OT: Will Future College Grads Be Prepared?

[scaredyclassic]

[quote=bearishgurl][quote=dumbrenter][quote=harvey][quote=flyer]Shockingly, only about 20% of new college grads are getting the jobs they want, where they want them, and the BLS predicts that will not change much in the future.[/quote]

Why is that shocking?

What should the number be?

Personally, I’m not surprised by that vague statistic. Four of five people don’t receive fulfilling careers immediately after obtaining an undergraduate degree? Sounds like real life.[/quote]

Reminds me of the joke about the school where every kid in the school is “above average” compared to their peers int he same school!
But I think the shocking part is the expectations that grads and their parents have after they have been ‘sold’ on the school.[/quote]

I’ll have to admit that I’m kind of ‘sold’ on my youngest kid’s school (a CSU campus). I DO think the CSUs have really, really good instructors who are dedicated to the success of their students (even the ones who teach GE’s). The problem is that students don’t take advantage of all on campus that is on offer to them for their really high fees. At my kid’s campus, the fees (exclusive of tuition) are now close to $2K year. Instructors DO have office hours and “free” tutoring is offered on most subjects several days per week in the library. Class sizes have now been reduced to 24 – 70 students with most of them capped at 34 students (even GE classes). Freshman are really coddled to the point where they get priority registration for the first quarter and are registered in all the right remedial ENG and MATH the summer BEFORE their freshman year begins. There is help in person and online for almost any problem, academic or otherwise. If the right help a student needs isn’t available on campus, they will be referred out to the appropriate community resource and an appt will be made for them (ex: problems of students who are single parents). Some campuses today even have mini-hospitals on campus and state-of-the-art multi-level fitness centers with climbing walls and a host of exercise classes, etc. All one needs is that magic student ID to avail themselves of all these benefits.

I really think the CSUs (at least some of them) are now trying mightily to address every concern of a student as a whole person to ensure their success and continuation to earn a degree due to high dropout rates of previous years (due primarily to financial issues, frustration with registration and poor preparation in HS). Their more holistic approach is contributing to the overall success of students in the long haul.

I like some of the smaller public campuses out-of-state, as well (i.e. 4K students). I think it is really cool that the instructors in these campuses get to know as many students as possible personally and walk with them on campus and lunch with them. Two that come to mind have several professors each who retired from the UC and CSU systems and subsequently came to work for these campuses for the more “personal” atmosphere.

If I was young and could have a do-over, I would enroll in the CSU … probably Humboldt State … so I could be out in the woods often, lol ….
“Bezerkely” would be my second choice (courtesy of spdrun, lol). And yes, I could get admitted to Cal. I was admitted to it over 40 years ago with an ACT score of 31 but declined because I “couldn’t afford it” back then (I went to HS out of state).

Bad mistake. I could have gone on to law school at Boalt Hall and my life would have been completely different :=0[/quote]

I think Humboldt might be good for pre med. I picture less competition, more intoxication. I think it’d be easier to get As up in humboldt. That’s why I had my middle kid apply there. He’s so straight, I think he’ll excel there.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=scaredyclassic][quote=bearishgurl][quote=dumbrenter][quote=harvey][quote=flyer]Shockingly, only about 20% of new college grads are getting the jobs they want, where they want them, and the BLS predicts that will not change much in the future.[/quote]

Why is that shocking?

What should the number be?

Personally, I’m not surprised by that vague statistic. Four of five people don’t receive fulfilling careers immediately after obtaining an undergraduate degree? Sounds like real life.[/quote]

Reminds me of the joke about the school where every kid in the school is “above average” compared to their peers int he same school!
But I think the shocking part is the expectations that grads and their parents have after they have been ‘sold’ on the school.[/quote]

