While you can succeed without a Bachelor's degree, it is becoming more and more rare. The timeline these days, or so it seems is:
Graduate high school (age 17-18)
Enter college (age 17-18)
Graduate college (21-25)
Enter work force (21-25) for the rest of your life (with the possibility of continuing education somewhere in there.)
Do you think we are asking too much of our 17-18 year olds? When I was in middle school, I had to take a careers course. We met various people from different fields, asking questions and learning about various field. We never talked about careers again. I asked some of my college students today if they took a careers course, the answer was no.
How do we expect our students to know what their career options are if we aren't giving them the resources to make these choices? I see students change majors three or four times before they settle on something - and then they go back to Grad School for yet another different career path. I also have seen students enter the work force for one year and then run to Grad School because the career path they thought they wanted (the one they decided when they were 17 years old) turned out to not be what they wanted.
I had a student walk into my office today in crisis mode. She changed her major between her first and second semester and, one and a half semesters into her second major, she thinks she is miserable. She doesn't really know what she wants to do, but she thinks she really likes what I do for a living.
I absolutely value what we as educators and professionals offer students entering college, but I wonder what we can do to help them with these decisions. As someone who went straight from my Bachelor's into my Master's, I understand being unhappy with a degree path.
What does your institution do to help the undecided or questioning students? What resources, courses, programs or offerings are out there to help guide the young souls who may not feel comfortable making such a life changing decision at such a young age?
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