The Two Things Every College Freshman Should Know

There are two things that every incoming college freshman should know. The first, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, is that 52% of four-year college graduates are employed in jobs that don’t typically require a bachelor’s degree.

This is a shocking statistic. Given the high cost of college and the amount of effort students pour into getting good grades it is hard to believe that half of them would achieve the same level of career success (and save a huge amount of time and money) if they just skipped college altogether.

If you are an incoming college student you may be asking yourself the obvious question, “which half will I end up in?” Surprisingly, the answer to this question has less to do with grades than you might think. While grades are certainly important, as are other factors like major, background, ethnicity and gender, there is one factor that outweighs them all. That’s internships.

The second thing every incoming college student should know, as revealed by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, is that students who have done at least one paid internship during college receive 70% more job offers.

And the odds of finding a great job go up further with 2 or more paid internships. Basically, the more paid internships you have, the more likely you will be to achieve a positive economic return on college.

If you’re an incoming freshman you can do the math and now you’re probably asking a different question, like “How can I get 2-3 paid internships before graduation?”

That’s the right question to ask. Luckily, there are simple steps anyone can take to get college internships. This information is not proprietary — it’s freely available on the Internet. Or, if you’d prefer, everything you need to know is also clearly explained in our short booklet, Get A Job: A Rising Freshman’s Guide To Obtaining College Internships.