Op-Ed
Money and Time
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Students have two main constraints on their lives: money and time. The recent changes in the financial aid policy helped alleviate the first constraint for many students. As a student elected trustee, I have always been an advocate for no-loan financial aid, not only because I think higher education should be accessible for everyone, but also because I believe that students need to follow their passion in career choices without being limited by financial concerns.
I hope every student here will find the career path that best suits them and develop ways to explore those paths at Cornell. But this is easier said than done. According to Rebecca Sparrow, the director of Cornell Career Services, most alumni end up with job titles they hadn’t even heard of when they first came to Cornell. During our limited time here, we need to make a series of important life decisions, such as what major we should focus on, whether to study abroad and what career path we should follow after graduation.
Considering the work we need to do, and the huge amount of information and advice we must obtain before we can make informed decisions about our careers, time becomes a constraint for us. Many students tell me that they feel unprepared to make good career decisions when it finally comes time to do so. Furthermore, this is not limited to undergraduates. Many of my fellow graduate students are also very confused about their careers, such as whether they will stay in academia or pursue careers in the corporate world.
Excellent career counseling will help us make efficient use of our time today to better our career decisions tomorrow. We should always consider career services an indispensable part of a world-class education, even though “education” generally invokes an image of professors teaching course materials in a classroom. Some assume that professors can and should provide all kinds of services and mentoring to students. This is true for some professors, but for all professors to do so is simply unrealistic.
We require top-notch career services to supplement what our professors teach; the importance of this is undeniable. As human knowledge accumulates, research in many fields has become more and more specialized, moving further away from the realm of everyday life. This makes it unrealistic and unreasonable for some faculty members to provide advice about non-academic careers. To supplement the advice from professors, career services can assist us in developing our career plans, choosing our major based on a career plan, creating resumes, networking with alumni, finding internships and finally making the transition into a successful career.
Collaboration and dialogue between faculty members and career services staff is also important. We should facilitate meetings between them, so that faculty members can inform career counselors about the criteria needed for admission to top graduate schools and the qualifications for a career in academia. Career services can inform faculty members what career services are doing so faculty members can refer students to their services when necessary. They can also provide faculty members information on non-academic employment opportunities and careers related to their major.
Career services are important for all institutions, and particularly important for Cornell. Cornell is located in a small city, with the natural beauty and serenity to generate original ideas. However, we are also, as the bumper sticker says, “10 square miles surrounded by reality,” and even further away from metropolitan centers, putting students at a disadvantage when connecting to the real world, compared with students in metropolitan areas. Excellent career services will aid students in tackling these challenges.
Students have told me that the career services at Cornell are useful. Unfortunately, they are heavily constrained by the low staff-student ratio. I met with Amy Benedict-Augustine, director of CALS career services last Friday, and she mentioned her strong wish to have a few more staff members to better support students. I can personally attest to this need for more support. When I met with her at 2 p.m., two students had already met with her at 1:40 p.m. and at 1:50 p.m.. During our short talk, two more students came by to talk with Amy. According to the progress report of the career service subcommittee of Cornell University Graduate Community Initiative (GCI) Task Force, the career office in the College of Arts and Sciences has an even lower staff-student ratio, and is limited to providing its services to undergraduate students. Some other colleges have some services for graduate students, but the GCI report indicates that they lack necessary career advice for graduate students.
There exists a huge gap between the supply and demand for career services for graduate students, especially Ph.D. students. In the past, many believe that Ph.D. students do not necessarily have a need for career services because their faculty advisors are mentors for their academic careers. However, many Ph.D. students are recently choosing non-academic careers. Some may find that their interests may not be strong enough to prompt them to go further after they receive their Ph.D. degree, and some feel frustrated when they find that generating original research is much more difficult than they assumed. Many of those students may be too shy to discuss these issues with their advisors. Therefore, good career services tailored for graduate students will not only provide advice to those Ph.D. students, but also help them to overcome the anxieties and stress they face when considering a non-academic career.
My advisor once told me that when people are young, they always think money is their biggest constraint. Ultimately though, many finally find out the biggest constraint is actually time. Excellent career services can help students plan our careers efficiently and relieve the time constraints placed upon us. Although I am not a career professional, I want to stimulate discussion among students, faculty, administrators and alumni about the importance of career services and its role in building a world-class education.
Mao Ye is a student-elected trustee. He can be contacted at my87@cornell.edu. Trustee Viewpoint appears alternate Wednesdays.