Top 25 School Rankings 2024: Gartner has ranked the WMU SCM program yet again (15 years running). Thank you to all the alumni and friends of the program that stay engaged w/ us & keep giving back. We are very grateful & you are a huge part of this ranking. It is our hope that we keep adding “value” to your degree. Now, go brag a little. For the full report:
https://www.simecurkovic.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/GartnerSlides2024aaaaa.pdf
OK, current & future students, very cool, but…pay attention to what matters most (not rankings). “Students who are able to build strong relationships w/ professors are far more likely to find engaging work after graduation, according to Gallup-Purdue polls.” https://lnkd.in/gSuzhcjP
– those who believe a professor cared about them as a person, made them excited about learning, & encouraged them to pursue their dreams had more than double the odds of being engaged at work & experiencing a higher degree of well being overall, these studies find.
…only 3% of grads reported having the kind of positive experiences in school that these studies find to be valuable.
Another study:
Students who choose to specialize are having better experiences than those who stay generalist. Also, professors have the most influence on major. https://lnkd.in/ex89namH.
Great read from WSJ…Translation: Success = Pick the right major (i.e., demand > supply) + Get work experience (i.e., internships related to major) + Pick the right first job (i.e., they pay a premium for your major because of supply/demand conditions & you are job ready day one because you have professional work experience). https://lnkd.in/eXWmK5kC. Notice:
“More than any other factor analyzed—including race, gender and choice of university—what a person studies determines their odds of getting on a college-level career track. Internships are also critical.”
I chuckled at this one: “He also regrets taking an entry-level sales job in logistics after months of fruitless job hunting after graduation.”
“Bachelor’s degree holders in college-level jobs earn nearly 90% more than people with just a high-school diploma in their 20s.”
“…most of the graduates who don’t find work reflecting their degrees are what they call “severely underemployed, meaning they’re in jobs that only require a high school education or less.”
Picking a college major:
https://lnkd.in/eX8XUHxj
The 16 worst-paying college majors, five years after graduation: https://lnkd.in/eTyx7YpW. But…If You Majored in One of These 18 Subjects, You’ll Likely Have a Comfortable Retirement:
https://lnkd.in/exHB9Duj
Our new “apprenticeship” program: We just concluded a co-op pilot program with a F500 company that was highly successful and has started its second iteration in 2024. So, what makes this Co-op program different?
https://lnkd.in/eBTbaQui
From me: if you are a student majoring in SCM, but your school is not on this list, do not worry about it! I am 99.9% certain that you are still getting a world class education that is extremely comparable to the schools on this list. In fact, in some ways, you might be getting a better education (i.e., smaller classes, closer mentors, better ROI maybe, etc.). Note also, all rankings are somewhat dubious & suspect (Gartner puts a lot of rigor into this one, but it is not perfect). At the undergraduate level, pay less attention to the brand & reputation of the school, & pay attention to your major (i.e., does demand exceed supply which means you will have multiple job offers upon graduation) & make great decisions while you are in school (i.e., work experience, networking, grades, passing a drug test, build your brand, etc.).
Employers: trust me, you can find world class SCM talent at the unranked schools that are every bit as good. I meet these students all the time and they have sooo much to offer. Employers owe it to themselves to recruit the best talent from multiple schools. Yes, it requires more effort & expense, but it will keep your SCM org fresh and current. I know of one org that exclusively recruits from only two schools & over time the weaknesses of those two schools became this org’s weakness. So predictable.
More important than rankings (our student success stories):
https://lnkd.in/eK99Fuiv
Recent observations & career advice (videos/podcasts):
What is SCM?…