What The Princeton Review Didn’t Tell Me: Study Local

I wrote this post for my personal blog a little over a month ago.  Now, airing it for professional review, I’m a tad nervous about the scope of my, well, generalization.  Nonetheless, here it is, bitterness intact:

 

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.

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6 Responses to “What The Princeton Review Didn’t Tell Me: Study Local”

  1. Katy  on June 24th, 2009

    Pretty cool post. I just stumbled upon your site and wanted to say
    that I have really liked reading your posts. In any case
    I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!

  2. KonstantinMiller  on July 6th, 2009

    Hi! I like your srticle and I would like very much to read some more information on this issue. Will you post some more?

  3. Kevin  on October 23rd, 2009

    As someone who went to a relatively small in-state regional school, it’s interesting to see it from your perspective. I went back for an MBA, and while a lot of people said “go big or don’t go,” like you said, I went a school that has a good reputation locally, but is otherwise unknown. It’s paid off for me, but that was a couple of years ago before the job market sunk, and I had to spend a couple of years in a job that wasn’t quite what I wanted to do. So, I tend to think the same way you do as far as not necessarily getting what you pay for with education, but I’m biased.

    That said, how much of your situation do you attribute to the economy and how much towards a lack of local connections? Do you see a lot of people with the local connections getting the jobs?

  4. Kristen  on October 30th, 2009

    Good question, Kevin. I started working about a month and a half after graduating from BU, so my complaints are limited. However, the position was less than ideal because I was a contractor receiving no benefits.

    I’m starting a new job this Monday, so again, I have few complaints. But to answer your enquiry: both. Of course the economy played a role. It has bulldozed the confidence of an entire graduating class, from what I’ve seen and experienced. The difference is that the economy’s effect is universal. The lack of local connections is out-of-stater specific. No industry professionals in Ohio have been rooting for me, as they may have if I had graduated from Ohio State or Ohio U. or any number of local universities.

    I guess it’s important to point out that my obstacles have not been insurmountable. I’ve put in the time and energy required to find employment, as anyone can do, and perhaps I’ve worked harder because I felt the need to compensate for my nonexistent network.


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