<p>Is that good advice^? I mean, there are lots of students which graduate from rural schools, where there isn't much work in surrounding areas, where do they go? Do they usually stay in the surrounding region? For urban students, is it normal to stay in the city where they graduate from?</p>
<p>Its not bad advice, its just incomplete. </p>
<p>Smaller employers are not likely to send managers to all corners of the country to find new hires. They will focus on colleges in their immediate area. For that matter, even at larger employers the managers are not exactly clamoring to spend a day on an airplane and then in a car to reach some remote college; they have families, its just another day at work to them, and so many companies do not recruit at a huge range of colleges.</p>
<p>That does not mean that you can only work in the area where you went to college. If you go to a very prestigious college then employers will figure out a way to get someone to come visit if they have been successful recruiting grads from that school. And even if you go to Mediocre-U, expressing interest in an employer may be reciprocated with interest in you if there is reason to believe you are a fit. One of the best ways to show this interest, BTW, is with an internship before you graduate.</p>
<p>When all is said and done, though, it is probably easier to find an employer on the East coast if you attend school in that region, same with the West coast and flyover states.</p>
<p>Size also matters… an employer may find it more worthwhile to do a recruiting visit at a big university where hundreds of students in the needed major(s) can be recruited, compared to a small university where the number of recruitable students can be counted on one hand.</p>
<p>It can be easier to find a job where you went to school, so in that sense, it’s a good idea to go to school where you’d like to live (if, of course, the school suits you in other ways as well). You may be able to get an internship that turns into a job post graduation, you may be able to network with people in the area, local companies may recruit at your school, etc. It can be easier to set up connections in the area that your college is in, but that being said, that doesn’t mean you have to stay where you went to college. A lot of students do end up staying around where they went to school, but many do not. It just depends on what you’d like to do and where those jobs are.</p>
<p>This isn’t much of an issue for liberal arts and engineering students attending selective “national” colleges and universities. These schools attract students from all over the country. They generally focus on arts & sciences, not on career-specific job training. Their alumni go on to professional schools and jobs located all over the country and the world.</p>
<p>If you plan to take up a pre-professional program in a field such as education, and not go on to grad school, then it probably does make sense to apply to schools located in the area where you want to work. Internships can be important, so if you plan to intern only at companies or institutions with limited geographic reach, then too it might make sense to go to college near where you plan to settle. However, most big companies, the federal government, non-governmental agencies, etc, do have wide geographic reach. In some technical fields (like computer science), you’ll learn skills that are unrestricted by regional standards.</p>
<p>I have found it to be very good advice, but I think you’re looking too narrowly at it. “Where you want to work” is a region, not a specific town or city. Pick the state or one a state or two away (more variability for small states). If heading to education, 'tis best to pick “the” state as most colleges will see you get certified for that state (maybe a neighboring one), but tend to not be as up on other state needs (you can still do it, but generally YOU need to figure it out). </p>
<p>In general, employers not only don’t want to travel far to find good employees, they also have experience with those who have graduated in their region (letting them know if they like a school or not). Many times they have graduated from a local school themselves and alumni bias can be helpful when there are oodles of qualified candidates.</p>
<p>If looking at grad school or professional schools after undergrad, location won’t matter.</p>