What I Did With My Degree

In the first months of college, I wasn’t so sure if I wanted to pursue architecture, finance, or engineering; I was utterly lost, unlike many of my peers. Over the months, I pondered on what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Then, I realized I was never interested in obtaining a job where I would sit at a desk and stare at some numbers on a computer screen for 9 hours every day. Through my daily routine and utilization of time, I realized I found less joy in the courses I applied least outside of the classroom, yet was intrigued that with the many hours I worked in the studio. I could work on a skill in which I could use in the career I wanted; a path in which I could leave a legacy through molding the world the way I wanted to see

This article “Students of Success” written by Lynn Cheney was very well written. Cheney’s point in this article is that students in liberal arts shouldn’t be over looked in the world of business. She explains that students in liberal arts have the opportunity to become anywhere from Management to the next president of the united states. People should understand that its not the field you major in but it’s the way you use your major. Cheney states that students who follow their hearts in choosing majors will mostly end up laboring at what they love.

College is an exciting but confusing time in everyone’s lives. In “Many with New College Degrees Find the Job Market Humbling”, Catherine Rampell explain how even if a student attends college the student is not guaranteed a job. In “Job Outlook for College Graduates is Slowly Improving”, Lacey Johnson talks about how the job market for recent graduates is beginning to repair itself. In “College Majors, Unemployment, and Earnings: Not All College Degrees are Created Equal”, Anthony Carnevale, Ben Cheah, and Jeff Strohl discuss which college majors have the most jobs in the current economy. The three essays answer some important questions that students might have such as: is college worth it, if a student does go to college what type of degree they should get, and what students should major in.

Everyone who decides to enroll in college must, at some point, think about what area they want to major in. There are many things that students consider when choosing a major. Some make their decision based on what they think can make them the most money once they begin their lives in the work force. However, many students believe that if you choose a major that interests you and challenges you then you can use those skills that can help you in any career. (R. Landrum & S. Davis, 2014) Let’s face it. Employers know that when they hire someone straight out of college they are not immediately going to know

The use of a liberal arts degree is considerably useful and you should certainly strive towards one. The professor in this essay believes that the perception of getting a liberal arts degree is commonly misconceived as being a degree for hobbies and not for the workforce. The argument centers around the many uses of a liberal arts degree that offer people multiple opportunities for them to find a career. The point of this essay is to evaluate and provide facts of the uses of these degrees and how these degrees will help you in the workforce.

Lack of proper career planning is attributed to poor performance of graduates. Moreover, lack of on-the-job training lead to poorly trained graduates who lack expertise to deliver in the expected industry. Therefore, a university graduate is expected to earn a degree that should translate to higher work opportunities and pay. For example, the rates of salaries range from $55,000 among engineering majors compared to 30,000 per year for majors in arts, education, and psychology.

A big concern in todays’ world for graduating college students is being able to find a job right out of school. More times than not, there are many problems that occur when a student chooses a specific career path. In the short exert “Why Focusing Too Narrowly In College Could Backfire”, written by Peter Cappelli, he discusses in his opinion, as well as many others, the right path students should be taking. The lead way students should be following to secure they get a job in a field they will enjoy. Many students have trouble picking a college to go to let alone what major they want to focus on. Students are told to pick a major and start taking the classes for it as soon as possible without realizing they might not even enjoy that field of work. There are many struggles in college with picking the correct classes and

In the article The Most Powerful Career Advice That Every College Student Needs To Know, Amber Stanley gives several quotes with advice for students during their college years. She quotes well known figures like Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill; while also giving new names and points of view. Stanley provides insight on what life in college might be from her own personal experience in college. She choose to write this article because she noticed that a lot of people go out of college and agree to the first job they are offered. Stanley noticed that people were forgetting their career goals and instead focusing on just surviving and getting money.

But what can a college graduate do with a degree when all they are doing is entering an unstable workforce and a high debt economy. Yet it is not helpful that many of these graduates' lack certain skills needed to make it work in the real world. Though this is just one view point expressed by Brooks. Brooks expresses the other side of how it feels to a college graduate. He mentions and explains the misinterpretation of the many speeches and quotes that are given to them.

But, as we mature, our priorities such as family and relationships are more cherished because our values change with age. Students that select a major merely on the needs of the job market may have a worse quality of life than someone that pursued their passion. As Lynn O’Shaughnessy states in her article “The Perils of Majoring in Business”, “what business majors don’t seem to be asking themselves is what kind of quality of life they’ll experience after they graduate”. Along with the strict mindset to make large sums of money with their degree, is to also save as much money along the way by finishing school as quickly as possible. These students that solely focus on school aren’t able to experience the fullest extent of college life where the student can cultivate the balance of work and relationships. The students will also lack skills many workplaces value. The National Association of Colleges and Employers conducted an employer survey that confirms that workplaces value communication, analytical, and teamwork skills” (O’Shaughnessy). The students focusing on finishing school early tend to avoid meeting with friends and family, therefore hindering social and communication skills. College students will realize that money doesn’t always make you happy and struggle to balance family and work later on. But the whole college experience will help students become a well-rounded as a person so they are able to balance their work and family

Attending college gives the student a considerable amount of knowledge before entering their career. Pursuing a bachelor’s degree usually takes four years for the average student. During these years, students are studying all aspects and information about their future career

According to the National Center for Education, about 80 percent of the students in the United States end up changing their major at least once. In fact, I myself am part of that 80 percent. Not only did I change my major, I changed Universities in order to discover who I’am and find a suitable career for me.

During my final weeks at the firm Lauren got me involved in working on the firm’s submissions for the AIA NC Design Awards. There were two projects that Lauren and several others in the firm chose to submit and I was in charge of the presentation for the building Brian Kubecki designed for Forsyth Technical Community College’s Stokes County Campus. This project established the process of presentation making that my Studio classes at Appalachian had just began skimming the surface of. While working on this submission we went through several pinups to organize the slides and content and

Academic success could never be fully measured by degrees alone, but it can include a person’s well-being as well as their mind and certain characteristics about a person that make them unique. This success can be achieved in different ways by these different people with different strengths, but there is the same ultimate goal in sight of each and every student enrolled in college at some point. However, this goal of being successful in not only school but in life, can sometimes turn out to be the opposite of how we plan. Of course, a student can achieve success by earning degrees and still fail in life. Academic success can also be a huge constituent to a students vocational calling in college as young students make a transition into adulthood.

One thing that varies faster than the gasoline price may be the debate around the value of a right path for a young adult— which major guarantees a smooth access to a decent job offer. According to the article, “Not All College Majors Are Created Equal”, the author, Michelle Singletary, indicates that college degrees are not the same based on the different majors. She starts her article with a question that she asked her college students, “What’s your major?” Singletary immediately determines her student’s future by the major that the student is choosing. Later in the article, she states her opinions on how majors have played a great important role in one’s career life by using different examples and statistics. Indeed, college majors are not