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Education Dive
Survey: Most grads would change majors if they could redo college
Natalie Schwartz
March 2, 2020
Dive Brief:
Although most college graduates say their degree was worth the money,
nearly two-thirds (61%) of them would change their major if they could
do it again, according to a new survey from BestColleges of 817 college
graduates.
While about one-third of Gen Xers and baby boomers would change their
majors to a field that aligned better with their passions, 31% of
millennials would select one that they think could open the door to
better job prospects.
The survey comes as colleges are baking more career-relevant skills
into the curriculum and addressing concerns about the value they
provide to students.
Dive Insight:
Nearly 31% of millennials, who this survey considers as those between
ages 24 and 39, said they would change their majors to access better
job opportunities, compared to 26% of Gen Xers and 19% of boomers.
Younger Americans may want better career opportunities because real
wages have been mostly flat over the past few decades even though the
inflation-adjusted cost of college has surged, the report’s authors
note.
Millennials also have 41% less wealth than did adults their age in
1989, according to a report last year from New America, a left-leaning
think tank. That suggests they could have more difficulty paying for
their children’s college education, owning a home and saving for
retirement.
Additionally, more than a quarter (27%) of millennials say their
undergraduate experience didn’t teach them skills they regularly use in
their current jobs, compared to 23% of Gen Xers and 12% of baby
boomers.
That tracks with the experiences of executives and hiring managers, who
have bemoaned a lack of college graduates with the skills necessary for
their entry-level jobs, such as critical thinking, self-motivation and
written communication.
In response, colleges have been incorporating more hands-on learning
into the curriculum and increasing their focus on teaching job-ready
skills. Some institutions, such as BYU-Pathway Worldwide, have been
embedding certifications into degree programs so that students have a
credential even if they stop-out before they finish their education.
A growing number of students are also choosing majors with a direct
link to the job market, such as business and computer science. “[T]he
old rules still apply,” Martin Van Der Werf, co-author of a recent
report from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the
Workforce about the value of a degree from a liberal arts college.
“Where students go to school, and what they major in, matters more than
just about anything else.”
Even so, 82% of surveyed college graduates said they thought their
educational investment was worth it. That share was higher for
graduates who make more than $80,000 a year (86%) and lower for those
who make less than $40,000 (74%).
Around 40% of graduates ranked learning soft skills as the most
valuable benefit of their college experience. Other popular choices
included personal enrichment and learning hard skills.
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