Look Beyond the Obvious
While the vast majority of Babson undergraduates pursue full-time jobs after graduation, some choose to pursue advanced degrees. To give you an idea, take a look at the Class of 2014 (we’re still crunching 6-month-out numbers for 2015 — stay tuned) — 17 students (or 4.6%) decided to pursue grad school right after graduation in areas such as Higher Education, Economics, Finance, Accounting, Marketing, Theology, Management, Business Administration, and Law. Of all these programs, the greatest concentration — 4 students — headed to law school, which can seem like the obvious choice for those who study law as an undergrad. But what else is out there?
Taking a step back, regardless of career interest, there is sometimes a tendency to funnel ourselves into the obvious buckets: If I like law, I’ll become a lawyer. If I like finance, I’ll head to Wall Street. If I like marketing, I’ll head to a CPG company. If I like entrepreneurship, I’ll start my own business. Some feel that established paths make sense for them, and that’s great. Just keep in mind that following established, defined paths, while right for some, can come at the expense of ruling out some pretty fantastic options if you’re not being mindful. We here at Babson are entrepreneurs and understand that ambiguity, while sometimes uncomfortable, can often be our best friend.
So, back to those who have studied law — what other options outside of law school are there? I was curious about this question and decided to do a little digging with one of my favorite tools — LinkedIn’s university page. Here’s a sampling of what I found.
- 354 Babson professionals indicated that they studied law at one point in their life — either at an undergraduate level, law school, executive training, etc.
- Because this number was too cumbersome for me to manage, I very unscientifically decided to focus on one of the top geographic populations for this sector — Greater Boston — which consisted of 57 professionals — a much easier number to manage.
Again, it’s an unscientific sample, but here’s what I learned:
- ~78% attended law school, and built careers in many different areas, including:
- Legal Counsel for companies/corporations/organizations
- Attorney, Partner, Owner at Law Firms
- Contract Administration
- Accounting, Tax, & IT Professionals
- Other (Education, Non-Profits, Communications, Real Estate)
- ~22% did not attend law school, and built careers in a variety of areas, including:
- Contract Administration
- Consulting/Business Strategy
- Accounting, Finance & Sales
- Education
Did you know that you can use LinkedIn’s University page to perform similar searches and countless others. Let’s say you’re unsure about a career path or whether you want to pursue additional degrees after Babson — but you know there is a specific subject area that you really enjoy. LI’s university page will allow you to search Babson alums based upon what they studied. So, whether it’s Legal Studies, Entrepreneurship, or Finance — don’t assume that these studies translate directly into careers of Attorney, Start-Up Founder, and Investment Banker. There are lots of different options besides the obvious. These searches can give you ideas of directions you can take after graduation that you might not have thought of. Better yet, it’s an opportunity to connect with an alum (in person for coffee, lunch or office visit — or even by phone or skype).