Who here graduated with a Social Science degree... what are you doing now

[Tsuchiya]

I see why this question is being asked but it isn't entirely fair.

You need to take into consideration:

1) The students themselves. What else have they got on their application? How driven are they? What are their goals? Someone with a social science degree can still be competitive.

2) Where they got their degree from. I honestly think this counts to some extent. I'm not talking about Ivy League or Russell Group universities here, but there are too many sub-par institutions that accept students regardless of academic achievement just to rake in tuition fees.

[malman89]

Originally Posted by Tsuchiya

1) The students themselves. What else have they got on their application? How driven are they? What are their goals? Someone with a social science degree can still be competitive.

I think that's the most important. Heck, I only graduated in 2011, and even then internships were still being adopted as 'mandatory' in departments. Technically, I never had one. I did have a 6 credit research seminar at the Newberry Library, but it was a class/research seminar, not an internship.

However, I did work my entire 4 years in college. HS Panera job turned into local college Panera job, which turned into a student HR Administrative Assistant and that got me in the loop with on-campus work. I found a summer job working for the university Conference Services department (free room, board, and full-time hourly? Yes x3), which grew into an academic year office job for them and then a second summer managing directly 25 and indirectly another 40 student workers.

So when I graduated, I had a ton of actual real world experience - A/P, A/R, invoicing, administrative, event planning, customer service, managing, leadership, etc. Not even considering the connections I made (and still keep in touch with) at the university. That's pretty much the only way a recent grad can snag a job at a university. I was offered one, but I already had my non-profit job lined up.