My S Just visited as a freshman Admit (honors). One thing we parents felt was there was not a ton of opportunity to help students get internships beyond campus jobs. They have a communication careeer day, but just wasn’t sure if there was more opportunity at other schools. S looking at Cal Poly slo business, and UCD communication or if he can hack the math a minor in managerial economics. SB seemed almost like it’s sets you up for grad school. Both Cal Poly and UCD, seemed like he would walk away with a decent job. Any help would be appreciated.
UCSB has a fabulous communications program and I know many very successful alums who were “comm” majors at UCSB. I’m a UCSB grad and was one of the student internship coordinators while I was there. While SB isn’t home to huge employers, they had a great internship program in place and have an amazing alumni network. Many of the internships took place over the summer in larger markets, and I’d expect Cal Poly and UCD have similar programs in place. There were surprisingly some great local internships for “comm” majors as well. I would be cautious going into any university thinking your grad will “walk away” with a job, especially as a non-technical major. I’ve mentioned this in a previous post, but as a current recruiter for a F500 company, we just don’t hire many grads at career fairs (although we hire plenty of grads from UCSB, Cal Poly and Davis). Today’s job market for new grads requires a lot of networking, using Linked In, alumni networks etc, and this is true for most universities whether they’re in large or small employment markets. All 3 universities have many similarities and grads from all 3 are viewed favorably. Have your son choose the best undergraduate fit, work closely with the career center and alumni networks for internships, and future employment. Best of luck to your son! Three fabulous choices!