What’s the Goal?

This year, total American student debt eclipsed one trillion dollars for the first time.  In honor of this historic event, I would like to ask a question: what is the goal of college?  Clearly we believe that a college education is worth the expense, but what exactly are we buying?

A survey by TIME revealed a surprising diversity of answers to these questions, and a disturbing disconnect between institutions and the general public.  American adults said students should attend college ‘to gain skills and knowledge for a career’ (40%), but college leaders ranked ‘to learn to think critically’ as the greatest incentive for a college education (36%).  Surely these are both valuable goals, but which should colleges focus on?

I understand the benefits of gaining a well-rounded general education (14% of college leaders), learning to think critically (36%), and becoming an informed citizen in a global society (19%).  Directly or indirectly, these skills impact every area of life (including work performance), but I am interested in seeing a cost-benefit analysis.  Are there less expensive ways to learn about current world events?  How much do students retain from their intro to psychology course?  Will any amount of classes help a student to think critically if they are only interested in the grade?

In the past, college was the route to information and education.  Today, we live in a digital age with unprecedented access to knowledge.  You can learn about the world for free through a world history course from Princeton University, and stay informed on current events with hundreds of global news sources available.  In today’s general education courses, students are often being forced to learn what they could learn for themselves – for free.  Perhaps we need courses showing students why to learn and how to learn, rather than what to learn.

What about critical thinking?  Employers and professors agree that it is an integral life skill, but is college truly teaching it?  According to TIME, employers are frustrated by the lack of graduates’ soft skills including critical thinking.  New York University sociologist Richard Arum conducted a study showing that 45% of college students “showed no significant” gains in critical thinking while enrolled.  Could a challenging business environment do more to promote critical thinking than listening to lectures at college?

Career Readiness

Flickr // Stefano Moscardini

Let’s move from these purposes of college to another goal: career readiness.  Only 21% of senior university administrators believe that you should go to college “to gain skills and knowledge for a career.”  If preparing you for a successful career isn’t the priority at your college, then you shouldn’t be surprised when it doesn’t happen: a Rutgers University study found that 50% of today’s graduates are unemployed or underemployed.

This brings us to a tough question: how do you get Point A (high school) to Point B (successful career)?  I confess that I still have more questions than answers, but college coupled with real-world experience is still a viable option, especially for technical fields such as medicine and engineering.  Students choosing soft skill majors such as business must adopt a career-conscious attitude before graduation day, because they will face tough competition – a college degree is not a job guarantee.

Competency-based education may soon be a respected alternative.  My brother earned his accredited degree at age twenty through CollegePlus in a competency-based model, and his work experience will put him far ahead of his peers by the time they graduate.  Such programs are rising in popularity, as seen by the formation of Western Governors University, a competency-based institution founded by 19 state governors.  This trend is also seen in President Obama’s support for new initiatives focusing on assignment completion rather than classroom time.

Here at Apprentice University, we’re providing another option by flipping the traditional, classroom-based model on its head.  We offer hands-on work experiences in business environments, and supplement these experiences with relevant online coursework.  Our goal is to give students the skills and knowledge for a successful career in technology, business, or media and public policy.  We’ll provide classes in world history, economics, public speaking, and more to expand students’ worldviews, but we won’t lose sight of our primary goal: launching successful careers.

Joel Moran

Advice from a Young Entrepreneur

Joshua Cunningham

Joshua Cunningham planned to follow the family tradition of becoming a Purdue engineer, but his trajectory changed in high school when he became the first president of BitWise Fellows, a separate entity of BitWise Solutions run entirely by high school students.  Joshua’s experiences at BitWise inspired him to choose economics and finance over an engineering major at Purdue.

Joshua discovered another passion when he spent a summer at Developer Town: entrepreneurship.  He says the experience exposed him to the Indianapolis startup scene and “helped me craft what I want to do.”  When Michael Coffey of Developer Town launched a sports team management platform this May (called MYTM8… sound it out), he called on Joshua to be the general manager.

Joshua was kind enough to meet with me and share some of the insights he’s gleaned through his journey, and especially through the past few months of running MYTM8.

 

Maintain perspective

Running a company is such an immense task that it is easy to get “caught day to day in the weeds” and lose sight of the end goal.  To provide clarity, Joshua began by writing a job description for himself.  He checks the description periodically to confirm that he is maintaining a big picture perspective of his goals and activities.  Joshua also writes out three priorities each week and focuses on them to avoid being distracted by details.

Assess productivity

Joshua assesses his effectiveness by tracking his time and ensuring his activities fit into four categories: acquisition, activation, engagement, and virality.

The acquisition stage (acquiring customers) is the first stage in building company value, but activation is equally important.  Activation focuses on providing a great first experience to new users of the product.  Activation is the hand-off from initial interest to purchase, and a fumble here may prove disastrous.  Once customers are on-board, engagement is key.  Continue to build a relationship by consistently delivering value to the customer.  Virality is the final and natural step when acquisition, activation, and engagement are running smoothly.  You have attracted customers and delivered value, and now they are recommending your service/product to others.

By looking over each week’s activities, Joshua can determine whether he is neglecting any of these four categories.

Learn to combat burnout

To be an entrepreneur is to face a sea of emotional highs and lows, and Joshua said that the key is to stay “even keel” rather than swinging up and down wildly.  He also encouraged learning as a way to stay refreshed and motivated.  Reading stimulating books can provide the energy and tenacity needed for success as an entrepreneur, and Joshua recommended Good to Great by Jim Collins and Entreleadership by Dave Ramsey to get started.

