To the Editor:
We are writing in response to Matt Soriano's Oct. 23 column "Dumb Yourself Down." This piece came to our attention not because we happened across it ourselves, but because one of our mothers telephoned to ask if it was intended as a joke.
In various columns this term we've seen the good, the bad and now the ugly sides of corporate recruiting. Adam Kuhlmann '03's Oct. 10 letter adequately summarized the common misgivings that students have toward corporate recruiting. Dan Galemba '03's Oct. 11 response honestly and even-handedly explained why a student with genuine interests in finance and consulting would be doing us all a service by participating in the recruitment process.
Mr. Soriano's column throws all of Galemba's good reasoning back in his face and confirms all of Kuhlmann's worst fears -- and then some. Soriano begins with the completely irrational assumption that simply because the job market was better when the current recruiters were hired, they are fools in comparison to the intellectual elite that have had the honor of being selected for this year's round of interviews. We'd like to point out that many of the recruiters coming to campus are former Dartmouth students who had the privilege of the same fine education that we are currently enjoying. The sentiment Mr. Soriano expresses, that we will "face the unique humiliation of being more intelligent than our interrogators," is pompous, arrogant and completely unfounded when applied to graduates of Dartmouth and many other fine institutions. It is a harsh generalization.
Mr. Soriano has turned the basic argument about corporate recruiting on its head. Kuhlmann calls those who participate in corporate recruiting sell-outs; Soriano calls those who don't participate in corporate recruiting cop-outs. Shame on us for wanting to pursue higher forms of education, or for working to improve and learn about the rest of the world before lining our own pockets. To place oneself above one's classmates, those classmates who do not have "the intestinal fortitude to look for jobs," indicates that the diverse and ambitious endeavors of Soriano's peers are worthless. We shudder to think of the impression that his column has given to anyone outside the Dartmouth community about what we value.
In his column, Mr. Soriano appears to embody what we've all feared regarding the recruiting process -- a student who, seemingly, thinks only of his own well being, his own pride and the monetary worth of his diploma. Despite this, we will continue to hope that we can all use the magnificent gift of our education to make the world a better place, pursue careers outside the corporate world (if that is what suits us) and take advantage of the wide range of doors open before us. And if one of those doors leads to a six-figure income, we hope that we will use it for better purposes than making our peers grovel at our feet.
