The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, January 30, 2002, Page 3, Image 3
Students might wait
longer to get jobs
BY ADAM BEAM
THE GAMECOCK
College students all across the
nation live and die by one word:
graduation.
It stands as a faraway dream
world when you first enter your
college years, but suddenly be
comes a harsh reality as it begins
its final approach, and it’s not get
ting any easier.
“Well, the American situation is
a deteriorating position in terms of
getting a job, but the unemploy
ment rate is moving up quite
sharply since September 11,” USC
economics professor John Addison
said. “It was moving up before then
too, and September 11 made things
worse.”
What that means for the
American college student is more
transition time between gradua
tion and the work force.
“There are fewer jobs available
and the same number of people
chasing them,” said Addison.
“When a recession hits, what
tends to happen is people are laid
off, and employers hire less; so,
there are more people chasing
fewer jobs, including the new peo
ple who are new on the market.”
One option for graduates is to
pursue graduate school as a
means of waiting out the recession
while at the same time increasing
their credentials-a common strat
egy that has caused graduate ap
plications to multiply like rabbits
at scnoois across tne nation.
USC’s graduate school, howev
er, is the exception. It has lost 1,608
students since 1999, a fact that
doesn’t surprise Gordon Smith, as
sociate provost and graduate
school dean. Ten years ago, USC’s
graduate school was the seventh
largest in the nation in terms of
enrollment. “I think we felt it was
much larger than what it needed
to be, than what we had the re
sources to support, and so by de
sign our programs have been re
stricting enrollment, focusing on
the quality of the applicant instead
of looking at numbers,” he said.
But with the application dead
line for graduate school getting
closer, Smith says there has been
an increase in applications, which
he assumes is in part because of
the economic downturn.
“In asense, it is good for us be
cause we have very bright people
coming back and pursuing gradu
ate degrees, when if the economy
was doing better they would con
tinue on their jobs as before,” said
SmilS.
But is graduate school the place
to go to play the waiting game with
thaeconomy? Not so, says USC ca
reer center director Larry Salters.
“A tough job market is not a
good reason by itself to pursue a
graduate degree,” he said. “If
you’re doing it to avoid the job
ROW
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
David Bomemann, student ser
vices committee chairman for
Student Government, said, “This
lecture is a great opportunity for all
students and faculty to experience a
taste of how international missions
work and how we as future leaders
of tomorrow can help with won
derful programs such as ROW.”
Mathes began traveling the world
to promote international health de
velopment 15 years ago by estab
lishing hospitals in developing coun
tries. He said he began by visiting
tribal chiefs on rivers to find out
what kind of help was needed.
Thus the program now called
ROW began, and it now reaches all
over Honduras, Belize, Peru and
the Congo. Efforts include things
like creating regional libraries, es
tablishing feeding programs and
building local hospitals equipped
with supplies, staff and volunteers.
kuw is made up ot a comDina
tion of 12 full-time staff members
and 500 volunteers of all ages.
Volunteers give from a few weeks
of their time to months volunteer
ing in third world countries.
“We begin every mission with a
ship, staff and a crew to address the
issue or problem that these third
world countries have,” Mathes said.
According to Mathes, ROW
helps approximately 370,000 peo
ple every year.
Reader’s Digest editor Henry
Hurt called Mathes “the most ex
citing speaker I’ve ever heard.”
Mathes’ speech is free and open to
the USC community.
Comments on this storyi’ E-mail
gamecockudesk@hotmail.com
market, it can hurt things. What
you don’t want is a BGA and a
Master’s and no experience be
cause an employer will look at you
and say you have a lot in your
head, but have you ever done any
of it?”
Until last fall, the job market
was looking fairly strong, with
more than 140 employers coming
to USC for on-campus recruiting.
But with the combined forces of
the recession and terrorist at
tacks, USC saw a 30 percent de
crease in on-campus recruiting.
For example, last year’s
Engineering and High Tech fair had
70 businesses attend, compared with
this year’s 30 who have signed up.
“We are seeing less signing
bonuses and less signing offers,
and most of that is probably due
to the economy and the economic
downturn that the country is fac
ing,” Salters said. “But if a student
has good grades, good computer
skills, good experience, paid or not
paid, and they can communicate
well in an interview, they still
have something good to sell, and
it’s more important than ever that
students present themselves well
because competition is so tight.”
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecockudesk@hotmail.com
Bush
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
the war while reinforcing differ
ences on domestic policy.
House Minority Leader Dick
Gephardt’s words for terrorists
were similar to Bush’s: “Make no
mistake about it: We are going to
hunt you down and make you pay.”
But he also challenged GOP
positions on Social Security, tax
es and health care. And he men
tioned Enron Corp., the Texas
based company linked to Bush
that collapsed with the life sav
ings of many workers.
Bush, outlining his post
Afghanistan battle plans, vowed
to unearth “a terrorist under
world” existing in a dozen coun
tries, including the Philippines,
Bosnia ana Somalia. He saia na
tions will be given a chance to
wipe out terrorists themselves,
and the United States is willing
to assist their efforts.
But, he warned: “If they do not
act, America will.”
In his strongest terms yet,
Bush called North Korea, Iraq
and Iran part of an “axis of evil,”
warning that their pursuit of
weapons of mass destruction will
not be tolerated.
“I will not wait on events,
while dangers gather. I will not
stand by, as peril draws closer,”
Bush said. “The United States of
America will not permit the
world’s most dangerous regimes
to threaten us with the world’s
most destructive weapons.”
The U.S. military is spending
$30 million a day to fight terror
ism, and more is needed, Bush
said. He asked Congress to in
crease Pentagon spending by
nearly $50 billion.
He also proposed a doubling
—to $38 billion — of spending on
intelligence, military, border se
curity, local emergency response
programs and other homeland
security activities.
In his remarks, Gephardt crit
icized GOP positions on Social
Security, taxes and health care.
And he mentioned Enron Corp.,
the Texas-based company linked
to Bush that collapsed with the life
savings of many workers.
•
“Our values call for helping the
unemployed — not just large cor
porations and the most fortunate,”
Gephardt said.
Bush did not mention the ener
gy trading company, but asked
Congress to enact pension reform
and require more financial dis
closure. from companies.
“Corporate America must he
made more accountable to em
ployees and shareholders and held
to the highest standards of con
duct,” Bush said.
On domestic policy, Bush pro
posed expanding the national ser
vice program founded by former
President Clinton to enlist
Americans in community ser
vice, homeland defense and oth
er community activities. The
t Peace Corps would double its vol
unteers in five years, under
Bush’s plan.
He conceded the federal budget
will run a deficit for the first time
in four years, hut said it will be
“small and short term” if
Congress holds down spending.
PHOTO COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS
President Bush talks to reporters as and Interim Afghan Prime
Minister Hamid Karzai looks on during a press conference in
the Rose Garden Monday. Karzai join the first lady in her VIP
box at the State of the Union Address Tuesday.
St. Thomas More Catholic Center
Rev. Tim Lijewski Mass Schedule Sacrament of Penance
Chaplin Saturday 4:30 pm Saturday 3:00 pm-4:00 pm
Sunday 11 am, 7:30 pm or by appointment
Sr. Julienne Guy OSU
Director of Christian Formation Newman Club Tuesday 7:00 pm
^ 1610 Greene St. 799-5870 (Across from School of Nursing)
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