Auburn University

Date: Sep 17 2013
Major: Business - Management and Administration (This Major's Salary over time)
While Auburn's an okay school, I can't stress this enough. GET SOME SORT OF WORK EXPERIENCE BEFORE GRADUATION. While that was certainly true in the 80s, when I was an undergrad at AU, it has only become more and more true as time goes on. When I was teaching in grad school, my undergrad students practically stabbed each other in the back just to get the few local unpaid internships that were available. Why? Because, all things being equal, an employer's going to hire the kid who's not completely clueless on his first day (read: has some experience), even if his grades aren't the best in the stack of resumes. So if you're an engineer, take advantage of the co-op program, for example.

Look, AU isn't the absolute educational BARGAIN it was 30 years ago; so if you have limited means, find a less expensive school to attend. Live at home and commute to school if there's one nearby. Or spend a year or two at a junior college and knock out all your core requirements before coming to AU for your major courses. If you're planning on coasting at AU for four years and then trying to find your first job a couple of weeks before graduation, save yourself some money and heartache, because you're going to meet a truckload of disappointment.

OTOH, if you're motivated to study AND work for five+ years and you're the kind of student that can take a pass on the big party in order to finish that term paper that's due on Monday, then go for it. But seriously—today, more than ever, it's that pre-graduation work experience that's going to get you a job right out of school today. Nobody cares where you went or what your GPA was once you walk off that stage with your diploma.

Don't say you weren't warned.