Jobitas

This weekend, Harvard’s hallowed halls will fill with frenzied high-school seniors, scoping out a potential academic home. At the same time, we current students—whose empty Economics 10 lecture rows today seat hundreds of wide-eyed Visitasors—face a similarly daunting choice: What to do this summer?

Pre-frosh, are you choosing between Harvard and Stanford? (Way to go, big-shot. Stanford boasted the lowest acceptance rate in its history this year, proving itself more selective than any Ivy—but not Walmart.) Those good old cash-savvy kids here—the ones you knew had snagged jobs the minute they stopped showing up to the dining hall wearing suits—wrestle with a matching quandary. I-banking at BCG? Or starting up in San Francisco?

Choices like these can make or break you. So choose right.

Of course, interest comes first. If reading puts you to sleep but vectors in n-space wake you right up again, you might want to look a little ways down the Charles. On the same note, prospective interns who also like numbers—especially when they show up in six figures behind a dollar sign—probably shouldn’t seek out employment on Capitol Hill. The Hill, however, seems a great bet for those who enjoy getting bossed around. A pre-freshman with such a disposition could check out Columbia, where they set up your schedule for you—it’s like middle school all over again! Or if you reside on the opposite end of the spectrum and would appreciate too much freedom, take the 40-minute commuter rail to Providence this weekend.

Now for the obvious: location, location, location. First, weather. This might matter more for the pre-collegiate than for the pre-professional. After all, summer’s summer—almost anywhere will bring the heat, and nowhere will slam you with snowstorm after snowstorm after polar vortex. But New England winters surely will. If you can’t handle the cold, lounge on a California quad or enjoy edX from the comfort of your home. But rain and shine alone shouldn’t dictate your decision. Palm trees and beaches, vast ranges of mountains, a bustling metropolis, or… a conveniently located IKEA? Jobseekers contemplate the same question. In New York City, clubs and Chinese food beckon at all hours. D.C. offers food, fun, and Frank Underwood. Milwaukee provides a maximum of two of the three.

If taking a college’s spot into account only convinces you to cross Yale off the list, pre-frosh—you’re probably smart enough to have done it already—put other variables into play. Consider how an internship hunter might view Milwaukee: boring, but oh-so-cheap. Money grows neither on trees nor in a college student’s pocket. The city so nice they named it twice has it all, but for a price. That’s all well and good if your elevator rides reach a high enough profile to end up on Twitter (your salary hitting equally lofty levels), but public-service oriented plebeians aren’t quite so lucky. Pre-frosh, too, might shirk at the sky-high costs of many colleges nowadays. A number of institutions grant substantial financial aid. Just as some current students must forsake summer employment opportunities because they do not pay, many future students have to abandon educational ones when funds run tight.

Last but not least, the people. Each of us has an uncanny ability to read who, at least in our own estimation, sucks. Stay away from them. Don’t just go to school where you think students seem the smartest, and certainly don’t go where students act like they know they’re the smartest. Go where people seem like you, where you can imagine late nights with one, two, maybe three too many drinks and an equal quantity of quesadillas (we’ve got some good options around these parts). The same for the summer, though you’ll only find Felipe’s here and in New Orleans.

Or maybe forget it all. Maybe go with your gut. It sounds trite, sure. But when it comes to your summer job, do something you love. And when it comes to college, well…

Go to Harvard.

Molly L. Roberts ’16, a Crimson editorial executive, is in English concentrator in Cabot House. Her column runs on alternate Fridays. Follow her on Twitter @mollylroberts.