Often, when asked, “Why do you want to attend college?” high schoolers reply, “To get a good paying job”, and implied in their statement, “to figure out who I am” (which typically emerges in subsequent interviews) while their parents nod and smile in agreement. So, I reflected on the change in view which also often…
Tag: Career
Career, job, work
College Degrees Offer No Economic Guarantees
As executives at tech giants, like Facebook, Intel, Netflix, Google, Apple, and Microsoft, announce hiring freezes and layoffs, the technology sector may not be the stable and growing industry with ever-lasting employment opportunities that many students and their parents have been promoting. To add insult to injury, new computer science grads (aged 22-27 years old)…
JUST THE FACTS
A college acceptance isn’t a cure-all, get-out-of-jail-free card, where untold riches and lifelong prosperity are as plentiful and readily flowing as red cups filled from a college party keg. Instead: To avoid such pitfalls, effectively reducing the risk of educational malinvestment, prudent families can use the quiet lull of summer to reflect, reassess, and regroup…
College: In Loco Parentis? Not.
Congratulations on being accepted to college! But, now the work begins. During college, each student still needs to seek understanding of their aptitude, collaborating with mentors, to unleash joy and thus more likely realize a lasting economic vitality. However, many students expect colleges and universities to act in loco parentis, in the place of a…
A Life Lived in Greatness
For those of you contemplating your purpose and vision, here’s some inspiration from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s final sermon, given on February 4, 1968. Reposted from the Creative Marbles Consultancy Archives, July 2012
The Shrinking American Middle Class, Part 4
The American middle class is shrinking, as educational achievement plateaus at the average level of attainment and more middle class families compensate the lagging educational achievement with discretionary spending on extracurricular activities and supplemental academic support services. By the late 1970’s, the collapse of American manufacturing sector made way for the meteoric rise of the…
The Dilemma of Every College Applicant
Do you know what you want? Well, do ya…
A Neat Interactive on College Majors and Earnings
A neat interactive on earnings, occupations, and college majors from the Brookings Institution. You can view the median earnings for various careers over time based on factors like age, sex, college major, and whether you attended graduate school. The disparities in median earnings between the sexes are especially notable. Try putting in your own information…
Welcome to the New Adulthood
For most of us, moving out of the parental units’ house is the ultimate signifier of adulthood. So, what’s the threshold defining adulthood for the growing numbers of 25 year olds, who live with their parents (even after moving away for college)? Since 2002, parental co-residence rates have only risen: And, in 2012:
The Practicality of a College Education
Presented in addition to last week’s post about what faces Class of 2015 Graduates… From Zero Hedge, May 31, 2015
Congrats, Class of 2015?
The Class of 2015’s graduation celebrations may be short-lived. A graduation is often called a commencement, or beginning. So, what can the Class of 2015 expect for their new beginning? 1) The highest average student debt of any graduating class in the last 23 years – $35,000 per student loan borrower. 2) In addition, a…
Internships: The New Entry Level Job
Go to college. Then, get a job. The old adage may have passed its time. Now, the meme may be more like, “Compete to get into college. Go to college; work unpaid internships every semester starting your freshman year, and each summer take more internships, then, hopefully, you’ll get a job by graduation.” According to a…
The Work of Innovation
“…the core skill of an innovator is error recovery not failure avoidance.” – Pixar University’s Randy Nelson Innovators simply tweak a relatively ordinary experience to seem new. Think: Howard Shultz, Starbucks CEO, repackaging coffee (a substance humans have been drinking for thousands of years) building a whole new market. Think: Steve Jobs of Apple, building…
How Major is a College Major?
Choosing a college major is not the fork-in-the-road life moment, where the only consequences are becoming the next Steve Jobs or complete destitution. Many will equate “deciding a major” with “deciding a career.” However, major choice doesn’t always match exactly with careers. Ask any college graduate if their career directly correlates with their academic major. …