As a fresh university graduate (well, as of Sunday’s ceremony) and an active job seeker—more importantly, a graduate with top honors and a job seeker with nearly no prospects—I figure I’m as much a higher education expert as any.  I therefore feel an obligation to share the lessons I’ve learned with college applicants.  Here’s what The Princeton Review’s extensive library of books and web articles didn’t tell me four years ago:

• Study local.  To be fair, I remember reading in a grad school guide that it’s best to go big or go home; in other words, either choose a university with broad name recognition or a university near your intended permanent residency.  I, however, beg to differ.  Unless we’re talking an Ivy League institution, local is preferable.  Four years in Boston has done nothing for my list of connections.  I’ve never experienced a recruiting event with Ohio companies or had an on-campus interview for a job in the Midwest.  And the name of the wonderful PR firm for which I interned won’t register 882 miles away.  I’ve missed career fairs when I needed them the most, namely in the past two months.  Nothing compares to a face-to-face meeting, yet I can’t seem to be in two cities at once.  As a result, too many adorable interview outfits gather dust in my closet.
•  You don’t always get what you pay for.  Tying tuition to quality is a dangerous game.  Like the latest Louis Vuitton “it” bag, the hefty price tag for second tier schools is at least 85 percent perception and, at most, 15 percent materials.  Remember that money has and always will matter.  It’s obvious advice but worth repeating:  get in and out of college the cheapest way possible with the maximum work experience possible.
• You really ought to co-op.  While touring Northeastern University in Boston, I chuckled at the suggestion of graduating in five years.  An extra year to accommodate working?  Pshh.  Now I’d like to bang my head against a wall.  Silly me.  Instead of earning money at a full-time, temporary job, I took two unpaid internships in addition to classes.  Had either offered me a job, it would’ve been in the wrong city (Boston, Mass. or Sydney, Australia).  Whoops.

It’s time to promote studying local in addition to buying local.  After all, everyone benefits.  Talent remains in-state, where we need it; enrollment increases, creating jobs; and graduates get a better shot straight out of the gate.  If only I knew then what I know now.