That Major Decision

Choosing a major is one of the most difficult things students face in college. There are two main factors that most students consider when making this decision. First is their desire to study what interests them. Second is the fear that a particular major will render them penniless after graduation . . .

Read the rest of recent Stanford graduate Scott Keyes' reflection on choosing a major courtesy of the Chronicle of Higher Education here.

A Blog to Check Out: Think Psych

I've just started Think Psych, a blog for the psychologist in all of us. Since it's summertime and many students are not in college right now, my posts on College Success Insider will be a bit less frequent for a month or so. Think Psych, however, will be alive and kicking with the latest in psychology applied to everyday life. Come on over and have a look!

Hot Off The Press: A Good Reason to Register for Classes Early

Students sometimes don't take registration deadlines as seriously as they should. I often tell my students to get online or on the phone to register the minute they are eligible, even if it means setting an alarm for a minute after midnight to do so. Many of them will laugh, but I'm 100% serious.

Back a million years ago when I registered for my last semester of community college (okay, it was 1993), you couldn't register by internet or even by phone. You had to stand in line. I literally missed an entire day of work because I had to stand in line for 6 hours to register for the classes I needed to finish my AA. I hated missing work because I sure needed the money, but I needed those few classes more.

The dysfunctional economy has hit public higher education hard nationwide. There are more students wanting to take classes than ever before, but cutbacks in funding have severely reduced the number of classes available. For instance, here in Southern California, numerous colleges and universities have entirely eliminated their summer sessions. Those that still have summer sessions have only a fraction of what has been normally available in the past. This trend of offering fewer classes has also affected regular semesters and is likely to continue for a couple of years.

So, was a Craiglist posting offering to buy a seat in a class at Columbia Basin College real or not? Read the article at Inside Higher Ed to decide for yourself. Personally, I wouldn't be surprised at all if it was legitimate.

Oh, and double check your registration date for fall and plan ahead accordingly. :-)

Higher Education Pays Off - Financial and Employment

It's almost summer. Another semester done, and, unless you're graduating (congratulations!), another one looms on the horizon. Perhaps you're scheduled for summer session classes and are tempted to drop them. Perhaps you're re-thinking the whole college thing altogether and are questioning whether it's worth it. Hang in there - attaining a college degree is very much worth it.

Here are some facts to encourage you straight from the National Center for Education Statistics (with some emphasis added by me):

In 2008, young adults with a bachelor's degree earned 28 percent more than young adults with an associate's degree, 53 percent more than young adult high school completers, and 96 percent more than young adults who did not earn a high school diploma. . .

In 2008, the median of the earnings of young adults with a bachelor's degree was $46,000, while the median was $36,000 for those with an associate's degree, $30,000 for those with a high school diploma or its equivalent, and $23,500 for those who did not earn a high school diploma or its equivalent.

The full scoop is available at http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2010/section2/indicator17.asp.

May 2010 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the employment status of the United States civilian population 25 years and over by educational attainment. Here are the national unemployment rates for non-seasonal employees:

13.6% of those with less than a high school diploma
10.3% of those with a high school diploma but no college
7.8% of those with some college or an associate's degree
4.7% of those with a bachelor's degree or higher

You can check out the full table at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t04.htm.

More information about other ways that higher education pays off is soon to come.

A Few Thoughts About Personal Success

Everyone has his/her own unique definition of personal success. Your ideas of success, by necessity, will grow and change with time. The world around us is constantly changing and we need to be able to adapt ourselves to it.

Luckily, personal growth is a lifelong process and human beings have an endless capacity to change, grow, and learn. Regardless of what success means to you today and what it may mean to you in the future, coping well with failures and setbacks and having the determination and persistence to overcome challenges are key factors in any definition of success.

► Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get. - Dale Carnegie

► Action is the foundational key to all success. - Pablo Picasso

► Some people dream of success... while others wake up and work hard at it. - Author Unknown

► A person is a success if they get up in the morning and gets to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do. - Bob Dylan

► Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out. - Robert Collier

► Success is a journey, not a destination. – Me, but I’m sure many others have said this before me.

Choose your journey -- choose your success.