The following is a sponsored post by DegreeStory.com.
What degree should I get? Do I follow my passion and become a fine art major at the risk of financial stability? Do I pursue software engineering to land that great job out of college?
These are important questions.
In recent years, these questions have become more complex. Should I get an online degree or should I attend a brick and mortar school? Is a bachelor’s degree even valuable anymore or should I pursue a master’s? Are entry-level jobs available in our struggling economy? Do I even need to go to college? How much debt should I take on?
Finally, throw into the mix some personal questions. What am I best at? What can I see myself doing for the rest of my life? Do I need to move in order to pursue my career? Do I value financial rewards or work-life-balance? What if I want to start a family? Do I work to live or live to work?
These are tough questions for anybody at any age. Yet, these are the questions that we expect our college students to answer. They are bright and motivated but are not properly equipped to make a wise decision.
Ultimately, what they lack is experience. It’s almost impossible to draw on a part-time babysitting job to gain the requisite clarity to choose a professional career path. There is a world of difference between a restaurant hostess and an ‘8-5’ as a financial analyst for a REIT.
According to this article by the New York Times, students understand their dilemma and thus are postponing the decision. Unfortunately, this indecision can increase the already rising cost of higher education, further compounding the problem.
It’s a complex situation that has yet to be addressed in a meaningful way.
Our mission is to connect these young adults with the experience of those who have gone before. Those with the most to contribute are not the professional journalists and writers but the people who are actually in the careers. Why have a journalist give a 3rd party analysis of software engineering when you could have a programmer just speak from experience?
DegreeStory.com gives a platform for professionals to write about their experiences. It is open format and we welcome any and all thoughts regarding careers and degrees. These students need to hear reality. They need to understand the ups and downs that are present in every profession.
While a single story is indeed helpful, the true power of degreestory.com is found when all of the stories are taken together. As a college student, imagine being able to browse through thousands of stories from real people who are actively working in the field that you might choose.
We categorize these stories and make them easy to find. Thus, a young aspiring clinical psychologist has the ability to call up stories by other clinical psychologists. Furthermore, he has the power to filter by salary, experience, school and more to find stories that perfectly match his search criteria.
This is the missing piece for these young people who are thrust into these decisions.
As somebody who is in education, your story is valuable. Thousands of potential teachers need to understand what it’s really like. Would you share your story? It’s simple. If you want to share your general experience, you can start writing here. If you want to enter one of our writing contests for teachers, you can click here.
