For Harvard Undergraduates Too, The Recession Is Taking Its Toll

Some know it as "The Wall of Shame." Others call it "The Wailing Wall."

No matter which euphemism you use, this display of rejection letters that many students post along their corridors or beside their desks can be found in more than one senior room this year.

One near-graduate who aspires to a career in journalism says she has posted the masthead of every newspaper that has turned her away. Other students say they and their friends highlight the word "unfortunately" every time it appears in a rejection letter. A few compare what they call "flush rates," circling every consecutive "f," "l," "u," "s," and "h" in each such letter.

As the rejection letters arrive in scores, bolstered by a continuing economic recession and job shortage, many of the seniors who will graduate next month remain unsure of their future plans. Feeling the burden of the tight economy, many seniors have been forced to hunt much more extensively, or to explore other postgraduate options.

'Frantically Looking'

On a recent trip to the Office of Career Services (OCS), Peter S. Kozinets '91 says he found "many seniors there, frantically looking for binders."

OCS Director Martha P. Leape says she has seen a marked increase in the number of students using the office's services.

"In the fall months we saw 15 percent more students than we did the year before," Leape says. "It's been a much busier year. There has been a higher level of anxiety among the students."

In addition to students, Leape says a number of recent graduates have returned to take advantage of the office. Increased layoffs in the area have made these visits more prevalent, Leape says.

Today's job market is a far cry from that available in the mid-1980s, when--at least according to legend--young graduates flocked to Wall Street or Washington D.C. to grab jobs waiting to be taken.

"The kinds of jobs that many seniors are interested in are scarce this year," Leape says. "That's required seniors to do more extensive job hunts and be more flexible about where they will live next year."

Corporate jobs are especially scarce, Leape says, in addition to public sector jobs in Massachusetts and New York.

"Some students may have to settle for a different type of job than they had reason to expect," Leape says. She says seniors have had to deviate significantly from their hopes, accepting lower-level jobs with lower pay or working for less prestigious employers.

Students often rely heavily on corporate recruiters who come to campus each year sweeping soon-to-be-graduates off their feet, but the business scene, like many others, is looking bleak. Leape says that while OCS was visited by the same number of recruiters as last year, "some were saying that they would be hiring fewer students."

At Andersen Consulting's Boston firm, recruitment on college campuses hasn't been cut back, but the company is making fewer job offers because of unusually high acceptance rates, according to recruiting director David J. Clarkson.

"What we're finding is that for every 10 jobs we offer, seven to nine are accepted," Clarkson says. "We have to be cautious in making offers. There's an extremely high chance they will be accepted."

Wai Yin Leung '91 says that of the approximately 50 people she knows who have sought jobs through on-campus recruiting, only four have actually received offers.

As a result, the cutthroat corporate scene is pushing many potential applicants away.

"I'm not planning to find a job after I graduate in January," says Walter J. Hryshco '91-'92. "I'm just kind of scared of corporate recuritment. I just think I'm going to try to apply to law school or maybe study in Europe."

Graduate Schools

Ninety percent of Harvard graduates say they plan to attend graduate school, but Leape says that many of these students seek direct employment after college. Many seek to escape academics, find self-sufficiency and financial independence and gain experience working full-time in a chosen career path. But this year, such opportunities aren't always available.

As a result, Leape says, graduate schools across the nation are seeing increased admissions rates.

"The numbers are really up at grad schools," says Lynn Wehnes, an OCS assistant director for careers in government and politics. Wehnes says that admissions committees are reviewing "in some cases twice as many as applied there prior to the recession."

Leape says that nationally, this year has seen a 50 percent increase in medical school applicants, as well as a marked increase in law school applicants.

And OCS counselors have noticed this increase.

"More students have sought advice about graduate study this year, starting in the fall," Leape says. "I anticipate that in the spring we'll learn on the senior survey that more have gone directly to grad school."

Leung says that many of her friends applied to law schools as a last resort in the absence of any good employment opportunities.

"Many of my friends haven't gotten any jobs, so the've taken the law school options," Leung says.

In addition, about three times more students than last year have come to OCS seeking advice about Ph.D. programs, Leape says.

"Clearly there's an increased interest in academic careers," Leape says. "I think that is because there has been a lot of publicity about the fact that there will be more jobs open in academic careers in the late 1990s, and many Harvard students are scholars, they would like to be scholars."

Many seniors still seeking jobs are looking farther away geographically. Leape says the majority of Harvard graduates seek employment in the Northeast, but that faltering economies may send them scattered across the country, or even across the globe.

Leung says many of her friends are exploring banking and consulting opportunities abroad.

"A lot of them are...considering leaving the country and going to other countries in Europe and especially in Asia because of the economy," Leung says. "I know a good number of people who are going to Japan and Taiwan and Hong Kong."

"I don't think any of them are looking past the next two years really," Leung says.

Looking Farther Away

Despite the fear, rejection and stress, Harvard graduates still may not be as badly off as their counterparts from other colleges.

"If it's a ladder, you just bump down one rung, but so does everyone else," says Jon M. Biotti '91. "We are still ahead of certain other college grads so therefore everything is relative."

Leape says that though some corporations have cut their recruiting efforts by 60 percent, many of these corporations still visit Harvard.

"We know the Harvard name helps there," she says. "There are many employers who respond to the Harvard College degree as a verification that the student had completed a very difficult and competitive college program."

Gady A. Epstein contributed to the reporting of this article.