Monthly Archives: November 2016

Why aren’t students graduating in four years?

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Completed by Guest Blogger: Kayla

frustrated-student

Complete College America is a non-profit organization that works with states to help close the college degree attainment gap, making it easier and more cost effective for students to pursue higher education.  According to Complete College America, most college students at public universities end up completing their bachelor’s degree in 6 years.  This costs them 40% more than students who graduate in the traditional 4 years.  So why are students not graduating on time?

  1. Lack of a plan. Students often enter college and take a relaxed approach. They fail to create a strategy to conquer college in 4 years and go on to a successful career.  Tip: meet with your advisor every semester.
  2. Change of majors. Approximately 80% of students change their major before they graduate! Changing your major can often delay graduation. Tip: take summer classes to help you catch up on credits and graduate on time.
  3. Change of universities. 37% of college students end up transferring during their college career.  Often times, classes do not transfer between schools.  Tip: keep a course catalog and description of the courses that you take to ensure all possible credits are transferred.
  4. Unnecessary courses taken. Students, on average, take 134 credits, while a bachelor’s degree typically requires 120 credits. Tip: keep a curriculum card to make sure you are taking the required classes to graduate.

In order to graduate on time, utilize My College Max to prepare for college and your career.  Be sure to go into college with a plan.  Research majors and career paths so that you have a strategy and don’t need to switch majors, which will prolong graduation.

Steven J. Harvey, Ph.D. 
CEO & Founder, My College Max, Web Site: www.mycollegemax.com
Executive Director, The WNY Consortium of Higher Education, Web Site: www.wnycollegeconnection.com

What is a college student’s “currency” in the job market? The answer may surprise you.

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When a student chooses a career path, they are really selecting a major that will lead to that career.  That’s the easy part.  The hard work starts when you begin your college career and find that your chosen major may not be the best choice for you.  Then you start to question your direction and the stress begins.

To avoid this trap, keep things in perspective.

  • Most people will have multiple careers which means you will jump from one field to another.  For example, you may be a teacher, sales person, trainer, and financial planner all in your lifetime!
  • It’s more important to select the right major than it is to select the “right” career.  Why?  Simple.  Your major will be what offers you your foundation while your college will offer you a world of opportunities outside of your major to build your expertise, skill sets, and passion, as well as explore multiple careers (Register with your career services office as soon as you get onto your college campus!).  For the knowledge economy, your skills are what’s important and what will be your “currency” in the job market.  Focus more on developing those transferable and high demand skills and you will ultimately create more opportunities for yourself.
  • There are likely many jobs that you will enjoy, many of which may not even exist when you are in high school.  Again, it’s not about the job as much as it is about the right major.  Most majors will lead to 100’s if not 1000’s of job opportunities; as long as you play your cards right.

Studygroup relaxing in beanbags while doing school work.

So what is the most important thing you can do for your future, spend the time to examine your interests, values, and the kind of job environment you want to be in; meet with people in careers you are interested in and interview them (why did they choose the career, what is the best part, what is the worst part, would they do it again, etc.); do an internship in the field (may not be feasible); shadow for a day (more feasible than an internship); research the job market and whether or not a particular job will be high growth or offer no opportunities (O*Net will tell you that); do a site visit; go to employer events; and more.

If you don’t know how to move forward, that’s okay!  Go to your school counselor or check out MyCollegeMax.com to see what you can do to take charge of your future because it’s YOUR future!

Steven J. Harvey, Ph.D. 
CEO & Founder, My College Max, Web Site: www.mycollegemax.com
Executive Director, The WNY Consortium of Higher Education, Web Site: www.wnycollegeconnection.com