09/07/2016

Parents,

When I was in college, I was unsure of what I wanted to do for a career. But I was certain of one thing. I didn’t want any job where I had to give presentations. I stayed on for graduate school just to delay my career decision. The father of one of my classmates died unexpectedly, and he asked me to teach his classes for him for a while. I discovered that I loved teaching, and I found a career. Now for 49 years, I’ve done the one thing that I was convinced I never wanted to do.

This week in class, we will be starting the career exploration process with our students. We want them to make a good decision since this will be one of the most important decisions they will ever make. Your student will really need your help in thinking through the choices.

I’ll be describing some general career principles. I hope that you will read over these principles because I think you will find them useful in helping your student work through his/her career decision.

We will be following this class with a series of departmental presentations about the different majors in our college. These will occur over the next 6 weeks. Once the presentations have concluded, students will then have the opportunity to visit one or more departments for more information on the majors.

Most students will have a good idea of what they want to do by the end of the semester. Surprisingly about half of them will have changed from what they thought they would major in when they started school this fall.

One point that I will stress is the flexibility their major gives them. This is a 40 year decision. The world and its economy will change a lot in their working life time. Will their chosen major give them the flexibility they will need? What happens if their personal interests change? Can they have options that reflect the changes they are going through? They are tough questions for a young person.

Students can defer their decision on a major until registration next semester (April 2017). At that time, most of them will need to start enrolling in at least one course in their major.

There are two majors that have restricted enrollments. Outlined below is the official College statement on these two majors.

Acceptance into the Statler College's bachelor's degree program in petroleum and natural gas engineering is highly competitive. Beginning with the summer 2014 semester, enrollment into the program will be based on an applicant's college-level GPA. The College offers a number of majors that still offer students employment in petroleum and natural gas fields.

The Statler College is now offering a bachelor's degree program in biomedical engineering. Enrollment in this program is currently limited to approximately 40 students each year. Enrollment will be based on a number of factors, including college-level GPA. Options for students not admitted to the program include a major in chemical engineering, with completion of the biomedical engineering certificate.

This week is also the first big round of tests. As I have indicated to you in previous emails, these will be challenging. Some students will want to run away from the challenge rather than confront it. I hope that if this happens to your student, you advise him/her to not do anything rash at this time. Students really need to give themselves a chance.

Often students will do much better on subsequent tests once they have figured out what is expected of them. I am not as concerned about how students do on these first tests as I am in how they handle the challenge of doing better. They will quickly forget these grades, but they will long remember how they handled the challenges they now face. I often get very poignant emails from parents telling me how they wished they would have done better in facing their own challenges in college.

Here’s my advice to you if your student gets down on himself/herself after this first round of tests.

  • Encourage him/her to get help from the numerous learning centers. Too few students seek out help when they are in trouble.
  • Work with your student to see if you can diagnose what’s wrong with his/her study habits. I can also help on this if needed.
  • Help them put this challenge in perspective. There is still a lot of chance for recovery. I will be reinforcing this in class as well.
  • Ask that your student make an appointment with me if you feel I can help.

If your student did well on the first round of tests, congratulations. Now is not the time to celebrate however. Your student will need to continue doing what is working well. There are several topics on universitysurvival.com that will help you understand how to react to grades and help your student.

Let me conclude with the story of Brian. Brian was like many students I have taught. He enjoyed the college experience (sometimes too much). He was an ok student, but not close to the best in his class. He wasn’t that career focused, but he took to coaching very well. It was clear to me that Brian was most likely to be successful in a non-traditional career field for engineers.

It was during Brian’s senior year that I received a call from Ray, a former student, who was a Vice President at a start-up company. (By the way, the company has grown to a multi-billion dollar company.) Ray was looking for a new graduate who would enter the sales engineering staff of this new company. He described the person he was looking for. The job description fit Brian perfectly.

Brian and I had a conversation about this opportunity. It wasn’t a job he had ever thought about, but he was open to considering it. I coached Brian on what he needed to do and he got the job.

Fifteen years later, Brian is responsible for all of North American sales for his company. That’s over 2 billion dollars of revenue for the company. Brian is still in his 30’s.By the way, Ray has moved on to form two more companies.

You have to wonder where Brian will be if he had followed a traditional career path. Brian’s case is a good example of what I try to share with students. They need to be open to all opportunities.

One final note was it just blind luck that I got the call from Ray at that moment? It would seem so, but I can share with you hundreds of similar stories. I tell students that they need to work hard for a successful career, but they also need to have faith that things will work out for them if they believe in themselves.

Ten years after Brian graduated, we had another student by the same name (no relation). I recently received an email from the second Brian. I thought you would enjoy it.

“I am the first person from my family to graduate from my college. I did not get the best grades. I was a bartender at Chic-N-Bones for 4 years and worked every Thursday - Friday - Saturday night. I never took a night off in four years. This was because I loved it and I loved the money. However, I struggled with grades and getting through classes because of it. I wish I studied a little more when I was in school. I felt sometime people would judge me on my life style I was choosing (they had every right to). Dr. Byrd was the exception. Dr. Byrd always accepted me for who I was and what I was. I loved that. I did not realize it at the time but that made me feel good and valued. My degree is one of the best decisions I have ever made. I never thought I would be where I am today……
I am married (I met her at Chic-N-Bones Bar) we have a little girl 16 months -(I named her Morgan after Morgantown). My last name is West and I wanted to name her Morgan and her middle name Town and last name WEST and nickname her Virginia but my wife said “hell no”. Her name is Morgan Lynn West and I love her to death.
I have just been promoted to an Area Sales Manager for a 4.2 Billion Dollar Global Company. I have multiple sales awards over the last 7 years. I work a lot of hours and I love every bit of it. I am now responsible for 5.2 Million dollar’s worth of business a year for my company and have a team of 7 that I work with. I am coaching and support many people who are my senior. I travel a lot and get to entertain customers and eat at some of the nicest restaurants in the Atlanta area. Last year was my best year so far ($140K) and I never thought in a million years a "poor" old boy from Wheeling, WV (first member of the family to graduate) would have the life and experiences I have now.
My wife and I just paid off $70K in student loans off last month. We are now poor but out of debt.
My family and I are truly blessed and thank GOD for what we have. My wife (From Beckley, WV) is also the first member of her family to graduate from College.”