What would you tell your younger self before entering the workforce? What should job training really look like? What did you major in, and are you working in that field?

Those are some of the questions Open Campus explored in a Nov. 12 webinar highlighting takeaways from 200 interviews we’ve conducted in Houston and Chicago. It’s all part of an ongoing project centered on how young people learn about post-high school options. Working with a team of local ambassadors in those two cities, we set out to find out what information people wish they had.

++ Watch a recording of the webinar here. Use this passcode to access it: c1L@5=vk

Webinar participants heard from two young people who helped conduct those interviews: Stephanie Quintana, a recent graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Jessica Barrera, a student at the University of Texas at Austin.

Quintana and Barrera both said they felt pressured to quickly choose a major and settle on a path in college. But the amount of options and the stakes felt overwhelming. Quintana finished with a degree in mathematics, but had a big of unsolved question: Should she have majored in something else?

That indecision and stress was common among the young people we interviewed.

We also found that there are gaps in information on career options, and access to it depends on socioeconomic factors. We heard a need for more robust information about non-college options.

“I always thought attending a university was the only way to advance to a great career. Now that I’m in college, I’ve learned about other routes I could’ve taken that would’ve produced the same results,” an assistant daycare teacher from Chicago, now working near Bloomington, Ill., told us.

Dominique McKoy, executive director of the To&Through Project at The University of Chicago Urban Education Institute, said on the webinar that stories from students add nuance to data. And, it’s critical to normalize the idea that college is “a process” and not an end point.

Juliet Stipeche, executive director of the Gulf Coast Workforce Board, also stressed that it’s critical students are exposed early on to career options, in hands-on ways. The board organizes summer programs at Rice University specifically to expose young people to high-growth fields.

This gap also came up in our interviews. Interviewees said they’re not aware of career paths they can pursue, and are limited to what’s depicted in media or common in their families.

Our research on life after high school is supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and American Student Assistance.

About Open Campus

Founded in 2019, Open Campus is the only nonprofit news organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to higher education. It’s built on an innovative collaborative model, combining a national newsroom that knows higher ed deeply with local newsrooms that know their communities deeply. Open Campus has put local reporters on the higher-ed beat in partnerships with 14 newsrooms around the country. Learn more about our model.