[WideRight05]

I agree Hoot! Good points by Hoot and Seger in the previous posts.

One problem with education is that many students just come in expecting to get the degree, and don't take advantage of all of the opportunities that are available. One of my favorite professors in college always called it "the puzzle," in that you need to get:

A. The degree/good GPA (At LEAST 3.0)
B. Work experience/internships
C. Be involved in an organization on campus related to your major, and show some kind of leadership role in that (officer position, etc).

A lot of students get what I mentioned in A, but they don't (nor do the put the effort in this) take advantage of B and C. Colleges have SO many good networking organizations to get involved with. I was fortunate enough to be the president of two of them in college. You get to meet a lot of professionals in your field, and you also make important contacts. When I was interviewing with different firms, I knew almost everybody that interviewed me because of this organization. Any other student that was real involved will tell you the same thing. This led to the opportunitiy to do three internships throughout my college career, which any employer will tell you is important to your degree. My school also had a career services center, which many universities have (And if anyone on here in school is reading my post, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF WHAT I AM TELLING YOU ABOUT!!!). You learn how to create a resume, and you learn important job interviewing skills. You also have the opportunity to submit your resume into a big "pool" where employers in your major (and this can also go for looking for jobs to work to support yourself while in school) can see your resume and will contact you if they express interest in you. For what it's worth, I had a job locked in by November of my senior year - and a majority of the students that took advantage of these opportunities will tell you very similar stories.

Also, being in a leadership position in these groups, I got to travel to places like NY, San Jose, and DC all for free, and got to network and meet a lot of people in my field in those areas. One person I am currently friends with, a partner at a large firm in San Francisco, has been a huge help to my starting out my career and a great mentor. I didn't know how long all of you have been out of school or if you are still in, but these are the kind of opportunities that are available at universities that many people do not take advantage of.

Even with all of this though, colleges still do not teach students the proper skills to succeed in the real world. In the business fields, you learn a lot about terminology, math problems, and writing reports. In management you don't learn the leadership skills necessary for your field, in accounting/finance you don't learn the proper systems or skills you will be using on your job, and in marketing you learn very little about how to think or improve the marketing of a company. Most of this comes from my experience and two business degrees, which I know is different from the scientific or teaching fields that what you learn in class probably helps out more on your job.

Hoot, another point you made is about the small businesses - and you couldn't be more right. I remember being at dinner last year at one of the regional meetings I previously mentioned with a group of people from NY. I happened to mention that I was not going to pursue a Master's degree at the time and they were all like "uhh....what? You've got to have a Master's." A lot of the big four accounting firms are in New York and hire like crazy up there, and they mostly shoot for people who have the Master's degree. Most students I know at the schools up there, such as Pace, SUNY-Buffalo, and Albany go to school for five - six years and get their Master's degree. Someone graduating in business with a bachelor's alone is almost unheard of. Around here, a lot of the firms/businesses are smaller and they shoot for people that have a bachelor's and nothing more. Of course, most firms are set on the fact that you need to get your CPA license regardless of state in accounting. But some will hire people with Associate's degrees if it is someone who plans on staying in a lesser role that does not plan on becoming a CPA. I would guess that in a lot of the other fields of work it is very similar.