Do yourself a huge favor. Consider if your investment in college is going to be worth it before you pursue a degree program. College isn’t for everyone and you can find employment despite not having a degree. But if you do decide to go, make sure you ask this question first. If you do you are bound to make smarter decisions and you’ll get a much greater return on your time and money. But if only start asking this question after you graduate (like a lot of people do) and start looking for a job, there is a high probability you won’t like the answer. Let’s stay positive. Here are 7 ways to maximize your return on your college investment.
1. Study the Right Subject
This is not going to sound very politically correct but I’m telling you for this for your own good.
If you go to college, do so in order to learn how to make a living. That’s it. College is not an extension of high-school. Your primary objective is not to “have an experience”. You can have fun (if you insist) but your goal is to learn something that will enable you to be financial independent.
You are going to invest a great deal of money, time and effort so make sure you keep your purpose in mind. You don’t have to be dead set on the exact job you are going to pursue. But you should learn something that will help you get a job and advance in your career. So, which majors should you pursue?
According to Georgetown non-technical majors have much higher unemployment than technical majors. As of 2012, unemployment rates were 11.1 percent in the Arts, 9.4% in the Humanities, 8.9% in the Liberal and Social Sciences and 8.1 in Law and public policy. By contrast, here the majors with the lowest rates of unemployment according to Yahoo:
1. Actuarial Science—0 percent
2. Astronomy and Astrophysics—0 percent
3. Educational Administration and Supervision—0 percent
4. Geological and Geophysical Engineering—0 percent
5. Pharmacology—0 percent
6. School Student Counseling—0 percent
7. Agricultural Economics—1.3 percent
8. Medical Technologies Technicians—1.4 percent
9. Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology—1.6 percent
10. Environmental Engineering, Nursing, and Nuclear Industrial Radiology and Biological Technologies—2.2 percent
Are you getting the picture? Learn skills that others value. Don’t just learn something that is important to you. You don’t have to study astrophysics (whatever that is) but given a choice between Literature and Math, you’ll find it easier to find a job with a degree in the later. Capiche?
2. Network
You can learn more valuable skills outside the classroom than in and one of those skills is networking with others. Connect with others in a meaningful and productive way. The best way to acquire those abilities is to get involved in clubs and student government.
Sure it will be nice to rub shoulders with the future rain makers of tomorrow but that’s far from the main reason to master this skill. People do business with others they like and trust. People like and trust others who help them get what they want. If you become a master connector helping other people reach their goals, you will be a monster success in life no matter what you pursue.
Learn how to do this in college and don’t be afraid to make mistakes. By the time you get out of college, you’ll be a regular Henry Kissinger.
3. Get involved
Hand in hand with networking is involvement and taking on responsibilities. Sadly, not many young people are hungry for responsibility. They often prefer to sit in their dorm room and play cribbage while they are busy multi-tasking watching re-runs of Scooby Doo. Seize this opportunity and fill the void. And this is an over-sized opportunity if you attend lower-priced state colleges.
It’s very easy to find student organizations that need your help. Get involved. Take on responsibility. The experience you garner will be invaluable. My middle daughter took this idea and really ran with it. (In reality, she’s the one I got the idea from.)
As a freshman she was given the responsibility of deciding how to allocate over $100,000 each year for student body activities. Where is an 18 year old kid going to get that kind of opportunity? Do you think that experience is going help her when she goes out looking for a job? You bet.
4. Get experience
Involvement on campus is important but don’t be afraid to venture out past the ivy green towers. Get a paid college internship or part time job – any part time job – and don’t worry about how much money you’ll make. You’ll learn how to balance your time, work with clients, deliver results and how a business runs. This knowledge is priceless – to future employers.
5. Get out
If you want to make your investment in college count, graduate fast. Don’t make a career out of school. Before you start college, map out how you are going to graduate in 4 years or less. Every semester you delay graduation adds to your investment (time and money) without enhancing your ability to earn. And this increases the chances that you’ll have trouble finding college student funding. Not a good tone.
6. Take Writing and Speaking Courses
Think about the most successful people you know or know about. They tend to be very good communicators. Take as many courses as possible on business writing and speaking. Even if you don’t get credit for these courses, take them. They are that important. If you want extra credit, join Toast Masters to get plenty of speaking experience. Besides taking the right major, this is the most important step you can take in order to be successful in your professional life.
7. Business Courses
I’ll admit that I was a business major – accounting to be exact – so I am biased. I didn’t love all my business courses but I never regretted taking them. That small investment has paid dividends every day since the day I graduated – 35 years ago. Yes I suffered through a few semesters with one or two of those classes. But I have reaped the benefits for 35 years. Wouldn’t you say that’s worth it?
