To the Editor:
Andrew Lohse's recent column on the effects of corporate recruiting on the hapless men and women of Dartmouth seems to have struck quite an internet nerve. Dealbreaker, Dealbook, Business Insider the big names of the online business press picked up both the vehemence of Lohse's article as well as his perceived attack on Bridgewater.
However, as Kevin Roose points out on Dealbook, articles like this are common in the collegiate press. Heck, when I was on the Dartmouth Editorial Board, I even wrote one as a Verbum Ultimum.
The salient point that Lohse misses, and that may be something only understood a few years out of school, is that your first job is not your last. While the best and brightest might pursue finance and consulting immediately after graduation (I did), many of those budding masters of the universe use such a job as a means to an end. Already, my corporate peers are pursuing other careers, many of which force us to ask the big questions of the world that Lohse holds so dear.
Thus, I'd suggest that we as a College should not dismiss the corporate world, but rather see it as a place to gain real world polish and skills. The liberal arts education that we all hold so dear should give us knowledge and values. If Dartmouth is as strong as we all believe, a few years in banking should not be able to erase all we've learned. Instead, those years should empower us for future success.
