Harvard graduated 758 undergrads this spring–the final cut finally made after all the winnowing that’s occurred since around kindergarten for these precocious learners. Last year, for instance, 35,023 hopefuls applied for Crimson status with Harvard admitting just 2,029–or less than six percent of them. This was doubtless after many earlier hopefuls opted out before the application stage, based on the daunting odds. Harvard has just released its senior survey–a glance at what the lucky 758 plan to do next. About half answered, so the results aren’t comprehensive, but interesting nonetheless.
70% will look for work, many of them in finance (which may explain why the class was divided over whether the Harvard endowment should divest from fossil fuel corporations–44% say yes, 24% no). The women who enter finance won’t be paid as much as the men–either that or they’re more honest in answering the question. Of those entering a tech career, Harvard men and women will receive equal pay. 18% of Harvard grads will attend grad school, with four percent having travel on their agendas. Remarkably, for a group of super achievers, fully 8% report having no definite plans at all–no doubt priming the pump for when they achieve meteoric success and can recount for a starstruck journalist those drifting, existential days just after Harvard graduation. 38%, by the way, are “agnostic or atheist”–an unhelpful category, given that one means doubt and the other conviction. Also: one in five had a parent or grandparent who also attended Harvard (and who, trends dictate, was far more likely to believe in God). The median number of sexual partners for the 758 graduates of 2014 was two.
–more at the Harvard Crimson
