<p>I am wondering when kids make a college location decision they are also (unwittingly) making a decision about where they will likely get their first job as young single professionals. </p>
<p>Did you or your kids stay and work where you/they went to college?</p>
<p>My child did this, but not at all unwittingly. She chose a NYC college in part because that is where she would like to live after graduation and felt she was better positioned to do that by attending school there. She is a freshman now, so who knows, so far she loves the city but may tire of it or decide that she would really rather live somewhere else. Too early to tell.</p>
<p>In my own experience, I didn’t even consider this factor when looking at colleges. It would not have made much difference as I got married two years out of school and H was a military officer at the time and I went where he was stationed.</p>
<p>No, I don’t think my kids thought one bit about post-college. They were focused on where they wanted to be that fall…some people are always planning out into the future, others not so much. So yes, I can imagine there are some kids that might be planning 5 years out as well as some kids that are thinking one or two years out.</p>
<p>I agree that S didn’t think about that at all. In fact, it was his feeling that he had the rest of his life to live in a city and only four years to totally immerse himself into the life of where he went to college. While Tufts remained high on his list until the final hours, it’s not exactly what one could call being in Boston.</p>
<p>All my kids have gone to school in the Midwest. The eldest graduated from Chicago. His first job was in LA, second in DC and now he’s in law school in Boston. Next graduated from Wash U and is working in NYC. Youngest is a 3rd year at Chicago and, though she worked in Chicago last summer, doesn’t intend to settle there. Just as an additional data point, both my H and I are from the east coast, went to school in Madison and Evanston, respectively and returned to the east coast after graduation. I can say with certainty that consideration of post-graduate plans did not play a role in any of our college decisions.</p>
<p>My in-laws will not let their kids go to school OOS because “they’ll meet someone, get married, and end up living somewhere else”. I find this attitude selfish and a little misguided. Even at the in-state school, the kids could meet an out-of-stater and end up living on the spouse’s native soil.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Or, their jobs may take them out-of-state.</p>
<p>Besides, few people marry college sweethearts anymore…people are getting married at a later age these days.</p>
<p>And, since many kids go on to graduate schools, they could end up anywhere. Their location of their undergrad schools may have no impact on future jobs if their grad school is elsewhere.</p>
<p>That said, my H graduated from 2 different Big 10 schools - different states, and ended up getting his first job in California.</p>
<p>My family’s (highly varied) experience:</p>
<p>Mom: Born & raised Western NY, college in Northern California, grad school in Massachusetts, and since she was 26 has never lived more than a mile from the house where she was born.</p>
<p>Dad: Born & raised northern NJ, college in Connecticut, grad school in Massachusetts, settled with my mother</p>
<p>Brother: (Born South America), college in Western NY, grad school in Arizona, settled in Westchester County</p>
<p>Sister 1: College in Northern California and has lived there ever since (near her college) except for two years in London</p>
<p>Sister 2: College in Arizona, grad school 1 in Italy, 11 years in Northern California, grad school 2 in Western NY, 4 years in Minnesota, lives three blocks from our parents</p>
<p>Me: College in Connecticut, grad school in Northern California, first real job in Washington DC, settled in Philadelphia</p>
<p>Wife: Born & raised all over the Eastern US, settled where she went to grad school</p>
<p>Daughter: Born & raised in Philadelphia, college in Chicago, working in NYC</p>
<p>I expect there is not much correlation EXCEPT perhaps very urban location vs. anything else. I believe some people have a sense early on that going to NYU/working in Manhattan would be wonderful and others would be claustrophobic in that environment from the get-go.</p>
<p>"Did you or your kids stay and work where you/they went to college? "</p>
<p>No. Went to grad school in Calif. right after college in the NE (I was from the NE). I wanted to stay in Calif., but couldn’t find a job there. First job – Georgia. . Next job, Tenn. Next job, D.C.</p>
<p>Husband was from Chicago, went to college and grad school in the Midwest. Moved to D.C. after grad school. </p>
<p>Older S went to college in Minn. After he dropped out, he moved to the Pacific NW, which is far from where we live. 8 years later is still happily in the Pacific NW. </p>
<p>The only child of a friend who lives in the South went to school in St. Louis. Afterward, moved to London for work. Wants to move next to Vancouver.</p>
<p>My younger S is going to school outside of Orlando. He has made it very clear that after college, for his career (theater tech), he wants to move to a very big city known for theater. I’m guessing he’ll try to head to NYC or LA.</p>
<p>Another friend has D’s who stayed in their region for college, but went far, far away for grad school and then moved to other distant places.</p>
<p>I have plenty of former college students who had gone to college within a 1-2 hour drive of their hometowns, and then moved thousands of miles away. Some even moved abroad for jobs.</p>
<p>So… you never know…</p>
<p>All so interesting! I grew up in South Jersey, went to Penn undergrad and Wharton grad in Phila. After that, my husband and I were married and moved all over the place due to both of our jobs—San Francisco, Chicago, Houston. Then we moved back to NY/NJ and had our son and have been there ever since. I was happy to return to the NE for nesting. Our son went south to Emory, and actually did do his first summer internship in Atlanta. He loves Atlanta and it will be interesting to see where he goes after he graduates!!!</p>
<p>This is a somewhat interesting discussion but reeks of self-promotion for the OP’s business. (Just did a quick search of the other few posts from OP mentioning either her blog or status as an “independent college counselor” in every one.)</p>
<p>No consideration about that when choosing a college.</p>
<p>In my extended family, most sibs found jobs in another part of the country–not near college–and that had a lot to do with where they settled. In a couple cases, wanting to stay near family–especially spouse’s family–had a big influence.
There are so many random influences, too–how one job led to another, the state of the economy at the time/in that place etc. Several of us have moved around a bit and were quite willing to do so for jobs. I think general culture/climate of a region makes some locations more appealing than others when considering jobs–and this is an individual thing.
You like snow? You’d rather not move to FL. You like a slow-paced lifestyle? You’d turn down that offer in NYC.</p>
<p>We’ve been a rootless family for several generations. I figure our kids will end up “wherever,” and I don’t even think about it. I know that is not the case for families who have been settled for 100+ years and have deep roots in a place. (I envy that sometimes.)</p>
<p>This depends on if the student is intending to go directly to grad school or into the job market. If the latter, then check out the list of companies recruiting on campus. That will give you an idea of where the majority of the jobs are. </p>
<p>My own experience is that I stayed in the same area after college due to a good career job offer from a local company. I ended up staying in California for 18 years, fulfilling my father’s prophecy that his little girl would never come back to Connecticut. (Although I still do every summer…)</p>
<p>I think with today’s economy it will be very hard for anyone to stay in or near their college, unless it is in a large urban area. My parents are no where near their colleges. FWIW.</p>