“So, you want to be a teacher?” Students pursuing degrees in the liberal arts are all too familiar with this question. It can seem at times like no one around you can fathom a career beyond teaching high school English or history, or some other subject that may have little beyond a name in common with your actual college goals. But the follow-up, “what do you want to do, then?” can also be a cause for uncertainty. The widespread assumption exists that four years of interesting classes inevitably lead to a lifetime of low salaries and limited career prospects.

However, that doesn’t have to be the case. In a commentary in the Chronicle of Higher Education, author Katharine S. Brooks shares some stories from her 20-some years of experience in career services of liberal arts education leading to career success, which is encouraging for students just beginning to think about how their degree can aid them in the job search. Examples she gives include a philosophy major whose logic class helped him score a perfect 180 on the LSAT, and a student whose knowledge gained in a film class helped him turn an internship into a job offer. Other stories abound. A liberal arts education is remarkably useful in all sorts of unexpected ways.

Her article focuses on encouraging colleges to provide better career services to liberal arts majors, but for students whose schools don’t yet offer these services, she also has good advice. Instead of simply taking your English degree and assuming you need to work in writing or publishing because that’s what you’ve learned to do, Brooks urges pausing to think about the skills you’ve learned and interests you have and trying to find meaningful connections among them. In the end, you’ll have a more complete picture of yourself as a student and as a potential worker. In addition to writing, perhaps your major has given you great skills with finding, interpreting, and evaluating vast amounts of information quickly. Skills like those can easily be applied to a wide variety of careers, and you can use your inventoried interests to focus your search.

Evaluating your interests and experiences is a must for students nearing the end of college, especially in majors that aren’t clear-cut paths to a particular career. Students in the humanities and social sciences have gained college experiences that can lead them in a number of different directions. In addition to adapting their interests and experiences to the corporate environment, they also have potential to further their knowledge of their field as graduate students, to enter into a public service profession, to earn a teaching certificate and become an educator, or to puruse their interests in whatever ways they find appealing. Which direction you choose depends less on the limitations of your major than on your personal preferences and abilities to seek out and seize opportunities-and based on what your degree has taught you, those should be quite well developed.

Posted: under College Majors, Tips.
Tags: college goals, College Majors, college tips, job search

Comments (0) Nov 04 2009

A recent college graduate who has failed to find a job since April has sued her alma mater.  The student, Trina Thompson, filed suit against Monroe College, a career-oriented college in New York, asking to be reimbursed the full cost of her tuition, which was $70,000.

Thompson’s suit claims that the Monroe College career center failed to do enough to help her find a job after graduation.  As a result, Thompson is struggling to make ends meet and, according to the New York Post, facing the prospect of homelessness as her student loans are about to come due.  While Thompson has been regularly submitting job applications and making use of resources, such as job listings, available through her college’s career center, this has not been enough to find work.  So she is suing Monroe College for failing to provide her with the leads and career advice she says she was promised.

While the merit of this particular lawsuit remains to be determined, it does raise questions about what students should expect from college, as well as what services colleges should provide and can promise to their students.  Especially right now, when jobs are scarce and competition is fierce, current students and recent graduates are dealing with greater stress and desperation as they try to navigate the job market.  Meanwhile, career centers have fewer contacts and resources to work with, as fewer places are actively recruiting or even hiring recent college graduates.  As a result, many college career counselors are finding themselves nearly overwhelmed, as more students need to rely on more services for longer to try to find post-graduate employment.

Finally, this lawsuit serves as a reminder for college-bound students of more good questions to ask during their college search: what are the job placement rates for the school and the department, and what career services are offered to help alumni find work?  Considering these things while choosing a college may make all the difference when it comes time to find a job after graduation.

Posted: under College Costs, College News, College and the Economy.
Tags: career, College and the Economy, College Costs, college goals, college news, College Search, college tips, tuition

Comments (0) Aug 04 2009

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has announced new grants to help states and community colleges improve remedial education and college completion.  The grants, totaling $16.5 million, were awarded to five states and fifteen community colleges and represent the second wave in an effort the foundation began in 2004.

As college costs continue to rise, an increasing amount of attention is being paid to community colleges as a cost-effective alternative to the traditional four-year university.  Greater emphasis on higher education, such as President Obama’s earlier urging for every American to receive some amount of post-secondary education, have also brought community colleges into focus.  In addition to being affordable and local, community colleges often focus on career-oriented education, which can help the unemployed or those who are looking for better job security quickly and effectively pick up skills and certification to achieve career goals.

Despite the benefits of a community college education, many students who enroll struggle to finish.  As many as 60 percent of community college students may need remedial courses, including up to 90 percent of low-income and minority students at these institutions, and students requiring remediation are currently at a disadvantage when it comes to successfully completing requirements to earn a degree. Grants from the Gates Foundation aim to help colleges continue to address this problem, building on the success of previous Gates-funded programs that saw the number of students successfully moving to college-level coursework rise by 16 to 20 percent.

Students will benefit from this grant money through increased access to support services, such as tutoring and academic advising, that can help them meet their college goals.  Improved remedial education, a federal focus on community colleges as vital educational institutions, and new state efforts to smooth the process of transferring from two-year to four-year state colleges all have the potential to help a greater number of Americans attain a higher education, and to do so at a lower cost.

Posted: under Back to School, College Grants, College News.
Tags: college and society, college benefits, College Classes, college goals, college news, community college

Comments (0) Jun 23 2009

Advanced Placement, or AP, classes are becoming more popular and more students are passing the exams, according to annual data released by the exam’s publisher this week. Approximately 15.2 percent of the class of 2008 received a passing score on the AP exam, as compared to 14.4 percent of the class of 2007.

AP courses, typically offered to high school juniors and seniors, allow students to take college-level classes in high school and potentially earn college credit.  Each AP course ends with an exam, scored on a scale of 1-5, with a score of 3 considered to be “passing” and credit-worthy by most colleges.  A few high schools also offer the option to take an AP course as dual-enrollment, where students pay to earn college credit for their work completed, rather than their test score.  Students can potentially shave a semester or more off their college experience through AP coursework, or AP work can free students’ time in college up for more exploration of a variety of courses.  Either way, many students see AP courses as a way to work towards their college goals.

Despite the benefits of AP, there are some arguments against it, as with any standardized test.  For students, AP exams cost money, often have relatively low pass rates, don’t guarantee college credit, aren’t offered in every subject at every school, and are likely to conflict with at least one event your senior year of high school.  For teachers and college administrators, there’s a concern about depth of coverage, quality of instruction, and students missing out on a key part of the college experience by coming in with so many AP credits.

Advocates of AP coursework say it can help students start college planning, get excited about the subject area, and save money by shaving off a few general educational requirements.  As AP grows in popularity, high schools are continuing to add courses and improve their teaching of the subject.  As long as you weigh the benefits and drawbacks, AP courses are definitely worth considering.  AP credit can be a way to build your resume, explore a potential college major, and jumpstart your career.

Posted: under High School, High School News.
Tags: Advanced Placement, college goals, college prep, education study, High School, High School News

Comments (0) Feb 06 2009