"Students get upset at us because we don't bring 50 newspapers and government agencies to recruit on campus the way the big financial firms do," he says. "They just don't realize that most of the working world doesn't hire people that way."

Showing Some Initiative

Some students headed into the private sector say they haven't lost interest in politics but simply postponed their entrance into the public sector.

According to Judy Murray recruiting program director at OCS "in some ways it's easier to go from business to government than the other way around."

Wright-Swadel agrees, saying he's seen many students attempt to combine their interests in government and business, both at Harvard and as graduates.

"In the five years I've been here I certainly see more students incorporate community services as a part of their life," Wright-Swadel says. "Even students interest in business ask about the proportion of time they could spend doing pro bono work."

Other graduates are heading into political work on a different path--through non-profit work.

Jeannie V. Lang '00, another member of SAC, is taking next year to expand a small start-up non-profit organization that helps under-privileged youngsters get to college. The organization, Get Ready! works with churches, schools and families to provide free SAT prep and college/financial aid advising to under-served urban high school students.