Joshua also encouraged young entrepreneurs not to neglect other aspects of life for their careers.  For him, this means remembering his “mission as a Christian” by seeking to honor God and apply the Bible in daily situations.

Earn more than money

Joshua challenges students and young professionals to use every work experience as an opportunity to learn.  Some Purdue classmates chose the highest-paying job they could find, but Joshua said, “There needs to be meaning to what you are doing.”

Hands-on experiences at BitWise and Developer Town helped Joshua to find his passions, develop his skill set, and land an incredible opportunity at MYTM8.  Now he’s encouraging others to take advantage of every learning opportunity, both inside and outside the classroom.

Joel Moran

Learning to Learn

As the cost of formal education continues to outpace inflation, technology is birthing new low-cost educational models which are shaking the education scene.  The American Council on Education recently recommended that universities grant credit for 11 massive open online courses (MOOCs).  Platforms like Coursera, Udacity, and EdX give students access to lectures and course material from top universities including Stanford, MIT, Harvard, and Princeton.  Never before has there been such an educational marriage of quality and accessibility, and the full impact on higher education is yet to be seen.

How will this impact the next generation?  Students must learn how to learn independently.  In the next few years, technology will provide you with resources to learn almost anything, and businesses are beginning to realize the relationship between success and learning agility.  Young professionals with the self-motivation and ability to learn continuously through models such as MOOCs will be the leaders in tomorrow’s world (see this young man’s story).

Flickr // Inajeep

By combining cutting-edge educational technologies with hands-on business internships, Apprentice University is preparing young professionals to be lifelong learners.  Students will learn how to learn as they complete MOOCs from top universities, and experience the joy of applied learning through hands-on apprenticeships.  It’s a revolutionary idea, but it’s not entirely new:

Give a student a lecture and he’ll learn for a day
Teach a student to learn and he’ll learn for a lifetime

Joel Moran

Boiling Water and the Job Search

Flickr // Scott Akerman

The difference between hot water and boiling water is one degree.  In 212: The Extra Degree, Sam Parker argues that this degree of effort is what separates the good from the great.  While I found the book to be a bit melodramatic, I think there are some good applications for young professionals seeking internships and jobs.

Personalize your cover letter.  The only thing a form cover letter will get you is a form rejection letter.  Research the company, tailor your letter to the qualifications in the job description, and make a great first impression.  I even like to call the company and ask who I should address my cover letter to.

Follow up.  If you haven’t heard back from a company within a week to ten days, follow up with a brief email or letter (a phone call can be construed as too annoying).  Your initiative could get you an interview!

Prepare for the Interview.  Look up common interview questions such as “tell me about yourself” and “what do you know about our company” and be prepared to answer them well!  You won’t know every question, but preparing for a few will make you more comfortable and articulate in the interview.  You can also find company-specific interview questions at glassdoor.com.

Write a thank you note.  This is absolutely essential.  Email is appropriate, but consider the company culture.  Here is a great Forbes article where you can learn more.

Just as one extra degree can make water boil, these steps just might make the difference in your job search.  Now go out there and get that internship or job!

Joel Moran

The Haystack Challenge

“We get about 200 applications for every opening.”  I sat across the table from an executive at a growing digital marketing company headquartered in Indianapolis.  Multiply 200 resumes by 150 current job openings at this company, and you will begin to understand the challenge of setting your application apart in today’s economy.  So how can you bring your resume to the top of the pile?  For 70-80% of job finders, the secret was networking, and networking is even more crucial for young professionals.

Flickr // John Pavelka

As a recent honors graduate, all I wanted was an opportunity to prove myself in the business world, to face a challenge and come out victorious.  But in today’s market, businesses can find plenty of people who have already proven themselves.  With the cost of a bad hire being measured in six digits, why should businesses take a chance on an inexperienced college grad?  To land that challenging opportunity, young professionals must find someone else who believes in their potential.

Apprentice University’s program is strategically designed to build your network of professional references.  By the time your classmates are college juniors, you will have developed relationships with coworkers, mentors, and executives at around 15 successful companies in the Indianapolis area.  We’ll give you the opportunity of a lifetime, but your reputation is in your hands.  The possibilities are endless if you’re willing to learn and work hard.

Joel Moran

Freedom to Pursue Your Dreams

Flickr // Charles Sporn

A college friend of mine has dreams of living overseas, but with $40,000 of student debt and a degree in intercultural studies, he realizes that it may be over a decade until he is able to go.  His situation is not an uncommon one.  A recent Boston Globe article shares stories of other debt-laden students forced to sacrifice their dreams to pay off school loans, and CNN reports that the average school-related debt of college graduates has risen to over $35,000.  While there are undeniable benefits to a college education, today’s students must thoughtfully weigh the price: financial struggles are a leading cause of stress, and have been proven to negatively impact both physical and emotional health (see WebMD article).

Today’s students are given two options.  Go to college and pay the financial, emotional, and physical dues, or flip hamburgers for the rest of your life.  At Apprentice University, we believe that we can present our next generation with a brighter alternative.  We use innovative models to provide a world-class education for our students, who then apply their education in real-life business environments.  On program completion, we guarantee that our apprentices will land a job in their chosen career field.  With half of recent college grads facing unemployment or underemployment, it’s time to rethink the 11th Commandment: “Thou Shalt Go To College!”

Joel Moran