Colleges and Careers--how well are students prepared?

In a recent article in the New York Times College Admissions Blog, Catherine Hill, the president of Vassar College explains why evaluating recent college graduates’ salary rates might not be such a good idea:

http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/15/college-president-raises-concerns-about-obamas-college-scorecard/?nl=learning&emc=edit_tc_20130227

One important reason why is that professions are changing so rapidly now—we can’t accurately predict what new jobs will appear in the next few years.  So it’s important for students to learn a variety of skills and prepare themselves to be flexible and versatile in their job search.  

In “How Colleges Should Prepare Students for the Current Economy” Susan Brennan observes that many colleges are now “enhancing their career placement services for students . . . in a pragmatic and thoughtful way that ensures that short-term skills and training for the ‘real’ world don’t eclipse or erase higher education’s over-arching mission of creating a generation of curious, analytical and open life-long learners.”

Read more at: http://www.businessinsider.com/colleges-need-to-prepare-students-for-the-current-economy-2013-2#ixzz2MWnVeMss

Evaluating a college’s career services as well as what internships and other job experiences it offers should be an important part of any college search. 

Check out the Lynn O’Shaughnessy’s Blog, The College Solution where she provides a list of questions for evaluating a college’s career services office:

http://www.thecollegesolution.com/questions-to-ask-a-career-services-office/utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheCollegeSolutionBlogByLynnOshaughnessy+%28The+College+Solution+Blog+by+Lynn+O%27Shaughnessy%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

When I take Lily on her college tour in a few weeks, we’ll make sure to stop in at the career services office while we’re touring each campus.  I’m a big proponent of a liberal arts education—but I’m also a parent who wants to make sure my daughter can support herself when she graduates.