Finding Jobs after Brown?

Colleges & Universities Brown University
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<p>I was curious to ask recent Brown alumni about their difficulties in finding a job? </p>

<p>I’ve been looking at various statistics and the number seems to vary. From the Brown Daily Herald it states only 23.4% are employed immediately after college while the Career Lab from the Brown University website says the number is more like 65%. But this statistic might include the graduate school. </p>

<p>The reason I ask is that this is a tough job market. Between Brown (which I would pay full tuition) and UC Berkeley (in state) which would be a better option for my future? I don’t know if I would like to attend graduate school, but I have no idea how I would pay for it after Brown if I decided to go that route…</p>

<p>I also hear Brown’s advising/career service is not very helpful?</p>

<p>Yes, maybe I think far ahead but spending 200,000+ is a scary prospect compared to in state tuition even if it is rising drastically.</p>

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<p>Also at Cal, the number of employed graduates stated on the website was 2/3 right out of college.</p>

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<p>I think statistics about people who are employed immediately out of college means they were offered their jobs while still students. It makes sense that most students would still be looking for job offers a little while after graduation. Brown does really well placing students in employment.</p>

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<p>Employment statistics tell you a lot more about the post-college desires and fields of students at a school than they tell you about the opportunities provided by a school.</p>

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<p>Chuckle: the cost of Brown vs UCB can be a factor especially if you plan on grad school. A classmate of mine (another Ivy) loved our undergrad but ended up going to a medical school in her home state. She said to me (despite the fact that she loved our alma mater) that in hindsight, she wished she would have taken the full ride scholarship at her big state school to go to a more prestigious med school instead. It’s just one anecdote but what you’re citing are valid concerns. </p>

<p>Talk to your parents. See how they feel.</p>

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<p>Take the post-college employment statistics with a grain of salt and with a lot of careful study. There are lots of ways to game those numbers. E.g., a person in a low-paying, part-time job unrelated to the student’s major and/or career goals can be counted as “employed.”</p>

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<p>the 3/4 unemployed has to be counting people in any sort of graduate school as unemployed</p>

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<p>I know I don’t want to be a lawyer or go into medicine. So really, what other grad schools would I need to go to? As a high school student, all we hear is that undergrad has no value anymore and that the only way to get a job in any field is to go to grad school…</p>

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<p>An important thing to note is I am an athlete, and I would have less time to focus on academics if I were to go to Cal over Brown.</p>

<p>But I am also indecisive, and I am worried that I could crack under the pressure of having so much freedom. But I am a worrier…</p>

10

<p>I think you’d be crazy to pay significant private school education over public state as good as Berkeley unless that kind of money means absolutely nothing to your parents and is disposable income.</p>

<p>I think the pressure will be much higher at Berkeley than at Brown. Brown has a more collaborative atmosphere where I fear UCB is more competitive, and the freedom at Brown makes errors correctable and changes of mind possible.</p>

<p>You forgot to tell what major you are intending, which makes all the difference.</p>

<p>My daughter graduated in computer science at Brown and 3/4 of the class went to google or microsoft or direct research hires, and the rest to prestige grad schools for the most part.</p>

<p>(We are from SF too!)</p>

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<p>Most professionals end up getting some type of graduate degree. When I think of all my friends (I’m a Brown alum, graduated a few decades ago), very very few don’t have some type of graduate degree. Let’s see: public policy, library science, public health, journalism, social work, theology, drama, business, computer science, education – honestly, I could go on and on listing the types of graduate study out there. </p>

<p>My daughter graduated Brown last May, and is employed in her field of interest. Some of her friends have jobs like that too, really good jobs. Some have internships. Some still don’t know what they want to do and are floundering. Some have non-career type jobs that don’t require college degrees. The ones who did best majored in CS or engineering. At graduation, I heard a lot of complaints about the Career Office. I do think Brown needs to make some serious improvements to Career Development. </p>

<p>We know a lot of people who recently graduated from college – a lot of colleges, not just Brown. Just like the Brown grads, some have good jobs, some have bad jobs, some went to grad school, etc., etc. It’s a tough market out there, and success depends on your major, your career, luck, where you live or are willing to live, and a lot of other factors. </p>

<p>Many people think it’s worth spending $240,000 on college. Many people think it’s crazy to spend $240,000 on college. That’s a conversation you need to have with your parents. Don’t spend too much time agonizing over this question until you’ve been accepted to both Brown and Berkeley, neither of which is guaranteed.</p>

