Posted by BEN BEAUMONT – With many top students taking big salaries to work for Wall Street hedge funds and consulting firms, The New York Times ran a story yesterday about increasing consideration of public service careers among Ivy League graduates these days. One Harvard professor has started a seminar to encourage students to connect their careers with personal aspirations, while Tufts University has started paying off college loans for students who choose to work in public service fields.
On other campuses as well, officials are questioning with new vigor whether too many top students who might otherwise turn their talents to a broader array of fields are being lured by high-paying corporate jobs, and whether colleges should do more to encourage students to consider other careers, especially public service.
As Adam M. Guren, a new Harvard graduate who will be pursuing his doctorate in economics, put it, “A lot of students have been asking the question: ‘We came to Harvard as freshmen to change the world, and we’re leaving to become investment bankers — why is this?’”
Read the full article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/education/23careers.html?_r=1&ref=education&oref=slogin