Just finished first round of alumni interviews for college admissions. 5 of the 6 high school students asked me about job placement after college. It is by far the most common question. I don’t think it came up even once ten years ago. Priorities have changed.
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I agree with you.
BUT- if the priorities have changed, student behavior has not. I get phone calls (year round, not just in May/June) by friends, friends of friends, strangers) asking me to help their kid who graduated and does not have a job. They may have been all gung ho about “placement” before they went to college, but once they get there, it’s excuse after excuse- going on a fabulous Spring Break trip when they should have been nailing down a summer job during freshman year. Running the Pan-Hellenic carnival which conflicted with the “resume drop” week sophomore year so they never interviewed for internships. Trips with the significant other, “my last chance to play tennis” over the summer, lots and lots of social media and online poker.
These are not bad kids-- not at all. But whatever pre-professional yearnings they may have had in HS get dissolved by the never-ending party which is college for some people.
And then they are trying to reboot, but at a disadvantage vs. their more organized peers. They never did the “video interview critique sessions” offered by career services. They didn’t get a list from their favorite professor of “Here are former students interested in the same things you are, they are always willing to talk to undergrads”. And if the summer before senior year of college is spent playing tennis and partying, the kid isn’t going to have much to talk about during a job interview a few months later (except for a job as a tennis pro or party planner- both options of course).
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I share your pain. It is hard to watch college kids self-sabotage by prioritizing greek life, vacations, etc and then be surprised by the consequences
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I’m dropping this here because I think it’s highly relevant to this discussion. They interview professors and other experts about the way higher education is discussed and treated, and it’s fascinating.