I am sharing this, because all though most discussion here is pre and during college, it might be helpful to hear a “non top student’s road to success” - I believe the “trophy” is that after graduating from college, a graduate finds employment in a challenging job in his/her career of choice in a firm that he/she really wants to be employed in. Our son graduated in May, and is now working very successfully in his first post-college job at a very well regarded large “top 20 large places to work” according to Glassdoor.
I thought it would be helpful to hear our son’s college choices, involvement and success, because he didn’t take the typical “top school” route - he is a smart person, but tends to be a non-linear thinker, and it tends to be the typically linear thinking/left brain sided people who do so well in high school/get into the top schools. He loves challenges, graduated with a 3.5 in high school, with higher SAT scores, and a passion for learning. His high school (public) is well regarded and is known for being competitive.
Our son was accepted to his top choice college, which is competitive (27% acceptance rate), but chose a college that was more affordable (his stats were higher, so they gave him excellent financial aid - we could not afford his first choice, which gave little aid. The college he attended has a 60’s% acceptance rate.) We did not go into debt, and he incurred the basic federal loans. It cost us less to send him to this private school than it would have to our state flagship public school. About $10,000 a year less. They met our need for 3 of the years (not so much when our daughter entered college his senior year.) We would have gone into debt to send him to the state flagship, and with a daughter still in high school, he would have incurred more debt. He knew he could have gone to his first choice, but we laid out the finances, and he could see the huge debt he would have incurred to attend there. He chose the less competitive college which met our financial need (most of the years).
While in college he worked two jobs and had an internship. He was also involved with Model UN. His two jobs total between 18-25 hours a week (most of the time), and eventually gave him management experience. For two summers he had a full time job (not in his field of choice). Since he was prepared academically, he also did very well in college, graduating with honors. His Model UN experience was fantastic, giving him excellent experience with negotiations, experience with international students, and great “thinking outside the box” experiences. His internship helped him decide on a different field than he thought that he was interested in. His senior year he sought out a paid temporary position related to his desired field, as he wanted to add this to his “post college job search resume.”
Since we did not take on debt, we were able to help him while took a summer to extend the internship, which was unpaid.
During his graduation weekend, I recall being in a bathroom and I overheard another mother discussing how glad she was that they were able to let her son “have the full college experience” and not have to work while in college. I remember being a little sad. My son had to work.
There were times when I told him had was working too much (especially when he was working two jobs and took on the internship) but he ignored me. He did fine in school.
I want to put out there that it was my son’s work during college, as well as his internship and Model UN experiences that helped him greatly to land a job (that he really desired) after college. He has subsequently expressed many times that he is so glad that he had so many work experiences. He did not have a job lined up when he graduated, as he was so busy during the year. He worked VERY hard all summer contacting companies. It was his extensive work/internship experiences in college (coupled with his interviewing skills, honed by those experiences) which made him stand out as an applicant. According to our son, he was the only applicant (hired at this firm recently) that was hired straight out of college. Other hires in his position began working at other firms to gain experience first. He is working in the field of his choice, and considers this first post-college work a “dream job.” He is learning a lot and is being given great opportunities and continues to pursue professional development there.
In conclusion, it may not be a “top school” but “in college work experiences” which will help your college student with their future dream-job job-hunt. Our daughter has observed this, and found a job on-campus in her field of interest. We hope that she has the same positive outcome after graduating that our son has had.