The two most common options available
to college graduates are finding a job or going to graduate school. Therefore,
a question they often ask their academic advisers is: "How do I get into
graduate school?" or "How do I get a job?" These questions should be addressed
early in an undergraduate's college career because the answers are often
very unpleasant if the student has not engaged in appropriate career-planning
activities during the freshman and sophomore years and carried through
on these plans as a junior and senior. The first step in this process involves
the student's decision to pursue (1) a career that requires a graduate
degree or (2) a job in a field for which graduate education is unnecessary.
The second step is to determine the set of factors that will increase
the probability of success in that career plan. The third step is
to maximize these factors. To assist academic advisers in their attempt
to help students answer these questions and maximize their chances of post-graduate
success, Milton, Pollio, & Eison (1986) performed a survey of "362
representatives of business and industry who were actively involved in
interviewing and hiring college graduates" and 500 college faculty from
the areas of natural science, social science, the humanities, and pre-professional
programs. The task of the members of these samples was to rate the importance
of each of the factors in the following 15 item lists on a 1 to 7 scale
depending upon "the value or degree of importance they placed on each of
the 15 possible pieces of information when reviewing the materials submitted
by recent college graduates for either employment in their firm or for
admission to graduate school." The two following lists are arranged in
descending order of these ratings.
| Business Representatives | College Faculty |
| 1. Personality
of student
2. Grades in major courses 3. Nature of non-college jobs 4. Overall grade point average 5. Breadth of courses taken 6. School/Recommender reputation 7. Breadth of life experiences 8. Extracurricular activities 9. Publications, awards, honors 10. Number of difficult courses 11. Samples of student writing 12. Affirmative action needs 13. Contributions to the school 14. Letters of recommendation 15. Standardized test scores |
1. Grades in
major courses
2. Number of difficult courses 3. Samples of student writing 4. Letters of recommendation 5. Publications, honors, awards 6. Breadth of courses taken 7. School/Recommender reputation 8. Standardized test scores 9. Overall grade point average 10. Breadth of life experiences 11. Personality of student 12. Contributions to the school 13. Extracurricular activities 14. Nature of non-college jobs 15. Affirmative action needs
|
It appears from these lists that employers and graduate schools put emphasis on very different factors when they weigh the qualifications of newly graduated college students. A quick check of the top five factors indicates that employers appear to be most impressed with job applicants who possess a good personality, earn high grades in both their majors and a wide variety of other courses, and have relevant employment experience outside the college environment. Graduate schools are most impressed with undergraduates who earn high grades in their majors, take difficult courses, are good writers, earn high recommendations, and have publications, honors, or awards to their credit. Undergraduates should study these lists very carefully during the early stages of their college careers when they are engaged in initial career-planning activities. Their willingness and ability to successfully attain these factors will have a profound effect upon their chances of post-graduate success.