College Majors and Career Planning
Many things have changed in our education culture through the years, but the primary reason for attending college - an institution of higher learning - still remains intact: to earn a degree. And for most students (and their parents!) the hope is that the degree will pave the way for a rewarding career.
The 4-year college graduation rate is way down - around 35%, and the dropout rate is up - around 25%. The transfer rate is alarming as well - around 25%, with 10% of students attending 3 or more colleges before achieving their undergraduate degree.
WHY They're Going WHERE They're Going
We believe that a significant contributor to these alarming statistics is the lack of focus on careers and college majors well before the student decides where they wish to attend college. Here in southern California where we're located, the degree of Brand Name Paralysis is staggering. It may have even reached epidemic levels!
Here are some of the criteria (besides nothing more than the name) students tell us a college must meet for it to be under consideration:
- Close to the beach
- Bigger than their high school
- One of their parents attended
- Not driveable by mom and dad
- Brother or sister is attending
- Must have football team
Now while we agree that there's nothing innately wrong with these parameters, none of them should be the main reason for going to college. But these should be viewed as "icing on the cake". There are so many "Hidden Gem" colleges out there just waiting to be found by our students. The $100K to $250K price tag associated with college today should dictate a bit more discipline and scrutiny in the College List process.
Strengths --> Careers --> Majors --> Colleges
The college selection process SHOULD begin with an assessment of the student's "wired" skills and passions, their natural likes and dislikes. This analysis then points to a host of potential CAREERS - not just one or two like in the "old days" - that the student can research extensively. Careers of interest then point towards a host of college MAJORS that lead to those careers. And finally, the college majors point to a multitude of COLLEGES offering that major. This is the ideal process flow for a first-pass College List. The second pass should include social, political, spiritual, geographical, and certainly financial considerations.
Many students go about this entirely backwards/upside-down. They first pick a COLLEGE. They hope that sometime during their stay they "find" a MAJOR. They then hope that the major leads to a degree that gets them a JOB - often not truly a CAREER - and finally they hope they like their job.
WHEN Should A Student Start?
We've found that students entering MCP as early as 8th or 9th grade can benefit greatly! Now is it likely that an 8th or 9th-grader could possibly KNOW what they would like to do career-wise? Even with a tool as sophisticated as MCP? Almost invariably not! BUT it's a starting point for the student to have an active role in planning for college.
MCP is designed in a format that students enjoy. There are videos - similar to YouTube - that helps them learn about careers. When a student has a significant buy-in, the results can be tremendous! And their MCP account will remain active all the way through high school when they kick their pursuit of colleges into overdrive. And all this is incredibly affordable!
What About Students Already IN College?
MCP is a wonderful tool even for students already in college, especially when it comes to researching and refining their college major. The number of options available to college students today is nearly unimaginable. Did you know that there are about 7000 majors available to choose from? That's right - 7000!
MCP can be an invaluable tool in helping College Students explore their options!
We Can Help
Students need direction in order to select the right colleges and college majors. Otherwise, they tend to come up with the same schools all their friends do - and "default" majors like Psychology or Business. In California, the schools tend to be (just to name a few): USC, UCLA, Berkeley, UCSD, Stanford, Pepperdine, etc. The process of selecting colleges we described above is offered through MCP (My College and Career Plan), a highly interactive online program we offer. We encourage you to learn more about the program and to consider it for all your college-bound children.
