Advertisement

Harvard Goes to Washington? Not Anymore

"We get complaints when interviews are 'all the way up in Hilles,'" less than a mile north of campus," Wright-Swadel says.

The situation could not be more different for the students who intend to enter political, governmental or non-profit jobs. Many still haven't found positions--and it's not for want of searching.

In most industries, positions are seldom offered more than a few months before they must be filled.

Advertisement

"It's very hard to get a job in D.C. in advance," says Benvenutti, who will be looking for a job on Capitol Hill, the Federal agencies, or even a Washington nonprofit. For some jobs, she says, she has found that "you need to have a full transcript before you can even apply."

Given these choices, Wright-Swadel acknowledges, it's not surprising that students are flocking to consulting or financial management jobs.

"Greased pathways are hard to ignore," he says. "The choices available to seniors are both wonderful and terrible if you don't have the time to sift through them."

These high-paying, prestigious jobs are "a terribly attractive option without a lot of thought on the part of the student. That's the curse of it for us here at OCS," Wright-Swadel says.

Yet, he adds, there isn't much a career services department can do.

Recommended Articles

Advertisement