“I wish that I had known more about the job market and what kind of jobs would be available in four years. I may have chosen a different major if I had known that not many jobs were available in my field and that salaries were not very good!”

“I wish that I had known more about cooperative education and work-based learning. I hear that some companies will pay for your college education while you work for them. And you gain great work experience too!”

“I wish that I had known that only 20% of the jobs available were professional occupations. I understand now that technical employment is the fastest-growing segment of the labor market and that most of these jobs require an associate degree, not a four-year degree.”

“I wish that I had known that wages for technical jobs are just as high as or higher than wages for jobs that require a four-year degree!"

“I wish that I had realized that earning a college degree is not a guarantee or an instant ticket to success! I would have been in a lot better shape if I had partied less and taken every opportunity to gain experience (and connections with people who could write me letters of reference!) that I could use along with my degree. Do you have any idea how many people graduate with business degrees every year?”

“I wish I had really applied myself in that silly little work-study position I had in the Bursar’s Office. They had a full-time job open up right after I graduated, but it was a waste of time for me even to try since I’m sure they noticed how many times I showed up late or slacked off in the stuff they gave me to do.”

“I wish I had thought about taking elective courses that could really get me somewhere, instead of which courses would be easy A’s. There’s a job I would have been perfect for if I had just taken a few more computer courses along with my major. Now I’ll have to take those kind of courses at night after a full day’s work at a job that’s not really going to advance my career.”

“I wish I had realized that four years would just fly by, and that I should have listened to all that career counseling junk when I had people and resources so easily available to me.”

“I wish I had known that in order to get any type of job worth anything in my field, I would have to go to graduate school!”

“I wish I had known that after I transferred from my two-year college (before completing a degree), I could have transferred credit back from my university and earned my Associate in Science degree!”

“I wish I had realized that I would forever regret not participating in my commencement exercises. All that time and money and I didn’t march across the stage and shake all those hands. That was my moment and I blew it! (And my family still hasn’t forgiven me!)”