<p>Taking a survey of sorts from the parents of 2010 college grads to see if their children have jobs, and in particular in their fields of study ?</p>
<p>I am wondering what the general consensus is about the satisfaction in terms of the investments in your children's education and how they have fared in the job market ?</p>
<p>I am seeing a lot of my daughter's high school friends back at home living with parents , or working in retail if at all.</p>
<p>Of course, I realize that the job market is terrible all across the board . Even though I am grateful that my daughter isn't in a huge hole with college loans, I do feel that the school she graduated from should have offered more in terms of job placement to their students and grads.
I hope they are still not giving the same advice to current students and hopefuls</p>
<p>S1 graduated with highest honors from P 2010 in Classics and was lucky to find a job. It doesn’t pay well, but could be great. Only problem is he was supposed to be one of three new hires and instead, due to budget cuts (surprise, surprise), he was the only one hired, so he is working himself to death. Now, if it were a $200k job on Wall Street, I could understand, but this job only pays enough for him to minimally support himself, with no room for savings, entertainment, trips home, etc. That being said, MANY, if not MOST (he estimates 60%) of his classmates, some also summa cum laude graduates, are working retail sporadically / seasonally or doing unpaid internships to keep their resumes filled. It is horribly sad. </p>
<p>Do I regret the money we sacrificed in our lifestyle for his education? Not at all. He took full advantage of the educational and cultural opportunities offered. He took two extra courses all semesters after the first because he knew he would never have that available to him again. So the money spent will never be regretted. </p>
<p>I think that the documentary winner at last night’s Academy Awards had a really astute reminder to us all, especially to those of us with children trying to make their way in this mixed-up world: when will there be punishment for all of the financial shenanigans?</p>
<p>Our 2010 college grad had a double major in engineering and biology. She is in the Peace Corps teaching science. Her school prepared her well for a very rigorous application process for the Peace Corps. We are very happy she is doing this…and so is she.</p>
<p>I should have added that my daughter is one of the grads with no job…she will be able to work for the family business which will be better than nothing , but I know she beats herself up with this as so her fellow grads.
This was a class of high achievers and finding the lack of jobs pretty frustrating</p>
<p>DS is actually a '11 grad, but I’ll weigh in… he has been offered a job in his engineering field upon graduation; he actually starts part-time now. Of course, there are no guarantees in this economy, so I have advised him to manage his money wisely and keep driving the old clunker we gave him until he has a substantial cushion. His salary is okay for a starting engineer, but is lower than entry level offers of a few years ago, still he is excited and we are thrilled.<br>
DD is an '08 working abroad for a nonprofit. Her salary is ridiculously low, but cost-of-living is low and she seems to live comfortably and frugally on it.</p>
<p>Another parent of a 2011er. He got a job offer from his internship last summer. (Comp Sci major.) I feel sorry for kids who aren’t in high demand fields. Not everyone is cut out to be a computer scientist. I certainly wasn’t. I took one course and ran away from that field as fast as I could!</p>
<p>D was psyche major and interviewed for several jobs looking for grads in her field. Was able to stay in same city as college with the job (non profit) she accepted. Not high paying but she seems comfortable enough.</p>
<p>Son is a 2010 grad from an LAC. He was accepted into a fellowship program that gives him a year of paid work in the executive branch of our state government. He learned about this program through his school, applied, and was lucky to be chosen, as public policy is his interest and he’s learning a tremendous amount.
He’ll need another job next year, but this experience has been very good for him. Many of the previous Fellows have been offered permanent government positions after their term, but there is a hiring freeze here in California, so that isn’t too likely this year. Son has always been pretty resourceful, so I’m not worried yet.<br>
I’m actually more concerned for my '07 grad who just finished a Master’s degree and is currently looking for work.</p>
<p>I certainly don’t regret the monetary investment in their education. If they have a hard time with an excellent education, where would they be without it?</p>
<p>Momofwildchild, I did search and maybe chose the wrong words , but didn’t find anything current …would you mind providing the links to these threads ?</p>
<p>And so far from the posts here, find the same trend…computer science or engineering are the fields that the few of her local friends have found jobs in.</p>
<p>My son graduated last year in computer science and got his job offer just before commencement - not his ideal kind of work, but in his field in a highly regarded company with excellent pay and benefits and the exact part of the country in which he wanted to live. His school’s reputation with recruiters - and the kinds of recruiters - were among the main factors in his original choice. We are totally satisfied with our investment and believe his college fully lived up to its reputation, both in how it dealt with students and opportunity post-college.</p>
<p>S, a 2010 liberal arts grad, is teaching at a private high school. He has no teaching certificate and had no previous interest in teaching. By luck, through connections, references, etc. he was offered this job which he never applied for. He happens to love it, though it doesn’t pay much. He’ll probably stay with it another year and then decide if he wants to continue in education or move into another field. Either would involve grad school.
I’m happy for him and it seems to be a good (and maturing) experience for him so far.</p>
<p>Whenever I feel bummed about the economy and the lack of traction that so many young people have and are experiencing, I think about one of my old friends (now deceased). She and her husband married in 1929 :eek:! Talk about bad timing to begin a new life together! They went on to have a perfectly wonderful and fulfilling life with family, friends and material comfort. </p>
<p>Things may get off to a slow start for our youngsters, but in time, this will seem like a small blip…You really can’t beat yourself over your slow career start–it’s nothing personal.</p>
<p>I agree , ellemenope and have talked to her many times about this. We point out that while she hasn’t yet landed a job , she is not as bad off as a lot of her peers who are in very heavy debt , or even on food stamps while they struggle to secure jobs…not exactlu what was a selling point for their colleges.
There are a lot of people who have it much worse, and not all just recent grads…some of them near and dear to us</p>
<p>Like mathmom, above, my son is a 2011 graduate, with majors in computer science (and math). He was offered a job last summer at the end of his internship and accepted it. The pay is excellent, and he loves the location. (Rather far away for my taste.)</p>
<p>I repeat what mathmom said: cs is not for everybody, and it is fortunate he loves what is currently a good field.</p>
<p>D has not graduated yet, but her friends in her major who graduated this year (2011) all have jobs. They’re accounting majors (most of whom are either CPA-eligible or already CPAs). Another one of those fields that not everyone loves…</p>
<p>Thanks, Momofwildchild .
Good info that I’m not sure how I missed. I have mixed feelings with the info gathered. I am relieved in a way to know that these problems are not just affecting certain industries ( of course the field my daughter studied being one of them ) But not happy with the news at the same time…so many of my daughter’s peers don’t even have the opportunity to go into low paying, entry level jobs…and those who work for free haven’t benefitted either.
Just today , my daughter got the final approval to subsitute teach here in our county ( took three months ) She will most likely be able to work daily until the end of the school year and has received a lot of support from former teachers as well as friends that are teachers…it is better than nothing and I think will be a huge boost to her self esteem
Not at all what she envisioned , but who knows ?</p>
<p>I think it’s WAY too early to start assessing return on college investment. The impact of college extends far beyond landing an entry-level job.</p>