Breaking the Small Business Code

What is College For?

   

    FABULOUS article in today's Inside Higher Education!  The topic was 3 year degrees. But it was reading both the article and the comments that made it clear that there is an even more basic question to be answered before deciding on how many years college should take.That question is . . .

WHAT IS COLLEGE FOR?

    Comments show the opinion on what college is all about varies from getting a job, having fun, gaining wisdom, getting an education (as opposed to a degree), research, money, etc.  It is very clear that without lack of clarity on WHY go to college, it is no wonder there is no agreement on how long that process -- whatever it is and it is for -- would take!!

    My first reaction to the article was to talk about my experience that much of the problem today is students simply "choosing" or being "forced" to take 5 years to get a 4 year degree. Sometimes it is the student’s fault by taking light loads for various reasons.  But more and more it is due to the student's inability to get their required courses! State colleges and universities are especially difficult right now because classes are not being offered during this semester/quarter or too few sections are offered to handle all the students who need it or the program is changed, etc.

     I originally was thinking about credit "creep" where more and more units/classes have been added to majors in order to graduate. I was thinking about students who start college with no clear path or major which means they are taking classes that may or may not be appropriate to the final major.

    But I think the dialogue first needs to be What is college for?  I know this both an individual AND a national dialog that needs to be held!  What do you think?

MBA and Jobs - Part 2

    I just read another article on how MBAs are having their visions of "corporate jets" crushed by the realities of the economy. One of the trends Business Week reports is MBA programs are seeing is more graduates interested in nonprofit and government jobs. Here is one of the most illuminating segments of the article:

"Better than Nothing

      Business schools have already been seeing some movement toward nonprofit professions, though historically those students have been outnumbered by investment bankers and consultants. Few new graduates—4.4% last year—typically take positions in nonprofits or government, says Kip Harrell, president of the CSC and vice-president for professional and career management at Thunderbird School of Global Management. However, the financial crisis and the scarcity of six-figure offers, could accelerate the do-gooder trend. Patrick Perrella, the director of MBA career development at the University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business, broke it down this way: It's an easy decision "if your choice is a government job at a lower salary or no job at all."

    What I find interesting is how this is positioned as a cynical trend with students looking for jobs, period. I would hope that students who enter nonprofit and government service have a passion and an interest in their new industries.  As a taxpayer and advisor to several nonprofits, I would hate to think that these students are working in their jobs by default. 

     Something NOT mentioned in this article is the enormous cost of an elite/Ivy League MBA and the return on investment the student (and/or parents) get. Is it still a good "investment" if the job you get pays similar to one you could have gotten with just a bachelor's degree?

    Any comments from students who took a nonprofit or government job because it was available instead of their vision? Are you still okay with the cost and time you invested?

MBA Schools "Retooling Emphasis" and Business Grads With No Jobs

     I recommend those interested in high end business schools read this article about Wharton MBAs in Reuters.  It is an interesting analysis of two key problems facing business schools and their graduates.

     The first problem is many of the banks, financial houses and major corporations had CEOs and senior advisors who were graduates of some of the most elite business schools in the country.  Yet having degrees from the exclusive programs at Harvard, Yale, Wharton and others did NOT stop the melt-down, bank failures, etc.  As a matter of fact, many insiders are saying the pride and hubris of these elite graduates would not let them consider there could be downsides to their actions!

     This "failure to plan for failure" has led schools like Wharton to rethink the curriculum being taught.  Many of the major companies had used the programs and skills they learned in Biz schools to justify their flawed thinking. So schools are now looking at planning for downside assumptions and using the melt-down as a "teachable moment".  As an engineer, I was taught to ALWAYS plan for failure.  Makes me wonder if maybe tech geeks would make better managers to help lead us out of this crisis!

     This leads to the second problem which is the lack of jobs for graduates. The article presents the obvious reason which is the traditional employers are gone or in serious contraction.  But what was unsaid is many employers do not want to hire students whose predecessors have not done such a good job! 

     I don't think graduating from a name brand MBA program will become a "Scarlett Letter" that keeps graduates out of good jobs. But many companies are not giving graduates a "free pass" just because they came from an elite school.  I see more and more companies looking for "dirty hands" and experience in making things work and grow. I am recommending more internships, MLM/network marketing businesses, and/or running a business from a "dorm" to my students!

    Comments and experiences from recent graduates are welcome!

College Kids and Monkeys About Equal on Math

 "College Kids and Monkeys About Equal on Math" is an eye-catching title of an article posted by MSN Health today,  (PDF copy available here if it is missing from the MSN Site: LPT_PDF02142009).

