A Few Choices
Graduation time is a moment of truth for many students - a time to reflect on the return on their investment. For some seniors it is a time of excitement and joy as they travel between job interviews and begin the process of weighing their offers; to make final preparations for that exploration of new places; to prepare for graduate school. For others who have failed to land even one interview, to gain acceptance at graduate school, to have a viable travel plan, it is often a time of frustration and anger.What explains these differences in experiences? Luck was undoubtedly a factor in some instances, as was perseverance, attitude, and timing. To this partial list you would want to add the ability to make good choices - exactly what you would expect to hear from an economist, but we will talk more about economics later.
First we will talk about you. To borrow just a bit from Political Science's Al Killilea, the secret to your success will be in "how you played the game". The reality is college is a game of sorts. You are free to succeed, but you are also free to fail: good practice for the 'real world' which rewards good choices and punishes bad ones.
The game's score card is your resume and you should be keeping it current. You should also be building it so that at graduation it will open doors for you. If you are to do that you will need to make good choices during your time here. Some of the choices you will need to make are:
Time: There is no substitute for time. Overnight success is possible - and so isn't winning on the slot machine, but the odds are against both. If you talk with, or read about, successful people you will find that they worked hard work, often very hard. You will ultimately have to decide how much time and effort you will invest in your education.
Major: Your resume will include a line indicating your major, minor, and any area of concentration. It is an efficient way to signal to the resume's reader information about you. If you think about the Theatre, Engineering, Pharmacy, TMD, and Economics majors you know or have met while in school, you can probably come up with a list of differences. And you are not alone in recognizing these differences which is why this line on the resume maters when you apply for graduate school or work. A frequent indicator of differences is graduates' starting salaries, and while we know that starting salaries do vary according to major, we know less about the pattern of lifetime earnings. For more information on what being an economics major entails, you might want to talk with someone in the Department or check out the Department's BA and BS programs.
General Education Courses: Those courses the rules 'made' you take also matter, it's just that they do not show up easily as a single entry. The general education requirements possess enough flexibility for you to 'craft' yourself a terrific education 'plan', a plan that will position you for the 'real' world into which you will be graduating. You can parlay the courses into a minor or an area of concentration, something to help you differentiate yourself from the mass of graduating seniors.
For example, consider a former student who, after a brief discussion in class on evolving patterns of world growth, decided on Japanese as his language choice. Or, what about the incoming freshman intending to major in psychology as a first step toward a future in social work. Recognizing projected demographic trends in the US, she had chosen Spanish to fulfill the language requirement as a complement to her major in psychology.
Instructors: In addition to choosing the right courses, you should choose the right professors. Professors are not all created equal and it is your responsibility to seek out the 'best' that the University has to offer, to enroll in their courses, and to talk with at least some of these professors on a one on one basis. We are fortunate in the Economics Department to have two professors who have been recognized by the University for their excellence and if you have any questions concerning the Department's faculty, you should stop by or e-mail the chair.
Skills: Your resume will also include an array of skills and thus your time at URI should be one in which you are consistently working on building some key skills. Three skills that appear on virtually all of the "How to Succeed" lists are listed below. For information on which skills are emphasized in the department's courses, you should check out the Department's course descriptions.
Experience: You will often have the choice of using some of your time in the 'real world' with internships. Do it. Experience is near or at the top of most recruiters lists when evaluating resumes. This will give you some practice at the job search and more importantly, successful internships often lead to job offers upon graduation. The University and the department, in recognition of this have internship programs.
Job search: The job search is an integral part of the higher education process. For the first time many of you will be looking for employment beyond the range of family contacts and URI offers a wide array of services designed to facilitate the search. Get yourself to Roosevelt and track down advice on the finer points of resume writing and interviewing techniques and watch the list of on-campus company recruiters.
As you make these choices do not lose sight of the fact that a college education is an investment, not a meal ticket. Possession of a degree is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for or a satisfying career or high lifetime earnings. If you make some good choices while you are here, however, you are much more likely to find yourself experiencing excitement and not frustration at your graduation.