America's Elite Colleges Breed High-Status Careers–and Misery
Key topics
The article discusses how America's elite colleges often lead to high-stress careers in finance, management consulting, and tech, perpetuating inequality and misery among students, a theme echoed in the comments discussing the pressure and burnout associated with these careers.
Snapshot generated from the HN discussion
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2h
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- 01Story posted
Sep 27, 2025 at 7:31 PM EDT
3 months ago
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Sep 27, 2025 at 9:03 PM EDT
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4 comments in 2-3h
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Step 03 - 04Latest activity
Sep 27, 2025 at 11:33 PM EDT
3 months ago
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> “Many wealthier students have a sense of this, he says, from parents or networks, but to low-income students—save the handful who receive coaching—it’s utterly counterintuitive. “This is one of the major ways that consulting firms—and, really, investment banking firms—block low-income students,” Portela said. For all practical purposes, the case study “is in another fucking language.”
Being raised on welfare and paying for college on my own, I hated the post-grad interview cycle because it seemed so asinine. Almost 20 years later, I’m somewhat better at knowing how to answer these questions, but I can’t help but to acknowledge the cynical side of these questions in finding surreptitious ways (either intentionally or unintentionally) discriminate against low-income candidates.