My Useless Degree

When will the disgruntled college graduates finally descend on Wisconsin? Let’s get the Great...

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 15:58:49 -0500

When will the disgruntled college graduates finally descend on Wisconsin? Let’s get the Great American Egypt protests going!

WashPost: How to fix higher education

Sat, 19 Feb 2011 08:04:31 -0500

WashPost: How to fix higher education:

A. Fix the Broken Financing of Higher Education With many others, I believe we should, as a nation, aspire to providing a real opportunity for a quality post-secondary education for virtually all young adults. Both our economy and our civic and social fabric would be better if succeeded at this. For many decades, we led the world in terms of the percentage of our population with post-secondary degrees, but no longer. Eight or nine countries have now passed us, and at least that many are also poised to pass us over the next few years. We need a national strategy to provide real access to higher education. President Obama has challenged us to find a way to reassert our global pre-eminence in this regard by 2020.

Take To The Streets

Sat, 19 Feb 2011 07:49:30 -0500

Has anyone been watching what’s going on in Egypt…oops, I meant Madison Wisconsin…? The unemployed and indentured college graduates should follow the Wisconsin teachers and fight for consumer protections for school loans and a drop in overall cost. Yes we can! Yes we can!

kateoplis: Face of the Day This is how I would feel if Obama...

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 13:43:52 -0500

kateoplis:

Face of the Day

This is how I would feel if Obama and Congress forgave my student loans and helped a guy with a graduate degree and management experience land get a job. Just saying…

Video

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 11:28:09 -0500

Photo

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 11:24:32 -0500

amandafield: Can’t wait!

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 11:24:14 -0500

amandafield:

Can’t wait!

truelifetristarae: Dear Graduate Schools, Please stop sending...

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 11:23:23 -0500

truelifetristarae:

Dear Graduate Schools,

Please stop sending me rejection letters. It hurts my feelings and makes me question myself. If I get an acceptance offer I promise I’ll be the best little grad student ever!

Deal? Awesome.

Sincerely,

A very concerned applicant.

Her Musings: Graduate Dilemma

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 11:22:34 -0500

Her Musings: Graduate Dilemma:

allhermusings:

I have been going back and forth with myself for a few weeks now about my post graduation plans. I often think long-term and about the bigger picture but had failed to do so about my education. Talking to many of my peers, graduate school became more and more prominent on my mind. Should I go…

nevermindnevermindnevermind: In the process of applying to GW’s...

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 11:21:52 -0500

nevermindnevermindnevermind:

In the process of applying to GW’s Graduate School of Political Management and I go to search for my school code… Is it me, or is UMBC not listed? Fuck that. If I hadn’t already paid to have transcripts sent there, I probably wouldn’t finish this application. I’m not putting “Other” into that field of the application.

Cheaper Student Loans, But Shortage of College Grants Likely in 2011 and 2012

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 11:21:04 -0500

Cheaper Student Loans, But Shortage of College Grants Likely in 2011 and 2012:

world-shaker:

Although the federal government will hand out billions of dollars more in college grants in 2011 and 2012 than ever before, the nation’s financial aid programs as a whole are not keeping up with rising tuition, government officials and financial aid analysts say.

That means for millions of America’s working and middle class families, “college is going to become less affordable,” warns Mark Kantrowitz, publisher and founder of Finaid.org and the scholarship search site Fastweb.com.

Isn’t it Alanis? Don’t you think? We cut funding for higher education at the state and federal level, and then wonder why financial aid (which we only provide token increases for) doesn’t cover the rising tuition costs.

But no worries, there are now cheaper loans you can take out. You know, because nothing says starting your adult life like a mountain of debt on top of you.

deeplunges: Unemployment lines.

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 19:52:45 -0500

deeplunges:

Unemployment lines.

Just Breathe.: Unemployed, Day 365

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 19:52:22 -0500

Just Breathe.: Unemployed, Day 365:

likesdinosaurs:

(this is an elated rhino — cause I’m happy.)

That’s right folks, 365 days I was out of work. Exactly. See what I did there? I was out of work. I start my new ~~job~~ career on Monday. Yesterday, when I called the recruiter to accept the offer. I had many feelings. It wasn’t all exciting….

"Strikingly, liberal education is not only effective at enhancing student learning, but also in..."

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 19:50:25 -0500

“Strikingly, liberal education is not only effective at enhancing student learning, but also in producing college graduates well-equipped for the challenges of the 21st century economy. Studies in the Liberal Education and American’s Promise initiative of the Association of American Colleges and Universities have shown that the essential learning outcomes of a liberal education are aligned with the skills most desired in prospective workers by private sector employers.”

- Sean Decatur, Oberlin College dean (via smarieke)

In my four years out of liberal arts grad school I haven’t found one job in my field or talked to one interviewer who treats my degrees as a valuable asset.

Apparently I was one of those kids who looked out the window too...

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 19:48:22 -0500

Apparently I was one of those kids who looked out the window too often

The Youth Unemployment Bomb

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 19:47:13 -0500

The Youth Unemployment Bomb:

From Cairo to London to Brooklyn, too many young people are jobless and disaffected. Inside the global effort to put the next generation to work

My Very Worst Job

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 03:26:10 -0500

My Very Worst Job:

badjobinterviews:

I was very lenient when interviewing, having gone through what they were going through to get a job. But soon a girl wearing old sweats, baggy holey shirt, and BED SLIPPERS came in to apply for job. I assumed she didn’t know we did interviews on the spot and asked her if she wanted to go and change and come back to be interviewed. She thought for a while, shrugged then said, “No, it’s all right. I don’t care.”

Dress appearance is a big factor in our hiring decision, it counts as one strike. Two strikes and you’re out, according to my boss. I said, “Okay….” and she answered a question wrong. Since it was two strikes, I didn’t hire her.

Later my boss asked me if her slippers were “really” that bad, and did I make a mistake? I told him exactly what she was wearing, and he frowned. Then he said, “Well, she comes from a really good school,” and I reminded him that I lived 70 miles away, how was I supposed to know which schools are good? He shrugged and later hired her, though tried to keep it a secret from me, but I found out.

Please Fire Me

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 03:03:32 -0500

Please Fire Me:

badjobinterviews:

I interviewed for a job at the university where I trained and was told they don’t hire their own trainees — because we’re not work ready when we graduate from their program.

Scary-Confident Candidate

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 03:02:15 -0500

Scary-Confident Candidate:

badjobinterviews:

One recent grad I was interviewing tried to show me how dedicated she was by looking me dead in the eye and saying, “I’m so good, I guarantee I’ll have your job in a year.” Since I didn’t want to be on unemployment this time next year, I didn’t call her for a second interview.

hey…some people have tried everything! It’s that “nothing left to lose” syndrome. Got to watch out for those!

A Reason to Celebrate!

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 02:59:16 -0500

thegreasylens:

Had a phone interview for a temp-to-hire position with the San Mateo County Bar Association as their Communications Coordinator and was offered the spot! I start next Wednesday!