by Zack Shen
Those who choose to pursue a college degree invest tons of money and effort in a college education. Therefore, making the best worth of a college education is rather important. With so much of an input, the students certainly expect a bigger outcome from their education. How are we going to do that?
Cheryl S. Finlay, the director of CDPA (Office of Career Development and Placement Assist) at Pitt, has worked for more than 30 years as a professional in the fields of career development and higher education. She is responsible for developing and administering an array of career services for Pitt students, encouraging employers to recruit and hire Pitt graduates, and guiding students through the career exploration process. Her profound experience makes her knowledge on what kind of students the future society need. I am very honored to be able to interview her via email.
What do you expect from a college education?
Students seeking for a college education with various purposes. The followings are purposes I collected from my own survey.
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The priority of the students are seeking for skills or jobs. They want themselves competent to the future job market. There are a lot of students have no ideas what there are looking for though.
Make the best worth of your college experience.
The chart on the right is provided by Dr. Finlay of how Pitt students do after they graduate.
As we can see on the chart, Pitt students are doing rather well after they graduate. Most of the students apparently find where they belong to after they graduate.
“Pitt provides many academic, research, student clubs and organizations, and volunteering opportunities. Each of these areas has an office and staff devoted to Pitt students and helping them to be successful,” said Dr. Finlay. “ I recommend to focus on both your work inside the classroom and OUTSIDE the classroom. Volunteering , Student Clubs/Organizations, Jobs, Internships, and Research are all very important. This will help you take full advantage of your time at Pitt but also will prepare you well for life after Pitt either in graduate school or in a full time job.”
Dr. Finlay also mentioned about her own office: “Of course CDPA is the career office that assists Pitt students with all aspects of being successful in a future career.”