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<p>chuckle - I’m an athlete at Brown right now, and most of the seniors on the team have accepted job offers already. It is important to be aware of how much time you’ll have to study, because practice does eat up a lot of time, and then you have to sleep/eat. Just in regards to studying, my coaches at the beginning of the year reminded us that their job is put medals around our necks but at the same time make sure that we’re doing well academically. I think that’s the general attitude for sports at brown… your coaches are here to make sure you do well in everything you put your mind to. </p>

<p>Also - alumni connections through your sport/through the university should be considered, but remember to go where you think you’ll be the happiest! That’s the most important thing to think about at this stage, in my opinion.</p>

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<p>Berkeley for grad school is probably the best in the world, Harvard, Stanford, and MIT included. I know, I did graduate work there. Undergrad is a different story though. The school has tremendous resources, but, much like Harvard, many of those resources are inaccessible to undergrad. It’s a totally different atmosphere from Brown. Competitive, sometimes in a cut-throat way, and in general not supportive of its undergrads. Think about this. Berkeley undergrad has around, give or take, 15-18 thousand undergrads. Brown has around 6,000. Yet Brown produces more Rhodes, Trumans, Marshalls, and Udall fellowships in aggregate. Produces more Fulbrights. Does better in placing undergrads in jobs that align themselves with student interests. Has a better representation at HYS law schools, etc. How much is that worth to you to have better opportunities in a smaller, more intimate academic environment. Think hard about this and go with which institution you think would be a better fit. You may be able to pursuade Brown to come up with significant financial aid in your second year if you do really well. They won’t want to lose a prospectively successful alumnus.</p>

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<p>These kind of stats don’t mean anything - because colleges count those grads who are working at GAP folding clothes as ‘employed’. So, what it comes down to is that you should try to assess comprehensive data of a school with details to what percentage of their grads are employed in each industry sector, salary breakdown, etc.</p>

<p>Take a look at Princeton University’s post-graduate career report. Princeton is the only Ivy that makes it mandatory its grads take this survey, hence, it has a very comprehensive data detailing where their grads end up.</p>

<p>[Princeton</a> University - Career Services - Online Publication](<a href=“http://ocsweb.princeton.edu/pro-flip/Main.php?MagID=1&MagNo=1]Princeton”>http://ocsweb.princeton.edu/pro-flip/Main.php?MagID=1&MagNo=1)</p>

<p>Looking at Princeton’s post-grad career survey data, you should get the idea that it ain’t so rosy. 24% of all Princeton grads graduated unemployed in 2010. 23% of their grads are heading directly to grad school. </p>

<p>Also, among those employed, the sector where the most Princeton grads ended up is non-profit sector, with 16% of all grads from Princeton who got jobs in non-profit. The average starting salary in this sector for Princeton was $37,000.</p>

<p>The reason I am providing you this data is that Brown doesn’t publish this kind of data, and looking at Princeton’s data, you could make an assumption that Brown grads do equally well or equally bad as Princeton’s grads.</p>

<p>The take-home point is that no matter what college you end up going to, if you are really worried about getting a job and a lucrative one at that, you should really think about majoring in a marketable major, such as computer science, engineering, math, statistics, or accounting. Even if you go to a ‘prestigious’ school such as Princeton or Brown or whatever, you won’t have much solid job outlooks with a degree in humanities or general liberal arts.</p>

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<p>Um, not true. If your family doesn’t have financial need based on FAFSA and the Profile, it doesn’t matter if you are the winningest quarterback in Brown history, they won’t come up with “significant financial aid.” If you qualify for aid, they may give you a package with more grants than loans, but that’s about it.</p>

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<p>Galanter that is just false for students who have significant personal and family resources.</p>

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<p>I haven’t been particularly impressed with the CareerLAB (as they are now calling themselves), but they are helpful if you do your research beforehand.</p>

<p>This past summer I started exploring a field of cognitive/computer science that I’m considering entering upon graduation. The CareerLAB didn’t know much about the field (admittedly, it’s quite new), but they suggested I speak to some alums who worked in it. After a few phone calls, I had a list of places to intern the following summer. Then I went to the Career Fair, talked to a number of recruiters at software companies, and had a conversation that led to an internship offer several weeks later.</p>

<p>In the mean time, the CareerLAB helped me format my resume and write cover letters. They also gave me advice for negotiating offers. However, I wouldn’t have had such luck at the Career Fair if I hadn’t looked up companies and targeted specific projects first. </p>

<p>Go to the Career Fair… if you are a science major or planning on working at a “common good”/non-profit company. However, my friends who don’t fall into either camp are perplexed, and the CareerLAB can’t always help them.</p>

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<p>^
Agree with this, I was a bio major and it seems like the biology department is trying to help supplement them because as an alumnus I have gotten emails about being listed in their database and am I open to talking to students about my career, etc. I hope/imagine the other sciences are doing the same thing.</p>