Time was, landing a gig at one of Wall Street's storied investment banks was viewed as a source of pride among business school grads. Something you bragged about to your peers, casually dropped into conversation while hitting on women at bars, and fantasized about during "me time." Now? You tell a classmate your plans upon graduation involve investment banking, you might as well be saying "I have venereal disease," 'cause that's what they hear.
...a preliminary survey of this year's grads shows only 4 percent intended to join a bank after getting degrees in May. Among the class's 46 Baker Scholars -- a designation Harvard grants the top 5 percent of MBAs -- only one expressed interest. Those are the findings of Keima Ueno, who got his MBA from Harvard this year. As a student, he served as a peer mentor and wrote a blog on what life is like at the school. So when Harvard sent his class data from a pre-commencement survey, he used it to figure out where the Baker Scholars wanted to go. He wasn't surprised by the results. "When we hear that our classmates managed to acquire a position with an investment bank, we say 'Congratulations,''' he said. "But we are thinking, 'I'm sorry to hear that.'''
For Harvard MBAs, Congrats on a Bank Job Really Means 'I'm Sorry' [Bloomberg]
