It's more critical now than ever for students to make the best use of their time and energy in college. By examining skills and aptitudes, work values, interests, and personality before enrollment, Competitive Edge helps students make the best choice for their academic major and future career.

 

 

Knowing the options

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Many young people have little idea what careers exist in the world of adult work.  They know what their mother and father do, and they have a vague idea of what a lawyer and a doctor do.  But when I show them the 1000 page “Occupational Outlook Handbook” (the bible of career consulting) they gasp with the revelation that there are careers out there they have never even heard of. 

 

Given that four years of college can now cost upwards of $200,000, it is more important than ever that students can take full advantage of their educational dollar. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, about 80% of students in the United States end up changing their major at least once, and some change as many as three times over the course of their college career.

 

This can be a costly change. 

 

If a student changes their major even once, it often incites the need to attend college for an additional 5th semester—another $25,000 or so in tuition dollars. 

 

Thus, Competitive Edge now offers Majors Assessments to interested Students.  While these assessments cannot guarantee that a student won’t later change majors, it will drastically reduce the chances of their making a profound error.  For example, if a student thinks she wants to become an Engineer only to later discover that she hates the Engineering Curriculum, transferring into the College of Arts and Sciences can be difficult if not impossible. 

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Fine-tune your interests to pursue your passions​

 

We can also help students fine-tune the areas that they are already thinking about. Recently I worked with a young man who thought he wanted to be an electrical engineer.  But after I scored and compiled the results of the five assessments that I gave him, some interesting patterns emerged.  He was highly geo-spatially oriented, loved studying maps, and prided himself on his organizational skills.  I said to him “Wow—you’d be great in Logistics.”  And he said “Mrs. James, what’s logistics?”  Long story short, he will major in industrial management and put his innate gifts and interests to good use in Logistics and Supply Chain Management. 

 

Together, we assess the student’s:

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