The competition for law schools and consulting firms could get even stiffer.
With finance jobs swiftly dropping away, law schools, grad schools and consulting firms will likely see an increase in applications, deans and employers say.
Kimberly DelGizzo, director of the Career Development Center, said that the effects of increased applications in other areas will probably be spread out, but added that there's been significantly more interest this year in programs geared toward consulting. DelGizzo noted a case-interview workshop with author Marc Cosentino, which had much higher attendance than similar events in years past.
"We've seen a number of students who have decided, if not finance, perhaps consulting," she said.
Jon Nam '09 worked at Greenock Capital, a hedge fund in New York this summer, but decided not to apply for jobs in finance because of the situation on Wall Street. "I just don't think I'd get a job, honestly," he said. "It's a bad time since the economy is really weak, and the job market is flooded with all these people who had jobs and a lot of experience, so why would they hire people who aren't trained?" Nam said that he's now applying for consulting jobs and "pretty much anything else."
Increased interest in consulting jobs is likely to make this year more competitive than ever. "We've seen record numbers of people at our career fair (booth) and case workshops, and we're expecting to receive a record number of resumes," said Daniel Hong '02, a consultant with Bain and Company who is in charge of recruiting at Brown.
Hong declined to comment on how many students Bain was looking to hire this year but said, "We've always had a really strong recruiting presence at Brown," which he hopes will continue.
While it's still too early in the application process to know for sure, administrators anecdotally report that there's also been an increased interest in graduate and professional schools. "I sense that (the financial crisis) is on the minds of a lot of juniors and seniors," said Andrew Simmons, associate dean of the College for law and health careers.
"We're all waiting for how it'll pan out. We're all just holding our breath."
"For admissions generally, what's happening in the economy has affected the volume of applications," said Asha Rangappa, dean of admission at Yale Law School. "For example, during the dot-com boom, the volume of applications we received went down, but during the dot-com bust, our application volume went up."
Rangappa said that in today's climate, there's more work for corporate lawyers and litigators. "Stuff like this gives lawyers more work," she said. "I wouldn't be surprised if we saw an increase in the volume of applications."
DelGizzo echoed Rangappa's view. "Typically, when unemployment is high, more students choose graduate schools," she said. DelGizzo warns students, though, that "it's not a good idea to go to grad school as a reaction to a poor job market." Students should "decide if this is the right time" for an advanced degree, she added.
Simmons said that there is no reason for students to panic.
"These things tend to go with economic cycles, but if you're a qualified applicant, you're going to get admitted somewhere. No one should feel discouraged because some law schools are saying, 'It's gonna be difficult here,'" he said.
