Transitioning from college to the real world can be even more difficult than leaving home.

By Marion Franck

If high school graduation is considered “leaving the nest,” then the college years might be thought of as a time to learn to fly, under careful supervision. But then comes graduation and the young birds must strike out on their own.

Leaving high school is difficult. Leaving college can be even harder.

When students begin as freshmen, they leave their parents, but they encounter a veritable flight school of help from the university: Summer Advising, Orientation Week, resident advisers, social and academic programs in the residence halls, and a wealth of potential friends next door.

Help is also available from the university in senior year, but students have to seek it out themselves. At the same time, they face a huge transition—one of the biggest of their lives.

“Students are scared and nervous and anxious about life after college,” says Eric Zamora, a senior and student assistant to the chancellor. “Many will tell you, ‘I’m thinking of law school’ or ‘I’m thinking of business school,’ but they don’t really know where they’re going. They’re asking themselves, ‘Am I going to be living the kind of life I want? Can I pay for a family someday?’”
It’s also hard when friends scatter after graduation. “How did we say good-bye in high school?” asks Zamora who, like many, anticipates the loss of his support group.

As senior year progresses, parents’ toes tap as they await updates on career plans, but seniors have many things on their minds. Some seek out career-related resources they passed up before. Others kick up their heels in a last round of parties. No matter how seniors spend the months preceding graduation, many fear disappointing their parents after the big day.

Services for seniors

In an effort to ease the transition, Associate Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Janet Gong established the Senior Year Experience Committee in 2005–06, and charged the group with examining the resources and services available and recommending ways to better serve seniors.

The committee researched resources on campus and questioned students, via an online survey, about what helps them with future planning.

Committee members themselves were surprised by the breadth and number of resources at UC Davis, some located in places you’d expect, like the Internship and Career Center, and others housed all over campus. Leadership training, for example, is available from the Internship and Career Center, as part of coursework for the Davis Honors Challenge, and in workshops given by the Women’s Resources and Research Center and the Cross-Cultural Center.

The strongest recommendation to come out of the committee was for UC Davis to create a centralized Web site to help students access these resources. Committee co-chair Kristee Haggins, director of training for Counseling and Psychological Services, points out, “Students may know what’s available within their college or major, but they may not know the world beyond.”

Student Assistant to the Chancellor Zamora adds, “I hate to say this about students, but sometimes you just have to kind of put it in front of them: ‘Hey, if you’re a third year, this is what you should be doing.’”

Students who responded to the survey alerted the committee to a problem with its own mission. Tammy Hoyer, assistant director of Advising Services, notes that the group learned that preparation for life beyond college needs to start sooner than many think. “We learned that the senior year needs to start in the junior year—or earlier.”

Juniors seek internships and faculty advice (the two items rated “most useful”) at an accelerated rate. Fortunately, most programs are offered to all students.

If there’s a message to parents in this, it’s to advise your student to seek internships and other career experience before senior year.

Some students obviously know when to get started, but others don’t. Linda Hughes, program manager of the Internship and Career Center, says, “Students often think the college degree is enough, but it’s not: They need experience. A combination of background knowledge, which comes through academics, and applied experience makes them competitive in the workplace.”

A trend toward work

One reason students may not seek out internships as early as they should is because they enter college assuming they will go straight to graduate school. In a survey conducted three years ago by Student Affairs Research and Information, 70 percent of respondents thought they would start graduate school within one year of graduation.

Reality is different. In 2002 only 38 percent of graduates of UC Davis immediately continued their education, and that trend continues. Students have learned that a few years of work experience can compensate for lackluster test scores or other handicaps when applying to advanced degree programs. Time away from school also helps students figure out what they want to do.

Survey insights

Last winter’s survey for the Senior Year Committee, which was also conducted by Student Affairs Research and Information, detected other interesting trends. Female students use career-related resources at a significantly higher rate than men, leading one committee member (who wishes to remain anonymous) to joke, “Even young men don’t want to ask for directions.”

Forty-four percent of men reported using no services at all, compared to 34 percent for women, but by senior year the rate of non-participation for both groups dropped to only 20 percent.

The resources seniors used most frequently were internships (46 percent), faculty advice (31 percent), and a career workshop or fair (26 percent). Unfortunately, only 17 percent of seniors had taken advantage of undergraduate research opportunities, although this can be helpful, especially to students in the sciences.

It comes as no surprise to parents that some young people procrastinate and miss opportunities. The current generation, known as millennials, is gaining a reputation for doing things at the last minute, thanks in part to communication devices like cell phones that permit students to organize a party, or even a group project, quickly and late.

Senior Zamora notes that it can be difficult to get students to attend workshops designed for their benefit. On the other hand, attendance may be low at an individual event but high when you consider the large number of events taking place overall.

Moving home

The current climate—with many students anxious about their futures but without firm plans—leads to another phenomenon: students moving home.

Often, the reason is financial. It’s hard to gather first and last month’s rent on a new apartment, especially when students have loans to pay off. Even students with good jobs may not be able to buy a car, rent an apartment and furnish it all at once. Many plan to spend their first two or three months after graduation at home, and some end up staying much longer.

The return to the nest often unsettles parents and makes them wonder if they’ve failed somehow.
Not so, say advisers. Senior Year Committee co-chair Jennifer Barber notes, “One of the characteristics of this generation is that they are closely tied to their parents.” If parents recognize that the job market is tight and that most students don’t intend to “mooch,” but rather to return to a place of safety during a difficult transition, they can be more understanding.

“These students are not graduating in the same era that parents did,” adds Hoyer of Advising Services. “Everything is more competitive.”

Because of the difficulty starting off on a career, student Zamora believes that the happiest seniors are those who have a plan—“something tangible rather than ‘Oh, I’m just gonna mail my résumé and wait around to see if a company calls me.’”

UC Davis will do its part to nudge students toward resources that will help them with that plan, providing assistance to find work or get settled in advanced degree programs more quickly.
Parents can help by encouraging students to move close to where jobs in their field are located. If the student comes home, parents can set rules that require adult behavior, like contributing time and money to the family.

Think of it as another set of flying lessons that may take our children to greater heights.