<p>College Confidential members turn on the TV to watch the Olympic 100-meter dash at the 2012 London Olympic. We spend 15-minutes watching the sprinters warming up and getting into their stance on the starting line and then watch the first 10-meters of the race and shut off the TV. For the next six-months there are lengthy discussions what racer had the best stance. But no one talks about the winning racer. The starting line is college selection and admission. The finish line is job placement. </p>
<p>We have long discussions about college selection and admission. Do we every ask about the college job placement office, the alumni network, the numbers of companies at the college job fair and jobs in your major six months after graduation. We need to have more discussion about happens four-years after the admission office sends out a fat envelope.</p>
<p>Of course, not everyone gets a job after college - many go on to graduate school. Also, some take a year off or go into the Peace corps or some other such volunteer activity. That’s why the job placement surveys that colleges send out to their graduates are not always an accurate representation of the quality of education obtained. In addition, job placement and starting offers vary more by major than by school. Starting salaries also vary by state because the cost of living is different in NYC than in Alabama. That being said, there have been some attempts by schools to publish this data in a quantifiable way. So, for example, you can begin to compare starting offers for computer science majors across California schools. For graduate school placement, there is more data available.</p>
<p>I found, however, that once I had a particular school that my son was interested in, I could look at his intended major and find the job placement and avg starting salary for that school for that major. That data is usually out there on the school’s website. Sometimes, it’s easiest to google the school’s name and the words “job placement” or “salary statistics” to find the exact place on the website. You will mostly find data for the highly employable majors or for masters candidates.</p>
<p>For me, college isn’t about getting a job. It’s about the education itself. I could make $30,000 a year for the rest of my life and be perfectly happy. What is important right now, is finding the place where I can get the best education possible, and after that it’s up to me.</p>
<p>One way to look at it is this: everyone on this website has the exact same starting line (college admissions), but everyone’s finish line is different. For some, the finish line is med school; for others, it’s the Peace Corps, politics, law school, working as a teacher, etc. Many others (like me) don’t have the slightest clue where our finish lines lay. All we can do is focus on the present, and the future will hold what it may.</p>
<p>Very nice, Manarius. I think that the finish line is personal development. Entry-level job placement is one byproduct of that. So are responsible community engagement, rewarding relationships, successful career growth, insightful reasoning about current issues, and your perception of your life as being interesting and impactful.</p>