Elizabeth Brannon, an assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University is studying how human adults and infants, lemurs and monkeys think about numbers without using language. She is trying to identify which parts of the brain house "number sense" and the she is trying to determine how this math skills develop.

Among other things, she found college students and macaque have similar speed and accuracy (!) when doing a rough sort of math by summing sets of objects without actually counting them! As an engineer who speaks "math", I found it very interesting that math skills are apparently inherent to primates!

When I first saw the title I was prepared for an article on the sad state of math skills in our college students.  So while it didn't turn out to be that, it got me thinking about why students fight math when it is such a critical tool for college and life success.

I regularly have students tell me they are picking their college major based on NOT wanting anything with "math in it".  I have also lost count on the number of times one of my solid "B to B+" students ended up in a remedial math class in college - a situation which added time AND costs for getting their undergraduate degree!

I started my college planning career with college funding and scholarships, then added admissions, then majors and careers, and eventually added test prep.  But over the last 15 years it has become apparent that focusing on those 4 college-related steps with just high school juniors and seniors was not addressing the real needs of my client families.  Something was missing in their tool kits for success in college and for life!

Basic math skills are critical in the increasingly high tech economy.  Math is needed for personal financial literacy. A lot of our current economic problems can be blamed on people's inability to understand their personal cash flow. That is because virtually all the studies show our students are NOT getting what they need for math success.

I am not going to point fingers at anyone in the education "system" for failing to create math "literate" students. Blaming schools, teachers, parents, administrators, and/or the government is not the way to find solutions. Instead, I went looking for PROVEN TOOLS to make basic skills accessible and successful for more students regardless of the system.  I wanted to find something for teaching 21st century students using 21st century technology.

I am taking an engineering approach to building a SYSTEM for success in education available to anyone with internet access. I am proud to announce the launch on March 1 of a new initiative from Linda P. Taylor's Insider Secrets:  "Creating Access to Higher Scores and the Education Edge" (CAHSEE). 

CAHSEE is designed to pull together the tool kit that middle school, high school, college, and even adults need for learning success!  I want to give families access to the FUNDAMENTAL SKILLS we ALL need for a lifetime of success.  

I will soon announce the CAHSEE program for creating mastery in Math and English Language Arts (ELA).  But in the meantime, I want suggestions from readers about what other needs and especially what tools, programs, and systems you think should be included.  PLEASE send me comments, suggestions, ideas and referrals to make CAHSEE rock!

Class on Boston Red Socks - Is This What College is For?

    Just read an announcement that Bates College in Lewiston, Maine is offering a class on the Boston Red Socks.  A lucky group of 15 students at this $51,400 per year college got into the class.

     Because the class is an elective, IN THEORY, taking it does not cut into the required/standard curriculum needed to graduate from Bates.  But when your student's college education costs over $50,000 a year, is this a good use of their time in college?  Is this what you are paying for on a per unit basis?  Should electives outside the major be allowed?

     As the daughter of a retired college dean, I have talked to many professors who teach classes on pet interests. I have seen classes on speaking "Klingon" or analysis of the soap opera "Dark Shadows" or classes on current "topics" like Paris Hilton.  Why such off-the-wall topics? 

      The real question is what is the purpose of electives?  Colleges say that electives "help a student become more well-rounded" by "exposing them to topics that help them better implement their major".  And virtually everyone of the professors I talked to defended their unusual topics by saying they "wove current events and unpopular topics into the class disguised by the more 'sexy' class topic".  But talking to the students, the class was usually more fun than "well-rounding".

      So is this a good use of your student's time?  Is this what you pay a per-unit tuition fee for? Does taking a class on the Boston Red Socks or Star Trek or . . . help with your career choices? And most important, should such classes even be offered when students can't get into required classes because there aren't enough of them?

      As an engineering major, taking an off-the-wall elective on "Star Trek" (yes I did) was a mental vacation for me.  But I should have taken a class in marketing or public speaking.  My parents weren't paying for me to use my units for "fun".  And about that "weaving" unpopular topics into the class -- talk to most students and usually does NOT happen. (Sorry professors who do, many of your peers use these classes for their mental vacations!).

      So what do you think about these not traditional classes being part of your student's options?  Do you think it is appropriate to pay per unit for these classes?  Do you think professors should teach these topics if the school doesn't have enough prerequisite classes?

Wall Street Meltdown Affecting Student Jobs

There is a great blog by Alison Go at the U.S. News blog site about the impact of the failure of Lehmann Brothers on student jobs.  Not only are college seniors and graduate students with offers being impacted, alumni from the elite Ivies like Yale are calling career centers for help.

