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Looking back I would have preferred some kind of screening-out exam where they told me from the beginning to major in anything else.
No, that's a foolish idea. Just because you weren't born with a skill, doesn't mean you can't learn it like anything else. You didn't know how to ride a bike at one point, or how to walk, or how to talk. Everyone deserves an education, and I wouldn't give that up for someone such as a school or anyone else determine if you can't do something.
The main purpose of college is to prepare you for working in a structure. The structure is always going to change. If you went to a trade school and can't do the work when you get out, that's a bad trade school experience.
A good friend of mine decided to get an MBA and his employer would pay all the costs. He said he was weak in some aspects in math because he wasn't a good student with it to begin with and it had been a long time since he even looked at it. So he was seriously thinking of not pursuing an MBA. So he got a private math tutor to bring him up to speed. It took months but he got a handle on it. Then took a prepare class to do the GMAT. Then took the GMAT exam and got a high enough score to be admitted anywhere. He got accepted into a top MBA program and did this part-time. The employer was very supportive, not just for the cost, but in allowing him to leave early to attend classes. He graduated and today is making an excellent salary and his current job required an MBA. The point is, it would have been foolish for someone say make a final judgment on someone such as "you aren't good with math" and discourage him from getting an MBA.
Whatever you perceive as your deficiency, it is up to you to handle it. It's all on you. Some schools are better than others, yes, that's true, but they can only be prep for work. So much of what is done in the workplace varies from company to company, they couldn't possibly address all this in college. There isn't the time and they really don't know.
If you really want to know if you'd like working in the field you are majoring in, you get a part-time job in it, if you can't get an internship soon enough. This gives you a much better idea. I have mentored many students from high school and college working in software and IT. In some situations, they changed their major because they realized what they would really enjoy doing. But they should never be up to someone else to tell someone to do that.
To answer your question, yes, college prepared me, because some of the professors had real world experience on software so they were able to instill a good philosophy and approach to development.
I think the overall problem for me was that my school bought TOO much into the whole "leaders of tomorrow" perspective. I think they took for granted how "smart" all of their students were and focused on all the big-picture stuff to the point where they overlooked some fundamentals. It was all very high-level conceptual and memorization, but for example we never "did" a tax return or bank rec. (Which I did think was a bit odd at the time.) Every adult looked at my grades like "great, you're going to do well." At age 18-22, I had no reason to doubt their assessment. But when I started working it turned out I did the everyday nitty-gritty accounting work at half-speed of my peers. I tried hard, but my bosses weren't happy.
I've finally started to find my footing (and better pay) by getting into more general management roles, but I just wondered how others felt about their schooling. Either in accounting or just in general. I really like the idea that was proposed above to make our system more internship-based to guarantee a more real world perspective.
Don't students already know to get internships and exposure to a real work environment?
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
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Yes. The gaps were due to my choices. Some issues with the classic science professors teach you to be academic scientists more than an applied scientist, but that's somewhat expected. That's for undergrad. Grad was a different story.
Not at all.
But then again it didn't need to because simply being a college graduate made you a bona fide member of the educated elite and opened doors to a wide array of job opportunities.
My impression is that you really didn't like accounting but pursued the degree anyway. If you really liked accounting you would have gotten up to speed on your own. I agree with those that have said that college is there to teach you how to learn, how to achieve goals, how to overcome obstacles and stick it out to get the diploma. But work is there to create profit for the bosses, so it's a whole different thing. On day one on the job, everyone is pretty much equal, they all have to adapt to the company's way of doing things, often have to unlearn much of what they learned in college. This is pretty much true for all disciplines and professions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by slapshotbob99
I think the overall problem for me was that my school bought TOO much into the whole "leaders of tomorrow" perspective. I think they took for granted how "smart" all of their students were and focused on all the big-picture stuff to the point where they overlooked some fundamentals. It was all very high-level conceptual and memorization, but for example we never "did" a tax return or bank rec. (Which I did think was a bit odd at the time.) Every adult looked at my grades like "great, you're going to do well." At age 18-22, I had no reason to doubt their assessment. But when I started working it turned out I did the everyday nitty-gritty accounting work at half-speed of my peers. I tried hard, but my bosses weren't happy.
