On Campus Recruiting: Taking a Closer Look

All over Harvard’s campus, students are taking part in a well-worn ritual that brings representatives of the most influential firms in finance and consulting up to Cambridge. That’s right, it’s recruiting season. Here on campus, it’s marked by intense case interviews that require hours of preparation, so-called “coffee chats” with potential employers like JP Morgan Chase and McKinsey, and plenty of packed information sessions.
In reality, though, the recruiting process is known by students for its intensity, and for the all-consuming nature of the schedule one has to maintain in order to stay competitive for a finite amount of jobs. It’s also been in the news recently because of a controversial book by William Deresiewicz called Excellent Sheep, which criticized elite schools for instilling a sense of conformity in their students. So we decided to see for ourselves.
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Written by Matt Shuham and Gram Slattery
Edited by Matt Shuham
Special thanks to Harvard’s Office of Career Services