<p>My D is really torn. She decided in February for certain that she does not want to live in the USA upon graduation in 2011. She has been offered a nice position in the city she wants to live in (she studied there and did an internship), and has until May to let them know. She will be able to use both of her majors and minors, but isn’t thrilled about the company culture. In the meantime she will look for other possibilities there. I think she is lucky in this economy. Many of her friends who came back to our area when they graduated in May/June have had no luck.</p>
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<p>You are absolutely right!!
But why don’t you talk to my friend Calvin, he is a Yale UG and Harvard MBA. He loves to collect Stamps (as Stamps for Collectors), he dispise those stamp dealers who buy low and sell high, so he is making about $1,000 /mo “helping” collectors to buy in Stamp Auctions and as an agent, he collects a small fee.</p>
<p>Cal lives in NYC or Manhattan, in a high rent area near Lincoln center, fortunatlly because the rent control, he pays about $80/mo rent for as long as he stays there. He has no medical insurance and he is single at around 70ish now.</p>
<p>son received a job offer last night. everything about it seems to be a good fit–looks like he will be making a decision shortly!</p>
<p>Companies are coming to son’s school looking for candidates earlier this year and they are having their own company days prior to the big career fair. It’s a good sign. Not sure if son will go to these as he’s planning on grad school but I’d like to know if there are greater or fewer companies compared to last year where the number of companies was down from the previous year.</p>
<p>“i’m not JUST looking at the years afterwards.
however, it does help to double major, aka widen your prospects”</p>
<p>Let me be the adult supporting irresponsibility. Liberal Arts majors do get jobs. People pushed into fields they despise often do poorly. Though I still think the double major, esp if the second major is a conventionally “marketable” one is a good idea. If DD switches to a liberal arts major, I intend to strongly suggest she at least minor in Comp Sci. And, usual bit of wisdom, if you are majoring in something “not marketable” improve your marketability with internships.</p>
<p>I once interviewed a student at MIT and she had a double-major but the double-major resulted in having fewer senior-level courses in either major area. We were looking for specific courses and she lessened her chances, at least for us, because of the fewer courses in the major that we wanted.</p>
<p>Of course she might have been better off with a company that wanted a combination.</p>
<p>In some fields, this year’s graduates may actually have an advantage because last year’s internship programs were cut back.</p>
<p>Companies that ordinarily fill their entry-level jobs almost entirely with the previous summer’s interns may not be doing that this year.</p>
<p>My daughter did not have an internship last summer of the sort that could lead into a full-time job, but I have been surprised by the number of companies that have been willing to offer her first-round and even second-round interviews for full-time jobs this fall. Many of these companies have internship programs. But evidently they are looking outside those programs for additional entry-level hires.</p>
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<p>My DD (currently on a gap year) will start on 5 yr B Architecture (yeah, I know) program in September. IF she leaves arch (right now she’s gung ho, but it happens) she MIGHT tell us she wants to major in Anthro. If I as her dad insisted (or strongly suggested) she dual major in Comp Sci or at least minor in it (I do not see her as being the kind of kid who will thrive in an NGO/general business or similar kind of job, and in HS she showed talent in intro comp sci) would her taking fewer upper level anthro courses be likely to hinder her?</p>
<p>If she leaves Arch and majors in Civil E instead, I would certainly not suggest a dual major or a minor.</p>
<p>My perspective on CS majors is from the point of software engineering. There are probably more CS grads working in IS and IT than there are in software engineering.</p>
<p>There isn’t a lot of time in a typical undergraduate program to cover a lot of elective areas in computer science. There are programming, theory, hardware, circuits, math classes that are required along with GEDs. There are quite a few elective areas like databases, networks, robotics, compilers, human-computer interface, graphics, artificial intelligence, parallel processing, additional theory, etc. which students won’t get to cover in their undergraduate courses due to lack of time.</p>
<p>Places like MIT and Stanford have EECS majors that cover essentially two majors but there are similarities in the majors that make it a bit easier to cover everything along (and the fast pace of courses that they set).</p>
<p>Another part of CS programs aimed at developing software engineers is the labwork which is often brutal and something that can cause CS majors to rethink their decision to major in CS. As with other engineering majors, students really need to love the discipline in order to get through the tough times.</p>
<p>If she does well in CS, a few courses in other majors shouldn’t hurt. I know excellent software engineers that majored in english, physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, and entomology. They typically got into software engineering through non-standard means but they got in.</p>
<p>I had a look at the career fair for my son’s school and the number of companies signed up is higher than last year. I’d say that the types of positions and the quality of companies is better too.</p>
<p>I am writing up a prioritized list of companies to speak to (there are 16 in the list) as he will only have 40 minutes at the career fair due to schedule conflicts. At this time, his plans are grad school but I suggested he go to the career fair just to see if something really good turns up. Grad school is always an option later on.</p>
<p>At my daughter’s university, the career fair is pretty much just for show.</p>
<p>If you’re really interested in applying for jobs, you fill out applications using the online on-campus recruiting system. Most if not all of the companies that will be represented at the job fair also will post (or already have posted) announcements about job opportunities on the online recruiting system.</p>
<p>simba - I urged him to look at Brown but he was set. Wasn’t my doing, I promise.</p>
<p>has your child checked out career-related activities sponsored by student organizations?</p>
<p>there are several student organizations that invite the recruiters to a cook out or pizza dinner the night before the career fair. this dinner/cookout is open to all members of that student organization. the recruiters mix and mingle with faculty and students in advance of the career day. during the actual career fair, resumes might be exchanged and a few questions asked, but the major part of the recruiting process begins in a much smaller, more intimate setting.</p>
<p>something to check into…</p>