Is any school considered "safe"?

Graduate School Law School
1

<p>Basically, if you go to Yale or Harvard, are you pretty much guaranteed a six figure job after graduation if you want it? Is it possible to strike out completely with these schools? What would happen if you're the bottom of the class/no work experience/a terrible interviewer?</p>

2

<p>The simple and straight forward answer is no. Many will make six figures in their job but there is no guarantee. There is not even guarantee that you will get a respectable law related job in this tough economic environment if you are at the bottom of the class/no work experience/a terrible interviewer. It is still who you are that counts, not just a degree from a highly regarded university.</p>

3

<p>It’s not possible for anyone to be guaranteed a job coming out of college, especially if you tack on caveats like “being at the bottom of your class”, “no work experience”, “no interview skills”. I mean, think about it – this is a buyer’s market for lawyers – and almost every other job. Why would any employer, seeing the wide variety of desperate job-seekers available to choose from, choose to hire the dim-witted, inexperienced, inarticulate Harvard grad over… well, *anyone else?<a href=“including%20%5Bi%5Dall%20of%20the%20other%20Harvard%20and%20Yale%20grads%5B/i%5D”>/i</a>.</p>

4

<p>This economy makes things more severe, but it was always true that a Yale student could screw up job-hunting by being particularly obnoxious and inept.</p>

5

<p>Rumor is that the bottom 20% or so of the class at Harvard is struggling. I do know of unemployed recent Harvard grads.</p>

6

<p>There’s also a scale of “struggle” to be considered. Is the bottom 20% of Harvard’s class struggling to find work or to find work in Manhattan that starts at $170k? </p>

<p>I agree with bluedevil, there’s no amount of pedigree that can redeem the obnoxious or inept. Golden ticket degrees are still just one, though very prominent, dimension of a candidate’s whole package.</p>

7

<p>And I personally know a Harvard grad who was selected for a lay-off over state school peers because of various deficiencies. A degree can open doors, but you’re still going to have to perform as hellojan points out.</p>