Make Careful Considerations Before Deciding on a Four-Year College

In “Other Ways to Win”, Penn State scholars Kenneth C. Gray and Edwin L Herr, tell students to carefully consider whether a four-year college is really right for them and provide many alternatives.

They are concerned that the following facts are not fully recognized:

A college might be easy to get in, but very difficult to get through.

Community colleges often offer an “open admissions” policy. Sometimes, you’ll even see this at a public four-year college. The fact is, though, that in these schools, only about half of students will graduate within six years.

For the foreseeable future, the number of job openings for four-year college graduates is far below the number of those qualified.

Furthermore, on average, technical workers who don’t have a four-year college degree will attain higher salaries than four-year college degree holders, with the exception of the “professional ranks”.

Technical jobs are the fastest growing, most lucrative, sector of the labor force.

And within this sector, the fastest growing, most lucrative, jobs require a two-year associate degree.

Bottom line: A four-year college degree is not the best solution for everyone. Two-year technical education provides many promising alternatives. More on this soon!

Why Any College Major Can Qualify for Any Employer

Your college major will most likely have nothing to do with what career path you choose, your chances of getting hired, your starting salary level or your professional growth. While in college, though, hone your “soft skills” and learn to make informed decisions about the job market. That will make all the difference in what happens after graduation.

Consider this:

• Most CEOs were liberal arts undergraduates.
• Most new jobs today are being created by small businesses.
• Most employers hire on the basis of “soft skills”, like creative problem-solving and communications.

That’s not to say that a college major has nothing to do with your success. Research shows that some majors are better prepared for higher pay than others. Liberal Arts majors get promoted faster and rise higher than Business and Engineering students hired at the same time at the same organization. And one-fourth of new hires at technical organizations do not have technical degrees.

That said, students who can support the “knowledge economy” with technical and analytical skills are in the best position to command higher starting salaries. A 2006 study at Carnegie-Mellon University found that their newly minted Computer Scientists, Electrical/Computer Engineers, Mathematicians, Economists and Business Administrators pulled the highest starting salaries.

But any management, consulting or sales position is viable for any major; even if it “sounds like business”. Every college major demands critical thinking skills. Demonstrate those during a job interview. If it’s a data-driven employer or industry, play up your quantitative skills, even if you acquired them from a non-science, non-business major. The job title may not specifically require them, but you may be able to get on the short list of candidates, if you have these skills. Giving examples from class projects, as well as internships, will show that you can recognize when these skills are needed on a project, and can offer them.