot of options and a great foot in the door in the business world."
Economics major Kelsey Wiegmann '06, who also revisited her alma mater on behalf of her new employer, always thought she would do something in finance. She just didn't have a definite direction. "It was basically through the career fair that I learned what banking was about," she said.
Three interview rounds later, Wiegmann was one of 11 Dartmouth students in Deutsche Banks's incoming financial analyst group of 150.
"You work a lot and nobody's lying about the hours," Wiegmann said. "It takes some getting used to the hours after the Dartmouth lifestyle, which is pretty laidback. But I like the people I work with."
Some seniors have already signed with companies. Alisha Levine '07 interned at consulting firm Bain & Company during her junior summer and accepted an offer at the end of the internship.
Levine reflected that her strong belief in the power of liberal arts led her to major in Chinese despite its apparent contrast with her new career.
"Going into college, I very much believed that since this was a liberal arts school, I could get a true liberal arts education and take that anywhere I wanted to and do anything I wanted to because that is the true essence of liberal arts," she said.
"For me, consulting is the right starting point and it opens up doors," Levine said, referring to the financial basis two years in consulting can provide for a recent college graduate. "I'm not signing away my life. I'm seeing if I like this for a couple of years."
Anyone debating whether Dartmouth recognition and success translates to real-world recognition and success should look to the Barrett Cup winner for all-around achievement by a man in his graduating class, Pete Sokol-Hessner '04. Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience at NYU, Sokol-Hessner was recently featured in a New Yorker article on the emerging field of neuroeconomics. Despite his success, Sokol-Hessner has a more thoughtful approach to life after Dartmouth.
"When people rush out of Dartmouth to the next thing, I think they've missed the point of that lesson. There's more than just the next step. There's you and all your hopes and maybe they don't match with corporate recruiting and that's okay," he said.
To find his own post-graduate job, Sokol-Hessner paged through science journals and emailed the authors of papers he found interesting.
"The whole idea was if I thought it was cool, I would like to work on that. I said, 'This is who I am,' I attached my resume, and said, 'Please get in touch with me if you have money and space for a research assistant.'" He received a job offer from a professor at Stanford half an hour after he e-mailed him.
Sokol-Hessner urged seniors to explore their options. "It's a great time to take a year, take two years, and just try something," Sokol-Hessner said. "You're very educated, so you can handle just about anything. And when you graduate, for a little while, you have no must-do next."
Kathryn Doughty, Associate Director at Dartmouth's Career Services, agreed with Sokol-Hessner's emphasis on self-discovery.
Doughty cited lack of time and effort as two main reasons why seniors choose to fall into the corporate recruiting track. "I think the majority of students have not made the time to reflect on their college experience so that they could come up with a better range of opportunities to pursue," she said, suggesting that many students default to graduate programs or corporate jobs.
"[Employers] love Dartmouth students," she said. "They're bright, versatile, with a lot of flexibility in their skills, and they learn quickly."
Private equity Associate Michael Newton '04 echoed Doughty's assessment. Despite working with graduates from numerous top-tier schools, Newton said he consistently finds Dartmouth students to be fast learners, high-level performers and, perhaps most notably, well-rounded individuals who aren't as "crazy-competitive" as other graduates.
After graduating, Newton worked at a private equity firm with three Dartmouth-connected team members, including one who insisted that the firm recruit at the College.
"He believed in what Dartmouth taught him and knew the kind of students that Dartmouth produced," Newton said.
Although Newton had very little finance background when he applied, he was successful at the firm.
"I think I was able to learn those skills on the job very quickly because of the liberal arts background I have," he said. Newton feels Dartmouth provides a unique combination of skills and access, which stems from its powerful alumni network and prestigious reputation.
"I don't think all liberal arts educations are as strong," he said. "If I could have four years at any other school in the U.S., I would not have chosen a different school. And that's from a career point of view."
Many Dartmouth students end up going corporate, for better or for worse. And some take another route, with what Diane Kim '05 called "less hand-holding."
"I feel like my path has been very ... 'not Dartmouth,' but I feel like any career 'not Dartmouth' is basically no finance or no law," Kim said.
Kim currently works at a small event production firmed called Caffeine, which offered her a job on the spot because of the impression she made and her academic credentials.
"The tough part," said Kim, "is that there is no typical career path to follow that mimics the predictable track of corporate finance."
"It's worth it because I'm doing something that I really enjoy," she said, "but it's hard financially for sure to know that it will probably take ten years to make what my fellow Dartmouth graduates in finance and law are making now."
No matter what careers seniors end up choosing, they can rest assured that a Dartmouth education will be more than a powerful bullet point on their resumes. And they may want to hold off trading pong paddles for briefcases for as long as real-life allows them. While discussing her new job, Wiegmann couldn't hide her fond memories of Dartmouth.
"I wish I were back in school," she said with a laugh.
