New graduates of elite colleges are concentrated in just a few career paths, in consulting, finance, and tech. Why is that? Amy J. Binder, a professor of sociology at the University of California at San Diego, wanted to find out, so she and her collaborators studied how students at Harvard and Stanford Universities are channeled into those fields — what the researchers call "career funneling." Their findings, which focus on the role universities themselves play in promoting certain careers, are out in a new paper published by the journal Sociology of Education. We caught up with Ms. Binder to hear more. The following conversation has been edited and condensed.

November 24, 2015 ・ From Chronicle of Higher Education