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Old 12-08-2009, 04:46 AM
 
195 posts, read 291,691 times
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My young nephew is looking at colleges and has on his list a number of colleges in small college towns far from the big city. I have seen the colleges, and the communities they are in, and they are really nice, but I see one major problem- lack of opportunities for employment.

When I was in college my part time jobs while in school consisted of a variety of dead end jobs in fast food, grocery stores and manufacturing. My college was in a small town and there were no business related organizations with offices where I could do an internship connected to my major. So when I graduated, I had no real practical professional work experience.

How do students who go to college in small towns deal with the lack of internships or cooperative education jobs related to their major/future career? Would you recommend going to college in a big city so there are more employment opportunities available?
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Old 12-08-2009, 07:03 AM
 
Location: Camberville
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What kind of job does he want?

I go to school 10 miles out of Boston but without a car, it's hard to get a job off campus anyway. Another problem with living in a big city is often there are less paid internships. Boston businesses and organizations really don't NEED to pay students to get interns because there are so many to pull from. Some businesses obviously do pay, but only in very few industries. I've worked on-campus office jobs and spent summers interning in town, as well as interned with my town government during the year. Regardless of your nephew's interests, there is probably somewhere in the government that will give him experience and with the economic turndown, many government offices are looking for unpaid help.

More importantly I think is looking at how class schedules will run. I always assumed that I would be able to work a part time job off campus- however, because I go to a fairly small school, courses might only be offered every 2 or 3 years so I have to take them as they come. Even capstone or intro classes for a major/minor might only be offered once a year. That means I might have class from 10-11, 1-3:30, and 5-6:30 3 days a week. That kills off almost any job shift off campus. Working in offices on campus meant that I had absolute freedom to schedule my day since many of them would luckily schedule around my classes so if 3 days a week I can only pop in for an hour at a time, it's fine. An off campus job is less accommodating. After 3 years, this past semester was the ONLY ONE where I was able to clear two days in order to go to an internship. I wish someone had told me to think about it because I've had to pass on good internships simply because of the ridiculous nature of scheduling here.
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Old 12-08-2009, 07:20 AM
 
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SUMMER! I knew many people that left during the summer to do internships even though I went to school in a large enough city to have internships. Some went over seas to do work with large car makers in their headquarters others just went to where that company was here in the states. A lot of people liked doing it that way b/c they got to see different parts of the world while not having to permanently moving there.

Let him go to the school he wants and encourage him to apply for summer internships all over. It works.
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Old 12-08-2009, 08:23 AM
 
Location: New York, NY
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A lot of top ranked liberal arts colleges are in the middle of nowhere, and that has never hurt their students' chances of getting a job. I was in a similar situation and did a lot of work in on-campus offices during the school year and did larger internships and temp jobs during the summer. When your nephew graduates, he can move to a big city and get plugged into the alumni network there.

If he's looking at a mediocre commuter school, then yes, it will make it harder to get a job. However, the reputation of the school can open a lot of doors outside it's physical location if it's a good one.
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Old 12-08-2009, 09:16 AM
 
Location: Chapel Hill, NC
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While I didn't go to school in a small town there wasn't tons of jobs/internships available in my field in the area. The vast majority of students got internships over the summer and lived somewhere else during that time. I lucked up and got one in the city next door so I just did a longer commute.

Also quite a few people did co-ops.
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Old 12-08-2009, 10:01 AM
 
Location: Niceville, FL
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I went to the small town liberal arts college in the middle of nowhere, and a huge percentage of the student body ended up on internship programs in New York City, DC, Philadelphia, Chicago, etc. for part of junior year or during a summer surrounding it.
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Old 12-08-2009, 12:45 PM
 
195 posts, read 291,691 times
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I have two other relatives who are currently in college.

One, going to a University in Washington DC, is an Accounting Major and is working part time for a company in their accounting department getting experience every week while he takes classes.

The other is an Engineering Major in a small town in the middle of no where in PA and the only job he can get is a work study position at the University Library shelving books. Sure he may be able to get a summer job in his hometown of Baltimore but that is only 2 months of experience.

The student who is working part time doing work every week connected to his major is going to be most marketable at graduation thanks to great job opportunities available to people going to college in a large city with a strong economy.
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Old 12-08-2009, 12:52 PM
 
Location: Camberville
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stranded and Lonely View Post
I have two other relatives who are currently in college.

One, going to a University in Washington DC, is an Accounting Major and is working part time for a company in their accounting department getting experience every week while he takes classes.

The other is an Engineering Major in a small town in the middle of no where in PA and the only job he can get is a work study position at the University Library shelving books. Sure he may be able to get a summer job in his hometown of Baltimore but that is only 2 months of experience.

The student who is working part time doing work every week connected to his major is going to be most marketable at graduation thanks to great job opportunities available to people going to college in a large city with a strong economy.
Like I said, I go to a top university right outside of Boston and it's all but impossible to work part time off campus during typical work hours because of scheduling. Your relative in middle of nowhere PA might be hemmed in more by scheduling than by location.
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Old 12-08-2009, 01:48 PM
 
Location: Chapel Hill, NC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by charolastra00 View Post
Like I said, I go to a top university right outside of Boston and it's all but impossible to work part time off campus during typical work hours because of scheduling. Your relative in middle of nowhere PA might be hemmed in more by scheduling than by location.
Agree, my uni had a large engineering program but most students weren't working with related businesses due to scheduling as pointed out and the courses required a lot of work outside of class. So if they were working it was flexible on campus jobs or something like a server that could be done at night or on the weekend. Plus a lot of engineering majors just co-oped instead. One other thing... at least before the economy was struggling some upperclassmen could get lab/research experience work with professors this isn't as common at my uni for undergrads now but maybe when things start to improve these positions will come back.
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Old 12-08-2009, 02:23 PM
 
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I think you are placing too much emphasis on internships. The purpose of college is not to work but to learn.

I went to one of those schools in the middle of nowhere and only two or three classmates ever had internships, always during the summer. Those with internship experience were actually the last to sign job offers when we graduated. I think they assumed their internship experience gave them such a leg up that they could just sit back and let the jobs come to them.

A year after graduation, no one is going to care that your nephew had a college internship. And certainly in the scope of a probable 40-year career, a few months filing papers and making photocopies is worth almost nothing. An internship is just a blip in time. Even as a new graduate, your nephew will find only a few employers will actually care about the internship.
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