Finding a job is hard work for both students and Career Services
Regarding 'The search for a career' (Wednesday, March 29, 2006):
I am sure Eric Herschthal's column struck a chord with many seniors; it also struck a chord for me, one of the dedicated staff in Career Services.
Finding a job is hard work, and I will be the first to acknowledge that not everyone who walks through our doors will walk out right away with a job announcement in hand.
Career Services provides job listings in diverse fields. We bring alumni to campus to offer advice and to connect students with frequently unadvertised options. Students may receive emails about opportunities by indicating Career Preferences in TigerTracks. We compiled one-to-two year options under the heading "taking a year off" because that is the language seniors use with us when looking for something before graduate school.
I would like to address the statistic that 40 percent of each class accepts finance jobs; the figure is closer to 10-12 percent. In the Class of 2005, 11.6 percent accepted finance jobs (5.0 percent accepted nonprofit jobs).
Think about your expectations, where you want to work, opportunities that sound appealing and bring those thoughts to Career Services for assistance. Prepare to devote time to doing research and follow-up. We are fully prepared to support you in your search.
Becky Ross Associate Director and Director of Counseling and Programming, Career Services
USG eager to continue work with students on Room Draw Guide
Regarding 'Letters to the Editor' (Tuesday, March 28, 2006):
To clarify, Yan Zhong '07 came up with the idea for the Room Draw Guide, and Blake Dixon '07, Avi Flamholz '07, Lester Mackey '07 and Kay Ashaolu '07 worked on it. It was our understanding that they brought the idea to the USG and the USG played a supporting role by providing server space, funding and advertising.
Alex and I can't speak to the nature of their interactions with USG members before this year. Hopefully, however, their dealings with the USG so far this year have only been positive; if this weren't the case, I hope that they would get in touch with me.
The goal now is to ensure that the Room Draw Guide continues to function and improve after the students who designed it have graduated, and we look forward to working with all of them in the future to see that this happens. I'm sure that students are grateful for the hard work that they've put into it so far.
Rob Biederman '08 USG vice president
USG administration unified in goal to provide SCG
Regarding 'Letters to the Editor' (Tuesday, March 28, 2006):
Because USG Academics Chair Caitlin Sullivan '07 wrote a letter back in Monday, Feb. 6, 2006 that should make clear some of the factual inaccuracies in Karis Gong's letter, I won't list all of them here. I'd like to talk briefly about some of my thoughts on projects like this in general though. As the 'Prince' editorial correctly suggested, the Student Course Guide (SCG) was designed completely from scratch within the first couple months of this semester. It's not surprising to me that Karis didn't know this since she never wrote to Caitlin or me (or even Leslie-Bernard Joseph) to ask about it. The main point, though, is that the quick creation of the new SCG shouldn't be seen as a criticism of anything that was or wasn't done in the past. It was something that needed to be done, and we worked hard to make sure that it got done. Neither Leslie nor I would have ever written a letter like Gong's because both of us have the same basic goals — to make sure Princeton is the best place it can possibly be and every student is having the best experience here that he or she can possibly have. I was happy whenever Leslie helped move toward this goal, and I'm sure that Leslie's equally happy whenever anyone does the same.
Alex Lenahan '07 USG president
Grade deflation raises unanswered questions
Regarding 'At two, grading policy confronts growing pains' (Monday, March 27, 2006):
When the policy was proposed two years ago, many students expressed concerns that it would put Princeton students at a competitive disadvantage compared with students at peer institutions in situations for graduate school admissions and job applications. At the time, Dean Malkiel assured us the other institutions were concerned about grade inflation also and that Princeton students would not be placed at a disadvantage. Now, two years later, I am curious how many other leading universities have adopted similar schemes. I am not aware of any.
Dylan Hogarty '06
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