Where are M.I.T Grads Going? Brain Power Once Boosted Wall Street – and Scammed Mass. Lotto

by YCharts Staff August 09, 2012

M.I.T. used to send a whole lot of brainpower to Wall Street. In 2007, the financial sector whisked away more of its departing undergrads than any other sector.

Morgan Stanley (MS), Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan Chase (JPM) and Goldman Sachs (GS) all dangled obscene salaries in front of 22-year-olds, asking them to come write long algorithms and complex code for bankers.

Many people were very bothered by this. They said the best and brightest minds of math and science should apply their brilliance to more useful and productive enterprises – like curing cancer or finding life on Mars.

They got their wish, kind of. Fewer of those companies are hiring now that those bright minds from M.I.T. helped crater the economy, not to mention banks. Lehman's gone, of course, and the rest are still in the midst of major bloodletting.

MS data by YCharts

Last year, Goldman wasn’t even one of the top 10 firms recruiting at M.I.T.

So what are the M.I.T. kids doing instead of working on Wall Street? Some are going to McKinsey, now the top company there in terms of hiring. And others have been busy scamming the Massachusetts lottery. They figured out how to game the Cash WinFall and, like hopeful bankers, even scored investors. They’d deal well with regulators, too – a report from the state inspector general says the Lottery itself helped them out by bending the rules to let them buy hundreds of thousands of tickets.

Bright minds – so hard to keep them pointed in the right direction.

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