The Supreme Court Just Disrupted Elite Firm Hiring, Too

If top investment banks, consulting and law firms care about a diverse entry-level recruiting pool, they’re going to have to develop a wider pipeline.

As the University of Pennsylvania’s main commencement speaker in 2014, John Legend walked thousands of soon-to-be graduates through the career path he took when he graduated from that Ivy League school in 1999. “I had many of the traditional opportunities in front of you now, and I took a job at the Boston Consulting Group,” recalled Legend, who majored in English with an emphasis in African American Studies. “I had followed the path that the Penn graduate was supposed to take, but I didn’t fall in love. I immediately started thinking about how I could leave BCG and become a full-time musician.” Since ditching consulting, he’s won 12 Grammys, including Best New Artist in 2006, two Emmys, an Oscar and a Tony.

The nonchalance with which Legend alluded to UPenn graduates being funneled into jobs at one of the most prestigious consulting firms in the country neatly illustrates how elite employers have for decades treated elite universities as their main pipeline for entry-level talent.