Take a few accounting courses (cost accounting was super rad!), investment classes and personal finance courses too. These will all give you the basics you’ll need to understand your finances and make better financial decisions for the rest of your life.
You can ignore all this advice and skate through college with an easy major and party all the time. You’ll have 4 or 5 (or 6) fun years – and then you’ll likely struggle for the rest of your professional life. Your earnings will be lower than they could be and you’ll have less financial freedom as a result. In that case, college could have been a waste for you.
Or you can work hard and seek out opportunity during college. You’ll be burning the midnight oil while your pals are playing Ms Packman all night long. But when your 4 years are up, you’ll have much more control over your financial future. And you’ll have that power for the rest of your working life. Which seems like a better decision?
Did you party hardy in college? Did it work out anyway? Would you do anything differently if you could do it all over again?
Neal Frankle, CFP ® says
:
Hi Neal, actually, I’ve used my degree(s) but not necessarily every subject. My first degree was a BA in Modern Languages from The Citadel (I studied Spanish, French and German) and my Ph.D. is in Foreign Language Education. My studies have generally been in teaching and languages. I’ve taught from primary school to university (I now teach in the military academy in Taiwan). Along the way, I took some great coursework at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Court & Medical Interpreting & also at the San Antonio, TX branch of the UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico). I am now a retired Bexar County, TX court interpreter & am slowly but surely moving into freelance Spanish-to-English translations (I can work over the internet via email and still live in Taiwan, which I enjoy) & also into 1-on-1 language teaching with private clients. I’ve already got some editing & translating work coming in through Cyberspace & the terminal degree is helping me find good part-time work to stuff the piggy bank!
A lesson for the younger Pilgrims who might be interested in languages is to combine your knowledge of a language with (a) skill(s) that USES that language, in my case: military skills way-back-when–teaching–translating/interpreting.
So the MIIS training + computer literacy training served me well.
I hedged my bets by studying 3 languages as an undergrad and thus avoided the potential trap of “oh, no, I’m a French major and nobody’s hiring!” My professional language has always been Spanish & I further enhanced it with the UNAM training.
I hope this lengthy posting is of use to some readers who might be thinking of studying languages–a great field, but you need to pick some great add-ons to your major.
Yes, I also did some retail sales, but that was by choice! I wanted a break from teaching, but eventually got back into teaching + languages! Learned some great sales skills, though + I worked in a very Spanish-speaking area: it all worked out in the end!
Dan Villarreal
Taipei, Taiwan
Dan Villarreal says
Hi Neal, great article and fantastic newsletter this month. Something I discovered in an obscure section of a college catalog years ago–darn it, when I already had an undergrad degree and was starting to pursue the grad school thing–was that you can take graduate courses as an undergrad and get credit for them. If memory serves (and this was a long time ago): you could take 3 grad school courses as an undergrad and have them count for your BA/BS degree. Then, I believe, you could use those same 3 courses for your graduate degree. BAM! Two birds with one stone and what, 1/4 of a Master’s done, I guess.
Neal Frankle says
Fantastic idea and great reminder. I think I also remember something like that. Makes sense for all the young Pilgrims out there to look into this. Thanks Dan…..hey…one question. Did you end up doing what you majored in?
Michael VanDeMar says
Excellent advice Neal, this should be required reading for all high scool seniors preparing to graduate. 🙂
Donna McInvale says
Cost Accounting is not RAD, however. In all seriousness, I completely agree that the economy dictates that those entering college judiciously choose a major that will make them highly employable and complete school as quickly as possible. We have utilized dual enrollment at the high school level for my daughter and plan to for my son when he gets to that point. When I was entering college, I took the CLEP tests to gain college credit in basic classes and obtained 30 hours of credit. There are many ways to reduce your costs and your time in college that will make it the best investment possible. Also, a four year college degree is not a requirement to be employable (particularly if the degree is in something like women’s studies or philosophy). Some would be better served financially by starting their own business or obtaining a short term technical degree.
Jason says
Personally I think that people would get more out of their college educations if they chilled out and started to see it less as an “investment” and more as a “life experience”.
The people you meet, the chance to study subjects you like, the ability to meet girls! Those are every bit as important in my honest opinion as a cost/benefit analysis of how much money the decision to go will pay you in the end.
Neal Frankle says
Jason, you do make some good points sir. But I respectfully disagree unless the economic fallout from looking at college as an experience is something you can easily afford. For most people, it’s cheaper to go to Disneyland if we are looking for a fun experience – although I don’t know if it’s possible to meet girls there…. 🙁