I am looking at colleges and some of them are very proud of their alumni networks. Could someone please explain how this kind of network benefits students?
Have any current / recent students got internships or jobs because of alumni referrals (not counting parents or family friends)? How does this work? Do alumni respond to random students sending them emails asking for help?
And similarly, how does Greek life help students who participate? There are so many stories of people who advance their careers through their frats / sororities. It seems like an archaic concept, like it might have happened in the āWolf of Wall Streetā era - does this still happen?
Such networks would be really attractive to a student who has no hooks of their own to get internships - no parental contacts or family friends. Iām just wondering if they really are all theyāre made out to be. I suspect: the people who benefit from such networks are mostly people who have family contacts / class & race profiles that āfitā, etc. Is this a fair assessment?
Please could you share your experiences - positive and negative?
My D attends a college with an immensely loyal and active alumni network, especially considering it is a pretty small school (around 3,000 students). In terms of what that has meant for her: she has benefitted from their vast fundraising - $42M for FY 2020-2021. Alumni giving has enabled the school to do away with student loans for āmoderateā income families as well as institute a sliding scale for tuition for the neediest students starting with this admissions cycle. There are also new building projects that update the campus along with offerings for programs that benefit students.
In terms of jobs or internships, they offer a program for sophomores who come back from holiday break a week early to take part in alumni-led industry specific workshops. They use the Handshake to make connections with alumni for internship opportunities and jobs. The career services folks also arrange for job shadowing and career exploration with alum. I think I just wrote in another response about how happy alum love to give back, both financially and with other opportunities.
D is a sophomore and has no interest in Greek life, although it is a big presence on campus. I canāt offer any insight as to that helps (or, in her case, hinders?) the opportunities she gets.
Both my undergrad and grad schools have websites that allow alumni to volunteer to be a mentor/connection type resource for younger classes. When I recruited for my law firm and then my IB, I was usually sent to one of my alma maters. The IBās that recruited on my Sās campus, generally sent alums to do the on campus meet and greets. My D made good use of LinkedIn to find alums in her field. She was able to connect with a venture capitalist that invested in her field and got some great leads for jobs.
Donāt expect the ānetworkā to reach out to you though. Sitting back and hoping the name on top of the degree will open doors automatically for you does not work. You need to affirmatively knock on the door(s) and do your research.
Using Greek connections are no different. It gives you an opening to start a conversation and make a connection. But a brother or sister is not going to hand you anything because you know the secret handshake.
When fellow alums hit hit me up for help/advise - I try to help, but more in the indirect rather than ādirectā way. By helping directly Iād be essentially ābackingā the person which is a hard thing to do with someone you donāt really know even if he is from your alma mater.
As far as giving someone a āreasonā to cold-contact me - sure being an alum somewhat helps, but Iāve had non-alumns cold-contact me as well, and you know ā¦ it wasnāt any different.
My Dās current job is directly due to an alumnus at her current place of employment. The workplace is very prestigious. The alumnus regularly alerted the department in my Dās major to employment opportunities that opened up.
Loyal alumni are donors and keep the endowment healthy. I think a good alumni network is important.
If you are contemplating starting a venture or a career as an entrepreneur alumni network can be extremely meaningful.
Some schools have alumni founded and dedicated or associated VC funds. In addition certain schools that feed alum to PE or VC get the benefit of the alumni at those firms participating in mentorship programs, judging venture competitions or facilitating participation in incubator or accelerator programs.
These networks can prove invaluable in terms of idea generation, support, angel investment and eventual access to financing.
At the more established LACs there are usually faculty who have spent their entire- often very distinguished - careers at the same college. Successful alumni stay in touch with them. Coaches often function the same way.
In cases in which colleges seem to have relationships with certain firms, networking can be enhanced. Nonetheless, the most important aspects that lead to success appear to depend on student initiative, engagement and persistence. This article profiles three recent Hamilton graduates who were hired by Deutsche Bank: https://www.hamilton.edu/news/story/deutsche-bank-three-class-of-2021.
Thank you, these are really helpful. Great idea to ask alumni & faculty for leads. That makes more sense than asking an alum to help you get a job.
The endowment / buildings, etc. seem to be long-term benefits to the school. I donāt really see how they would affect my next 3-4 years? Iād apply to a school that already has adequate facilities for me.
