Does a Yale or Harvard Education Really Matter These Days?

Does attending Yale or Harvard prepare you for a successful career? Sure, but that’s by no
means enough. You need to couple that education with purpose and ambition. For example, Bill Mulrow graduated from Yale University and then enrolled at Harvard University to pursue a master of public administration at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. He used that training and his own drive to become one of the country’s leading experts in public- and private-sector finance and investment banking.

He’s been joined by other noted graduates of the Kennedy School of Government, including actress Ashley Judd, television personality Bill O’Reilly and the late William Proxmire who served for 32 years as a U.S. Senator. Clearly, Judd, O’Reilly, Proxmire and Mulrow used their education at Harvard to pursue vastly different lines of work—though all proved enormously successful.

This diversity in post-graduate pursuits is supported by the school’s diverse course offerings, which include:

•    Political economy and development

•    Business and government

•    International affairs

•    International finance and trade

•    Housing and urban development

The educational experience at Harvard offers graduate students the opportunity to take courses offered at other schools within the university. Under an agreement with the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, Harvard graduate students may take courses at the other institutions to earn credits toward their degree.

His years at Yale and Harvard left Mulrow with a sense of obligation toward educational institutions at all levels. Although his work schedule at the Blackstone Group and his public service positions leave him with little time to spare, Mulrow managed to find time to serve as a trustee at Fordham Preparatory School and at the Taubman Center for State and Local Government at Harvard University. He was also a member of the board at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.

Putting his education to work on behalf of businesses and corporations is evident from Mulrow’s past service on the boards at Hudson Valley Bank, the United Nations Development Corporation, the Municipal Assistance Corporation of the City of New York, Millbrook Capital and the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York. He has been politically active as a member of the Democratic Party in New York and as his party’s designated candidate for the position of New York State Comptroller.