A College Education Is It Worth 100,000 Essays - Employment

A College Education Is It Worth 100,000? A College Education: Is it Worth $100,000? In Robert E. Sullivan, Jr.s Greatly Reduced Expectations, Sullivan discusses the lack of employment available to college graduates. Throughout the essay, testimonials are given by four college graduates who expected more opportunity when they graduated with a four year degree. I sympathize with these men and women who are working in jobs that do promote their ability. Jim McKay, a graduate from the University of Washington, with a degree in English, did not expect the reality that hit him when he went searching for a job. McKay wasnt hired for any of the jobs he considered English major related. The newspaper wouldnt hire him, nor would his university, nor a beer company as a sales representative. With a feeling of dismay, McKay thought maybe he wasnt trying hard enough, or maybe he had chosen the wrong major. After meeting several underemployed college grads, some more recent grads than himself, he realized something bigger was going on.(229) McKay, working with people who never earned a college degree, has given up hope at finding a job that utilizes what he learned while in school. I feel angry about the whole thing, McKay says. I guess when youre told your whole life that somethings gonna happened then the opposite happens, you feel cheated. (230) I sympathize with Jim McKay, especially now that Im in college and will be facing the same thing in a few years. It is a deep disappointment to work so hard as a young adult, sink so much money into an education and have it take you nowhere in the work place. When a person realizes that they wasted their time and money, I can imagine the feelings of anger, disappointment and the feeling of having been cheated. Brian McCoy, a major in chemical-engineering, and with a graduation date of this spring, is already preparing himself for the strong possibility of not finding a job within his field. As he nears graduation, McCoy is taking all the interviews he can, just hoping to land something, and realizes that he may have to settle for a position in sales. They say they have enough engineers, and I guess they figure its easier to teach a technical person how to sell than to teach a salesperson to be technical. (230) I can understand Brian McCoys concern over his future. As graduation gets closer, he realizes that his future might not be as secure as he first thought it was going to be. I find it upsetting, that a student fresh out of college, has to be hit with the huge disappointment of not being able to find a decent job within their major. All a person can do, is try not to be discouraged and keep searching for that job of their dreams. It is believed that the higher the education a person receives, the more likely they are to land a job right out of college. Jamie Hurd, after graduating with a six year degree in architecture, has managed to only find a part time job within her field. When Hurd goes to look for other jobs, she feels the need to play down her schooling(230) Hurd feels, Here youve got this professional degree, and its almost a hindranceSometimes you feel overqualified.(230) The situation that Jamie Hurd finds herself in unfortunately is not an uncommon one. I have heard many stories of being overqualified. In the United States, if a person doesnt go to college they have trouble getting decent jobs. If a person goes to college, they are told they should specialize to have a better chance at a good job. If that person chooses to specialize they are now considered overqualified for many careers. I have difficulty excepting that that can be an acceptable reason for turning someone down for a job. People w ho graduate with a Masters Degree or a Doctorate, or any specialized degree, should not have trouble finding a job. The fact is, however; they do. Meggan Baron, a graduate from a four-year college with a major in Commerce and Art (1/2 art, 1/2 business), had difficulty finding a job at first. Even with a internship