     What I found the most interesting is a quote in the blog that was taken from the Michigan Daily by Al Cotrone, director of career development at the Business School:

"With fewer positions available and more veteran bankers looking for jobs, every student who's interested in banking will need to take a real serious look at the career they want and the life they want and the risks they take with that choice," said Michigan's business school career development director. "

    

 

             THE MAJOR YOU CHOOSE CAN IMPACT YOUR JOB PROSPECTS!

     Why is this such a big deal to me?  It's because over and over again I hear counselors tell students to pick majors in topics that interest them.  I like to call it the "follow your bliss" mantra from the 1960's.  Do something you love and success will follow.

     I agree with a Yes, BUT!  There is no guarantee that you will be able to find a JOB in what it is you like to do.  You may LOVE and be very good at English Romance Literature but I don't know about very many jobs in that field. 

    So the answer is BALANCE, RESEARCH and FLEXIBILITY.  It's okay to major in something you like but DO THE RESEARCH to understand the potential for jobs.  Have a balanced approach about picking a major you like with an education that lets you get a job.  And should you not be able to find a job in your major because the market has changed like it has just done, you need to be FLEXIBLE and learn new skills or maybe even look into a major or job you don't like as well!

    College is a great place for an education.  The problem is the real world will want to hire you to do something.  The question is whether or not your major in which you have an education can get you a job that allows you to live the life you want!

Outcome-Based College Education

ORIGINAL DATE: 08/23/2008 02:36:00 PM

In the coming months (and probably years), you are going to see more and more discussions on "outcome based education" (OBE) for college.

OBE is really a series of questions including:

• How do you know if the "outcome" of a college education is successful? 
• How do you measure the "success" of a college diploma? 
• Who takes the blame if it is not successful? 
• What is a fair "price"
• Should we even discuss if spending what can be over $200,000 per student as being "worth it"?

Simply put, what is college for and how much should you pay for it? 

You would think that these would be easy questions to answer.  We all supposedly know what a college education is for.  And per the SallieMae/Gallup Poll survey of 2007 Freshman families, over 80% of parents  want a college education for their children because "it leads to a better life". The problem is for more and more families the cost seems to be out-of-line with results! This has lead to growing fight that is pitting education professionals against each other, colleges against the government and colleges against their students.

It started in the K-12 schools because students were dropping out and graduating high school unable to read or do basic math. No Child left Behind and Exit Exams are an attempt to measure the success of public schools in creating a meaningful high school diploma. This is now being extended to the colleges as costs continue to skyrocket at double inflation and students can't find decent-paying jobs even after graduating from "name brand" ivy elites.

I have been monitoring the Academic and College Family blog universe on OBE and it's a nasty place out there! Colleges are defending their results and fighting any government measurement of success.  Parents who are spending more and students who are going deeper into debt are complaining about lack of jobs. And the politicians are responding to their constituents by asking the colleges to prove that they deserve taxpayer money based on their results. 

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Should there be a measurement that families can see about the "value" or success of a college?  What do YOU think college is for?  What do you want the OUTCOME of your investment in your student at a college to result in?

Lady Engineering Majors Should See More Outreach (And Money)

ORIGINAL DATE: 05/09/2008 07:50:31 AM

From 5/9/08 Inside Higher Ed:

 “A House of Representatives subcommittee discussed draft legislation Thursday designed to increase the flow of women into academic science and engineering.  Witnesses from government and academe, testifying before the House Science and Technology Subcommittee on Research and Science, generally supported the legislation’s aims of spurring federal agencies and universities to produce better data about the outcomes of federal grant making by gender, provide more financial support for parents and other caregivers, and sponsor workshops for academic administrators and others to “increase awareness” about gender bias in promotion, hiring and the awarding of academic honors.” 

Full transcripts:  http://science.house.gov/publications/hearings_markups_details.aspx?NewsID=2180

What makes this ordinary looking announcement exciting is that history has shown that when Congressional Committees talk, colleges spend money on scholarships and other programs to improve their numbers.  I have both a BS and an MS in Engineering from University of California Irvine and spent nearly 20 years as an environmental/civil engineer in the oil and gas industry and then in consulting.  The percentage of women in engineering, sadly, hasn't changed all that much since my college days nearly 40 (yikes!) years ago.  So it's nice to see this now.

I want to let ALL women, girls and daughters know that being an engineer is still who I am!  I take my math and science and SOLVE problems.  If you can follow a recipe,you can be an engineer.  The math is NOT that complicated and you use it to help people and that's a very nurturing thing!

So if your daughter or other female student is interested in math and science, you should discuss a major in engineering.  If you need more information, go to the Society of Women Engineers website: http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/