I’ll have to admit that I’m kind of ‘sold’ on my youngest kid’s school (a CSU campus). I DO think the CSUs have really, really good instructors who are dedicated to the success of their students (even the ones who teach GE’s). The problem is that students don’t take advantage of all on campus that is on offer to them for their really high fees. At my kid’s campus, the fees (exclusive of tuition) are now close to $2K year. Instructors DO have office hours and “free” tutoring is offered on most subjects several days per week in the library. Class sizes have now been reduced to 24 – 70 students with most of them capped at 34 students (even GE classes). Freshman are really coddled to the point where they get priority registration for the first quarter and are registered in all the right remedial ENG and MATH the summer BEFORE their freshman year begins. There is help in person and online for almost any problem, academic or otherwise. If the right help a student needs isn’t available on campus, they will be referred out to the appropriate community resource and an appt will be made for them (ex: problems of students who are single parents). Some campuses today even have mini-hospitals on campus and state-of-the-art multi-level fitness centers with climbing walls and a host of exercise classes, etc. All one needs is that magic student ID to avail themselves of all these benefits.

I really think the CSUs (at least some of them) are now trying mightily to address every concern of a student as a whole person to ensure their success and continuation to earn a degree due to high dropout rates of previous years (due primarily to financial issues, frustration with registration and poor preparation in HS). Their more holistic approach is contributing to the overall success of students in the long haul.

I like some of the smaller public campuses out-of-state, as well (i.e. 4K students). I think it is really cool that the instructors in these campuses get to know as many students as possible personally and walk with them on campus and lunch with them. Two that come to mind have several professors each who retired from the UC and CSU systems and subsequently came to work for these campuses for the more “personal” atmosphere.

If I was young and could have a do-over, I would enroll in the CSU … probably Humboldt State … so I could be out in the woods often, lol ….
“Bezerkely” would be my second choice (courtesy of spdrun, lol). And yes, I could get admitted to Cal. I was admitted to it over 40 years ago with an ACT score of 31 but declined because I “couldn’t afford it” back then (I went to HS out of state).

Bad mistake. I could have gone on to law school at Boalt Hall and my life would have been completely different :=0[/quote]

I think Humboldt might be good for pre med. I picture less competition, more intoxication. I think it’d be easier to get As up in humboldt. That’s why I had my middle kid apply there. He’s so straight, I think he’ll excel there.[/quote]

It’s an awesome campus and town, scaredy. Nestled amongst the redwoods (as is UC Santa Cruz), it provides a “bucolic” and peaceful learning atmosphere. Also, off-campus housing up there is more reasonably priced due to many SFRs in neighboring towns consisting of permanently-skirted mobile homes. In spite of the (hidden, lol) “industry” up there, I think it’s a great place (along with Chico State) to keep a kid on the straight and narrow and focused on school as there are few “distractions” around those campuses.

I couldn’t get my kids interested in either one because they’re all social party animals and city people who need and want a lot of stuff going on around them. Fortunately, their pledges to Greek organizations have managed to keep them out of trouble and even provide them with the contacts they need(ed) to be successful :=0

I have a neighbor who is a HS teacher for SUHSD who only gave her daughter (HS class of 2015) TWO CHOICES. Either she gets accepted by SDSU or goes to Chico State. She had to apply for both of them and was not allowed to apply to any other campuses. She didn’t get accepted to SDSU (of course, SDSU reneged on their Compact for Success promise) and got accepted to Chico State so Chico State it was and she is gone.

My neighbor told me no way would she send her daughter anywhere to college where Disneyland/Cal Adventure Park, Knotts Berry Farm, the beach, etc, etc were going to “distract her” from her studies.

I thought that was a good plan.

[scaredyclassic]

Some career advice from a,poet:

“Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota”:

Over my head, I see the bronze butterfly,
Asleep on the black trunk,
Blowing like a leaf in green shadow.
Down the ravine behind the empty house,
The cowbells follow one another
Into the distances of the afternoon.
To my right,
In a field of sunlight between two pines,
The droppings of last year’s horses

Blaze up into golden stones.
I lean back, as the evening darkens and comes on.
A chicken hawk floats over, looking for home.
I have wasted my life.

[flyer]

The stats on the success rate of recent grads may prove to be right or
wrong–but, along with the stats–we’ve seen evidence of many disillusioned grads over the past several years among our kids friends and the kids of our friends, and that’s why I posted this topic.

Some of it has to do with the majors selected, but, even for others with degrees that are in demand, and especially for kids raised in CA, most don’t want to relocate, if they can’t get the job they want here, so that’s definitely a big problem if they intend to use their degrees.

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