Olin Ciaccio Nafziger

The west entrance of Ida Noyes Hall.

I, like many of my naïve peers, found myself in a demoralizing location on the first day of classes: that one hot, stuffy, overcrowded room in Ida Noyes where all the orientation events are held, this time decorated in honor of our patron saint Goldman Sachs—a “career fair.” I struggled through the congested entryway because I held the misinformed opinion that the career fair would be “[o]pen to all UChicago undergraduate[s]” and an “[e]xcellent opportunity to introduce [my]self to employers who are excited to recruit top talent from UChicago for both full-time hires and academic year or summer interns!” (Yes, that exclamation mark was actually on UChicago’s overly optimistic website, showing its outdated assumptions about the effectiveness of their networking events.)

Yet as I moved from table to table, I kept running into the same issue. Absolutely none of the tables, aside from the very dedicated recruiters from the Central Intelligence Agency, wanted anything to do with us first-years. At every table, I would walk up, swallow whatever jargon the presenter was masking the ethical ambiguity of their company with, then hear that their selective opportunities were reserved for upperclassmen, and try to conceal both my youth and my shame as I made my escape.  

As I walked past my dressed-up classmates, I began to realize they, too, were glancing around the room with a mixture of anxiety and confusion as they tried to hide from the scary world of Excel shortcuts and returns on investment, beneath the confident appearance their parents had tailored for them. In that moment, I realized that my embarrassing first encounter with college recruitment and networking was more universal than I thought. The confused panic of that first career fair is emblematic of how UChicago’s networking events amplify first-year students’ already ever-present career anxieties rather than alleviate them.  

UChicago’s high-achieving students will naturally seek an outlet for the ambition and drive that landed them here in the first place. Because we live in America, the end goal for most of these students is money. Most of these high-achieving, wealth-oriented first-year students will try to get a crucial edge on their peers by committing to the most financially beneficial RSOs as soon and as intensely as possible. And what number sounds particularly enticing to a first-year, fresh out of the long and arduous college application process? A beautifully low acceptance rate. Clubs like the Blue Chips and Maroon Capital derive their prestige from the all-powerful force of FOMO. However, in order to maintain their prestige, and because there is simply too much demand, these RSOs reject most of their applicants, leaving students with nothing to show for all those late-night hours they put into their applications.  

The exclusivity of these RSOs gatekeeps the main channels of financial success from most of the student body and leaves most students reliant on large-scale, lackluster networking events such as career fairs. The reason why so many of my classmates had already devoted dozens of hours to networking and interview prep before they had even taken classes here is the fear that if they don’t get into these clubs, they’ll be missing out on a vital college experience that guarantees success. This fear is reinforced by the bad experiences first-years have at school networking events such as career fairs. Many students are left demoralized about their future job opportunities before they even get the chance to be demoralized by midterms. 

UChicago should further publicize their existing resume and LinkedIn workshops and create more networking events specifically targeting first years. These tailored career fairs could then let you actually connect with “employers who are excited to recruit top talent from UChicago for both full-time hires and academic year or summer interns!” and finally fulfill the Career Advancement website’s ambitious promise. 

Isaac Cohoe is a first-year in the College and a contributing writer in the Maroon’s Viewpoints section.