Tuition money is a good benefit, I didnāt think of that, also I donāt think Iād qualify.
Itās hard enough to get admitted to and then select a college. Attempting to prioritize alumni networks, given that similar schools have similar activities and infrastructure, is IMO a bridge too far.
Pick the school based on where you want to beā¦educationally, environmentally, financially, geographically. The Alumni network should be the last stop before flipping a coin in deciding where to go, not something that should influence applications.
I also think alumni networks are overrated for most people. They can be helpful in certain fields, but not in the way many think. Iāve never had to call an alum for a job, job advice, or leads. My resume and referrals have always been enough. I have really stressed the importance of networking with my DD, however, as she is interested in a field where raising capital may be important. Her network, however, isnāt limited to alumni of her school. Those relying solely on alumni networks to succeed will likely be disappointed. I certainly wonāt stick my neck out for someone I donāt know simply because we went to the same school. I would bet those willing to do so are in the minority.
I went to a LAC and we have an alum Facebook group where alums both post job openings and job seekers post requests for job leads.
More experienced alums have helped applicants with resumes and cover letters in their field. Alums also provide information about their expertise in answer to questions online and sometimes volunteer to set up informational interviews or calls.
At my school, at least in a few clubs Iām involved in, we have listservs where alumni post jobs to the current students/anyone still signed up for the list. Iāve mostly seen jobs related to the extracurriculars and investment banking/stocks.
Also, I think there might be internships with a slot reserved for a current student. Seems to be in more of the businessy stuff.
I think there is a difference between expecting a result from an alumni network vs having a fortuitous result.
Let me give an example or two. At one company I worked there was a guy who loved his undergrad college and went to the job fair each spring. He made a point of finding someone to fill an internship slot. So if you went to his college & met him & impressed him, then it worked for you. Another (back from the pre LinkedIn days) was someone I knew from a smaller college that had get-togethers for alums in our region once or twice a year. I suppose you could get job leads from it, a fair number of times job openings may not be advertised but management asks current employees if they know someone. So if such an opening existed and you happened to meet someone that knew about it and they happened to tell you, then it helped you out.
D18 found that last summer when internships were falling through for many, the Amherst College Alumni network came through with an internship that provided a remote or in person opportunity. The alum even offered a convenient housing option in a major city that took the stress of searching for an apartment off the table.
Agree that fortuity plays a big role in whether you get help from an alum network, but I do think that some networks provide more opportunities for alum interaction than others. This is part organizational efforts and resources that that the school and/or alumni groups put into alumni networking and also part alum affinity to their alma mater. There are material differences in participation rates between colleges in giving and other volunteer activities. A personal example, S worked for a consulting firm in the Midwest where he knew no one. His boss, an alum, took him to a local alum event where he met another alum that had an interest in music like S. Since the alum was leaving the country for an extended summer vaca, he asked my S to house sit for him for the remainder of the summer. So S got to stay in a beautiful house vs the AirBnB room he was renting and access to a car that the alum gave him. So S was lucky that he met such an alum. However, one reason he got the job in the first place was because this firm recruits heavily at his school. He would also never had had the opportunity to meet this alum but for the fact that the alums in that area have regular events.
A network provides additional inputs to learn about opportunities. My S1 got his first job because an alum with his own company was looking to hire, and he recruited people he knew had taken the appropriate classes for his work. My S1 got another job because a classmate told him of an opportunity.
My S2 was finishing up his graduate degree and was looking for jobs. Another student from his program had been offered a job, but turned it down because of location and personal reasons. He told the company that my son had similar qualifications and work experience, so the company was able to shortcut its job search by interviewing and then hiring S2.
To show that itās not only school alumni networks, when my S3 was in scouts, he learned that an assistant scoutmaster worked at a company in a business that was a long standing interest of S3. He asked if that company had any summer jobs. The asst scoutmaster did not have any jobs, but gave him the name of a couple professors at the local university, and one ended up hiring my high-school-aged S3 as a summer intern two years in a row. The asst scoutmaster, three years later, did have a summer internship for S3.
As stated above, an alumni network gives you more people to talk to who might be in a position to help with jobs and other situations.