I've finally started to find my footing (and better pay) by getting into more general management roles, but I just wondered how others felt about their schooling. Either in accounting or just in general. I really like the idea that was proposed above to make our system more internship-based to guarantee a more real world perspective.
As I grow older I m realizing soft skills, network and smartness are most important to grow up, while a right college can provide you with the entry. While college isnt everything, it is proof that you are prepared to frind it out in the job, since you have spent your time toiling for those grades.
Do most people feel like college adequately prepared them for their career? I don't.
I majored in accounting at a top school and did REALLY well. I even got my masters in 1 extra year. Everything seemed to be going well until I actually started working and felt like I slammed into a brick wall. It turned out that I lacked some very important skills that were never tested in school. I know this could happen in many fields but I was surprised because accounting is such an academic profession that there shouldn't have been this massive skills/personality gap. I guess I can blame this on multiple-choice tests and term-papers, where I excelled.
After several years I've earned enough experience to side-step into more general management roles that are a better fit, but I still struggle.
Looking back I would have preferred some kind of screening-out exam where they told me from the beginning to major in anything else. Or at least have given us classwork that more accurately simulated what we'd really do on the job.
Nope. I majored in Music. Straight A's in everything, theory, jazz, rock, music business, all of it...graduated 3rd in my class. I was going to be a great heavy metal lead guitar player and entertain audiences worldwide. Women would throw themselves at me, I'd have a mansion with a full staff and a luxury yacht. By the time I got out of school however, the 80's were over, heavy metal had died and I hold Nirvana personally responsible for ruining my career.
This is why so many people fail after college; they have this expectation that you can breeze through college without preparing for a life in the workplace. Higher education was never meant to be a job securing situation or a way to get real life experience in the millions of ways a job can be done; it's simply a place to expand your education to help you learn the concepts that you could build a career base from.
This is why when your in college getting an internship or doing work study is important; that's the minimum level of "job experience" you'll receive during that portion of your life and one of the few ways you can get the practice and experience in the workplace. Yes, that's going to be on top of all that studying but it's just as important if you don't already have a guaranteed job coming out. And even then, it's up to you to learn and build up your understanding of the duties and conditions of any job you receive.
See if your college offers mentorships for alumni or a career counseling center for recent grads/new hires. Sometimes they can connect you to resources outside the college better geared towards helping you in your particular industry or in assisting you in brushing up on skills like workplace communications, building a network, or specific issues relating to day to day duties. Otherwise if this is specifically about your job and duties that are expected of you but you never learned; that's part of the problem solving of life that you'll always face in any job. Not every university or class taught is exactly the same and there will be gaps as in the workforce there is always some new concepts or different habits of doing things your university could have never anticipated. Once you take a job up to a point it is on you to learn where these gaps exist and attempt to learn what you can.
Location: In a city within a state where politicians come to get their PHDs in Corruption
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Quote:
Originally Posted by charlygal
The goal of college isn't to prepare people for a career. A college education teaches the information and courses as listed in your degree program. That's it.
When you begin working, you will see what it takes to succeed in each individual job. No college can teach what is to be learned by actual living, working, and experience.
That's not a defect of education. You just had unrealistic expectations.
If that's the case, one should skip formal schooling all together and go to his/her local library, and/or any competent free resource on the web, right?
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tolovefromANFIELD
If that's the case, one should skip formal schooling all together and go to his/her local library, and/or any competent free resource on the web, right?
If you could learn nearly as well that way as going to school, sure. I don't learn that way very well.
And of course, if you could figure out how to show prospective employers that you have a mastery of the material.
So yeah, go ahead.
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