Elite Grad Degrees, No Jobs: Half of My Harvard/MIT Peers Are Unemployed

4 points by USTECHWORKER 4 months ago | 4 comments
I met with a group of Harvard and MIT grad school alumni who graduated last year. Shockingly, about a third are unemployed, many for 5–9 months. Even those with jobs are making junior-level salaries at best.

They’ve sent out hundreds of resumes, often with zero interviews. Living in NYC, they’re burning through savings and can’t afford to be picky much longer.

It’s making us question whether a $50K/year degree is worth it—even from top schools.

If you’re struggling, you’re not alone. The job market is brutal.

  • dang 4 months ago
    Would you please stop creating accounts to post made-up stuff?
    • USTECHWORKER 4 months ago
      [dead]
      • okay_yes 4 months ago
        No worries, soon ChrisArchitect will link related threads.
      • taylodl 4 months ago
        You're making junior-level salaries because you have no working experience. You should never have expected to make more than a junior-level salary.

        So, let's get some numbers. In the NYC area, a junior-level salary for someone in STEM is $60K. Compare that with the average salary for unskilled labor which is $40K. Sounds horrible, right? $200K of education only bought you a $20K bump?

        Well, hold on. After five years our STEM graduate in NYC can expect to make $75K per year (and keep in mind, STEM is broad, and I'm assuming we're talking about STEM graduates). That's a $35K bump. You're making nearly double what unskilled labor is making - and that's after five years.

        Continuing on, after ten years our STEM graduate in NYC can expect to make $100K per year. Again, that's an average. In any case, your education has more than paid for itself.

        The question you need to be asking yourself is it worth it to pay a premium for these elite colleges? That's where we need to stop hand-waving with "STEM" and have to get specific, because not all the so-called elite colleges are elite at everything, and some programs actually are a waste of money - you're not necessarily going to get a better job or gain better career prospects.

        A STEM field near and dear to our hearts here at HN is programming and software development. It's always been difficult to justify the spend at an elite university. At best, what that usually resulted in was a good-paying job somewhere where you couldn't afford to live. But hey! You could put a FAANG on your CV! Until you realized the overwhelming majority of hiring managers don't care about that. Just like they don't care about your degree from an elite university.

        My advice? Demonstrate to the company what you can provide them and why they should hire you over everybody else. Your education credentials don't necessarily mean a whole heck of a lot to them.

        • Alex-Programs 4 months ago
          @dang this account is a bit odd. Reads like LLM-generated astroturfing.