Decision Day has passed, and students across Monroe County have chosen their fates for next fall. But now, as the end of their high school careers approaches, many are still trying to nail down a course of study.
That means weighing the job market with their passions and interests.
According to Greece Arcadia High School counselor Todd Wallace, popular majors chosen by 2012 graduates include engineering, psychology, nursing and pre-med as well as fine arts such as musical theater and studio art.
At private universities like Cornell and at SUNY colleges, students have to declare a major at about the junior year mark.
Private colleges like Cornell can cost almost $60,000, while a SUNY school like Geneseo can cost one third that amount. Wallace said he encourages students to apply to both.
“Private colleges may have large endowments,” he said. “Students will not be able to determine the true cost until they are accepted and see the financial aid package.”
Choices
Graduating Arcadia senior Gabby Francis, 17, has to wait a little longer than most to find out exactly how much her college education will cost. Northern Kentucky University, where she will be a musical theater and music therapy double major in the fall, doesn’t award scholarships until students are in attendance.
Francis said her college selection was not a financially-based decision.
“Northern Kentucky sent me an acceptance letter a week after I auditioned and their audition season was not over yet,” Francis said. “It was clear that they wanted me, and I wanted to go somewhere where they wanted my abilities.”
Still, NKU can cost less than half as much as other schools she applied to, like Carnegie Mellon, where tuition can top $50,000 yearly.
Francis said that, as far as her choice of major was concerned, money was barely a factor at all.
“I had to think about it because you don't want to pick something where it's going to be nearly impossible to get a job, but I kind of did anyways,” she said. “It was more of a passion thing because I really don’t see myself doing anything else.”
Beyond college
A question many students vying for liberal arts diplomas hear is what will they do with that degree after college graduation — especially in a bad economy.
Unemployment is high, and some professions have taken more of a hit than others. But that doesn’t seem to be affecting what students want to study.
Decision Day has passed, and students across Monroe County have chosen their fates for next fall. But now, as the end of their high school careers approaches, many are still trying to nail down a course of study.
That means weighing the job market with their passions and interests.
According to Greece Arcadia High School counselor Todd Wallace, popular majors chosen by 2012 graduates include engineering, psychology, nursing and pre-med as well as fine arts such as musical theater and studio art.
At private universities like Cornell and at SUNY colleges, students have to declare a major at about the junior year mark.
Private colleges like Cornell can cost almost $60,000, while a SUNY school like Geneseo can cost one third that amount. Wallace said he encourages students to apply to both.
“Private colleges may have large endowments,” he said. “Students will not be able to determine the true cost until they are accepted and see the financial aid package.”
Choices
Graduating Arcadia senior Gabby Francis, 17, has to wait a little longer than most to find out exactly how much her college education will cost. Northern Kentucky University, where she will be a musical theater and music therapy double major in the fall, doesn’t award scholarships until students are in attendance.
Francis said her college selection was not a financially-based decision.
“Northern Kentucky sent me an acceptance letter a week after I auditioned and their audition season was not over yet,” Francis said. “It was clear that they wanted me, and I wanted to go somewhere where they wanted my abilities.”
Still, NKU can cost less than half as much as other schools she applied to, like Carnegie Mellon, where tuition can top $50,000 yearly.
Francis said that, as far as her choice of major was concerned, money was barely a factor at all.
“I had to think about it because you don't want to pick something where it's going to be nearly impossible to get a job, but I kind of did anyways,” she said. “It was more of a passion thing because I really don’t see myself doing anything else.”
Beyond college
A question many students vying for liberal arts diplomas hear is what will they do with that degree after college graduation — especially in a bad economy.
Unemployment is high, and some professions have taken more of a hit than others. But that doesn’t seem to be affecting what students want to study.
Stacy Wiley is the director of career development at Geneseo. She said, “Despite all the media focus on certain fields being better than other fields, students still choose something they enjoy and that they are competent and good at.”
And according to Wiley, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Katie Barry says majoring in something broad, like English, is actually a good thing. She’s the editor of NextStepU’s five-times-yearly publication, which helps high school students across the nation with college planning, from choosing majors to paying the bills.
When it comes to majoring in English, “the core values are how to communicate,” she said, adding that that’s something businesses want in a candidate.
Wiley agrees. She said people who hire Geneseo students want the qualities a liberal arts education can provide: problem solving, critical thinking and effective communication. And, Wiley said, a liberal arts education has the added benefit of a tolerance and appreciation for diversity. She said students in majors like English are exposed to diverse opinions, thoughts, and different ways of life in their peer interactions as well as their course work — important exposure as the world gets smaller.
Pragmatism
Even if students are encouraged to follow their passions, it doesn’t mean educators and counselors want students to ignore the economic realities.
“Part of our job is educating kids about the job market,” said Wiley. “We just want them to be realistic.”
That pragmatism starts at the high school level.
Wallace said he and his counseling team encourage students to reference college websites and speak to admissions representatives about employment opportunities for their college graduates. They also show students how to find job market trend information through resources like the New York State Department of Labor and the Occupational Outlook Handbook, a government source of career guidance featuring hundreds of occupations.
“By providing these and other resources, students can make informed decisions about their career pursuits,” Wallace said.
Wallace said it’s that ability to research job markets that has led to a noticeable decline in Arcadia students choosing to major in education, a consistently popular career path.
“I don't discourage these students as many would be outstanding teachers,” Wallace said. “I do however set the expectation that they may need to be open to relocating to get a teaching position.”
Wiley said as students approach college graduation and begin their job search, “being willing to cast a wider net” is key.
That means for students pursuing careers in education, being aware of the job market in New York is important. There may not be opportunity in their hometown, but there are jobs for teachers in specialized fields and in different geographic areas, she said. Right now, Wiley said, the South is hiring teachers.
“It’s a completely different market,” she said.
A Practical Approach
Fine arts students also have to consider job prospects on a regional scale. As a musical theater major, Francis said she would be prepared to move to New York or Los Angeles — where most theater work is available— after college.
“Because of what I'm doing I really can't stay in Rochester,” she said.
Even in the theater centers of the world, though, employment is far from guaranteed. To be practical, Francis originally planned to take on a second major in business, both to help her understand the business side of the theater industry and to give her something to fall back on between acting gigs. After taking a psychology course in high school, though, she decided to pair her musical theater degree with a musical therapy degree instead.
“With music theater performance degrees, you can get all the training that you want, but ultimately when you're auditioning you could be out of work for a long time,” Francis said. “You need something else to be doing so you're not living out on the streets.”
But for Francis and 2012 graduates like her all across the country, real job market concerns are still years away. Now they’re getting ready for what for many will be their first taste of independence.
“I'm very excited about it,” Francis said. “It's a whole new chapter, but I'm nine hours away from home. It’s kind of bittersweet.”
