March 19 2008
The Harvard Syndrome
After graduating from Utah State, I went to work for Coltrin & Associates, a hard-driving, New York-based PR firm. There I was thrown into the water, expected to swim, and given every menial task imaginable. As I’ve moved into management over the years, I’ve had to teach and mentor many recent grads. My experience thus far: Some schools, “Branded” schools (tempting, but I’m not going to mention school names), put it into the heads of graduates that upon leaving the workforce, they can enter a company mid-level. They’re too good for the typical grunt work that most ‘newbies’ are asked to do. They’re ready to manage accounts! I’ve come to call this the “Harvard Syndrome”. That’s not to say that graduates from great and prominent schools can’t exhibit humility and eagerness to learn. But too many of these graduates are extremely difficult to teach and direct. I have a buddy at another agency who will no longer hire grads from certain schools. A “branded” grad versus a humble and teachable one from a mediocre school? I’ll take the latter every time.
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Great, great post!
I agree with you completely….that is as long as you are not making snide remarks about my fancy education.
Thanks Chris. Congrats on the V-100 list!
Of course not Melissa. Go Marquette!
I agree with Brad great post and very true. Coming from humble UVSC people usually make the assumption that I had to go there because I was too dumb to get into BYU. I like to think I was too smart to apply. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.
The other thing I don’t like is when somebody gets a big attitude after working at a big corporation. I am more impressed with somebody who can take a small company and make it great. It is way easier to hide in a big company.
@ Josh
UVSC is “Harvard by the highway”
Disclosure – I went to UVSC for my undergrad
Nice post Alex. (By the way, I started reading your blog) There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance. I think that it is dangerous for anyone to get to the point of being unteachable.