How to Choose Your University (Part III) | TutorNerds | Orange County

Courses, Career, or Custom Fit: How to Choose Your University (Part III)

In this final installment of Courses, Career, or Custom Fit (part one, part two), we’ll be ending our journey with future career aspirations. If the courses or campus feel isn’t as important to you, another way of narrowing your choices is looking at what’s available after graduation day. Undergraduates who follow this path have a good idea of what they want to do after college.

Usually such students don’t go on to graduate school immediately, choosing instead to work a few years for experience. They’re drawn towards schools that have strong networks and a track record of graduates with high job placement percentages. If this type of college search fits your outlook, take a moment to consider the following ways of choosing a school that could lead to your dream job.

Networks and Alumni

You’ll first want to hone in on the strength of the university’s alumni network. These are the people who can connect you with possible jobs, advice and knowledge in your field. Even if someone wasn’t in your program, chances are if you share an alma mater, they’ll be likely to help. You’ll also want to determine the strength of the network in your particular program.

Check with current students or career counselors to find out more. It would be beneficial to also find out if there are any professional organizations in your field with ties to the university; this could be a Toastmasters Club, young professionals group or local entrepreneurs. Any avenues you can use to meet more people are worth pursuing. Lastly, see if career or networking nights are offered. Many times these are filled with alumni and local business people who want to share their experiences with you. Don’t brush these off as a waste of time on school nights; you never know when you’ll meet your next boss.

Have a LinkedIn? If not, it would be wise to sign up. As the social network grows larger every year, more and more Alumni groups are popping up, which relay important networking information. If you do join a group, make sure you post relevant and engaging content to become a top contributor.

Who knows, maybe you’ll even connect with a famous alumni. Even Charlie Day can’t resist being a good Alumni.

Rankings

Ranking (Forbes’ Top American Colleges) are also a good way to gauge the success of graduates from particular universities. What you’ll want to focus on is job placement post-graduation. If the university is equipping students with the skills and connections they need, you should see higher percentages. If you really want to get specific, some large corporations are known to list where most of their employees graduate from. Staff biographies sometimes mention this, which could be a clue as to where the company is recruiting.

As with the other choices of college filters, you always have options. You could start taking courses in your major and discover you dislike them or find them too difficult. If you can narrow down your choices of top schools, look for ones that offer many other choices in majors and campus activities, and still graduate students who are ready to join the workforce. This doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed a job the day after graduation; it means you’ll have a better chance at the connections you need to get a job. If you play your cards right, you could be one of those alumni coming back to help the undergraduates make their dreams come true too.

Tutors You Can Trust

Why should you listen to us? Because our Irvine in-home tutors have college degrees and know how difficult the application process can be. From writing your college entrance essay, to choosing the right school, TutorNerds is here to help. Just look at all the colleges our tutors have received degrees from. Are any of them on your dream list?

All blog entries are written by Tutor Nerds. Are you an education professional? If so, email us at [email protected] for guest blogging and collaborations. We want to make this the best free education resource in SoCal.

One last thing, summer doesn’t mean an end to learning. In today’s competitive world of college admissions, it’s crucial students spend the next few months improving and catching up. What better way to do that than with a private summer tutor? We work with student’s schedules so they can still have fun.