<p>@TheYangster: Out of curiosity, if 1 person out of 420 reported usage of a certain drug, what percent would that represent of the total? Answer: 0.2% (rounded off to the nearest tenth of a percent).</p>
<p>If, let’s say, 405 students out of 420 reported usage of a certain drug, what percent would that represent of the total? Answer: 96.4% (rounded off to the nearest tenth of a percent).</p>
<p>FYI, I didn’t read the article in question. I just threw out a couple of numbers that would be consistent with the percentages you quoted.</p>
<p>Thanks, etondad and Bartleby. I’m glad to know that advising is better than it was 30 years ago. (Well, pre-med advising was good then, too.) In the '80s, advising within departments was really hit-or-miss, with lots of misses.</p>
<p>I had only one data point from the 21st century. Perhaps my young friend had an unusually bad advising experience. I hope so.</p>
<p>I don’t know the exact size of class of 2012, but say 1670, roughly. 2/3 of 1670 = 1113 “plan on joining the workforce after graduation”, and “68.4 percent have a job lined up”. That means 1113*31.6% = 352 graduates did not have anything - job or graduate school upon graduation. or 352/1670 =21% of class 2012 are doing nothing at this point. Only 5.5% said that they wouldn’t choose Harvard again. A reflection why people choose Harvard.</p>
<p>@ewho: You’re assuming that the 5.5% of undergrads who wouldn’t choose Harvard again are the ones who don’t have a job or grad school lined up after graduation. I’m not so sure that’s a good assumption.</p>
<p>I knew a number of my classmates who enjoyed their undergrad years and were very happy to have open-ended plans after graduation.</p>
<p>It would be interesting to be able to compare that 5.5% with other Ivy League schools, other top schools in the U.S., and all other U.S. universities. Given such data, I would be surprised if 5.5% didn’t represent a very high rate of satisfaction.</p>
This could be unique at Harvard, as the parents or Harvard spent more than $200,000 for each in the past four years, and in the end, the graduates just want to do nothing upon graduation. I thought most of them really tried to look for something last summer, no?</p>
<p>Having “open-ended” plans after graduation is not the same thing as doing “nothing upon graduation.” On the contrary, all of my friends did very interesting things with the year immediately following graduation. Many traveled. One wrote a book. Another snagged a position with a computer consulting firm in The Netherlands. Another begged for an internship with a law firm in London, which helped him define his future career goals. I cobbled together a year of community service/teaching/coaching/research.</p>
<p>Beginning a graduate program and lining up a job through on-campus recruiting are just two of many options for college grads.</p>
<p>FYI, in the mid 1990s, over 70% of the students received financial aid. The financial aid dept. was very generous with grant money and made the education affordable. Including room/board/tuition/academic fees, it cost me less (parent contribution + student contribution + loans) to attend Harvard than it would have to attend any of the UC schools…and I was a CA state resident. Based on recent alumni reports, it appears that the financial aid dept. has become even more generous in recent years.</p>
<p>My son’s financial aid package for this coming year is quite good. We won’t be paying $200,000 for his Harvard education. Financial aid is common into low six figures of family income.</p>
Thanks to let me know. Again, not seeking jobs or going to graduate schools upon graduation are a unique notion to me. My son is graduating (not from this Stanford wannabe in Boston) and has at least three options: continue co-term to get a MS, or work in a consulting firm from his last year’s summer internship firm, or Google. He finally chose Google as it gave him an offer he could not refuse.</p>
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<p>I know that. That is why I said PARENTS or HARVARD spent more than $200,000 for each in the past four years,</p>
<p>I’m not sure what the money that Harvard spends on my son’s education would have to do with his satisfaction at graduation four years from now, even if he has no immediate plans at that time. </p>
<p>I have a good idea why what I spend for my son’s education might factor into that equation.</p>
<p>Those figures are of those who graduated. But with their high grad rate, that is still an excellent result. Makes sense to me. And there may be those who will recommend the school to their kids even if they say it wasn’t right for them, and there are those who would not simply because their kids don’t have much of a chance of getting accepted.</p>
<p>The open ended nature goes with the idea of gap years which Harvard is very keen on students taking either before, during or after college. I did one before professional school and my son did one before entering Harvard. In both of our cases it was among the most worthwhile things we did. As the idea of pre-matriculation gap years is just starting to catch on in the States (although common in the UK) a number of student take a year after college and before starting graduate or professional education.</p>
<p>Besides gap years, in many other countries, time before, after, or even in-between is often used to fulfill citizenship duties such as military service or civil service. Sometimes it’s not odd to find undergrads who are several years older than their American counterparts.</p>
<p>Anyway. What about rewriting the thread headline as “94.5 percent (or whatever the number is) of Harvard grads WOULD choose Harvard again”?</p>