Indeed, they are. EVERY job that I have had for the past ~30 years is directly related to contacts with my former classmates at a Top 10 B-school. No job apps required. Heck, even resumes were a mere formality (for HR).
So college confidential agrees that it’s not dumb to pass up Harvard GSE. just have to be brave and make the decision despite the criticism lol. Thank you all
I imagine this is a potentially exceptional experience? And is probably very field specific, as cobrat pointed out. I know some people who have gotten a few of their jobs based on alumni contacts, but usually not most.
I didn’t say that they were completely unimportant, only that I think people overvalue them somewhat. Attending a program whose content doesn’t fit what sector you actually want to work in solely to network with alumni seems a bit like overvaluing to me.
@juillet true.
I am being told that HGSE is a good way to get into the Harvard network, period and that you can network with anyone from any Harvard school because of it. Idk, 50-60k just seemed like a lot of money to pay for that. many HGSE alumni I’ve spoken to don’t seem to be 100% happy with where the program has placed them although they do have many Harvard friendo
With business school, I totally see the benefits of an alumni network and if I this was harvard business school, I would have absolutely no hesitation about going.
Networking across different grad schools only works to some extent…and is highly dependent on field, proximity, and perceptions of intellectual strengths/cred of grad students from specific grad schools.
HGSE grad student/alum networks work well if your goal is to work in education/education policy and related fields. Business or entertainment…even the business side…not so much.
Regarding the last point…while it is elitist…IME there is an attitude among many GSAS and business/law/med school grad students that the average caliber of the HGSE grad student is much lower which will also hamper one’s networking across grad schools.
It is something my former post-college roommate who is an HGSE graduate noticed…and it isn’t helped by the fact he admitted his GPA/GRE stats were such he’d have been precluded from being admitted to any other graduate division at Harvard…or even universities a tier or two down. That attitude was very palpable from observing Harvard grad students from GSAS, med, law, business, etc.
Similarly, I’ve observed the same attitudes among many Columbia GSAS, business, law, SIPA, med grad students regarding their counterparts at Teacher’s College.
I agree with @juilet about school networks being overrated… and also there is a social class thing that is not acknowledged. Basically there are a lot of students at elite colleges who come from wealth, and they tend to socialize mostly with other students who come from wealth, and that becomes their network. The students who come from working class backgrounds often have a very difficult time breaking into that network or benefiting from it to the same extent. (And I suspect that gender and ethnicity can also play a role as to who is going to do favors for whom via networking.)
It’s not that alumni networking doesn’t exist – it’s that it is one small piece of the overall tapestry of how peoples careers are shaped over time. It’s just one way that someone can get their foot in the door for the career they want, in the absence of other opportunities.
But in your case, you already have the opportunity you were looking for. If in fact it is, as described, “a pretty great opportunity within the entertainment industry” and “a dream job” it would make no sense to walk away from that, to get a degree in something not really related to your career goals, for the sake of the perceived connections you might make. That’s simpy a bird-in-hand situation. What possible reason could there be to walk away from the opportunity you have right now?
I don’t know who your “mentors” are but I think they are giving you singularly bad advice. Probably because the Harvard name is such a bright shiny object that people’s brains turn to mush at the thought of it. But the schools aren’t going anywhere – you really should maximize the opportunity you have now, and if a few years down the line the “dream job” doesn’t pan out for the long term – then grad school will still be there, but at that point your career goals might have morphed into something else in any case.
Hi. I see that you’ve already made your decision, but just wanted to say congrats on those acceptances! I just wanted to chime in because I’m actually an alumnus of both Columbia SIPA and Harvard GSE and can weigh in on this.
First, both of these programs are preparing you for your dream career or as close to it as possible. You are wise in going with that dream position instead of going to HGSE or SIPA, if that was an opportunity that presented itself to you!
I personally think work experience will outweigh grad school in many regards. While I had plenty of classmates in both programs who weren’t sure what they were doing after graduation, ultimately grad school is a place you should consider after having a very clear idea of what you know you want to do afterward. That will maximize your grad school experience having a clear career roadmap, whether it’s one of these programs or B-school or something else. (On that note, both SIPA and HGSE ARE NOT substitutes for B-school.)
IF (and this is a BIG if) you ever do decide between SIPA and HGSE, I will say the two experiences were like night and day. HGSE is an (obviously) education-focused, “warm” campus with not many people interested in the private sector unless they were into creating a startup or working in the learning or education department for a private company (think Google). Cambridge is all about education, and you will be around lots of students and academics.
SIPA is more public administration and international affairs, with a larger, “colder”, more professional veneer–and the interests are much broader. I saw more competitive, Type A kind of people there. You have people’s interests ranging from finance and banking to security studies to energy and environment. It’s in NYC, which is hyper-competitive, but has all of the industries there.
Know that you will have a very different living experience in addition to education experience in the two programs.
Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about these two programs later on
Admittedly I was a Harvard undergrad, but I got nothing from its network. I did get at least one summer job, and one job in Germany based on its name.