Reading a recent Gallup Business Journal article, I couldn't help but think about what we do here at the Charlotte Fellows and why it is so important to recent college graduates:
The Gallup-Purdue Index surveyed more than 30,000 graduates to find out whether they are engaged in their work and thriving in their overall well-being. In simple terms, did they end up with great jobs and great lives?
We learned some stunning things. But one of the most important is that where you went to college matters less to your work life and well-being after graduation than how you went to college. ...
Six critical elements during college jumped off the pages of our research as being strongly linked to long-term success in work and life after graduation. Three of these elements relate to experiential and deep learning: having an internship or job where students were able to apply what they were learning in the classroom, being actively involved in extracurricular activities and organizations, and working on projects that took a semester or more to complete.
[T]he three most potent elements linked to long-term success for college grads relate to emotional support: feeling that they had a professor who made them excited about learning, that the professors at their alma mater cared about them as a person, and that they had a mentor who encouraged them to pursue their goals and dreams. If graduates strongly agree with these three things, it doubles the odds that they are engaged in their work and thriving in their overall well-being. ...[but] about eight in 10 college graduates lacked a mentor in college.
Given how profound the impact of emotional support can be, it's thoroughly depressing to learn how few college graduates receive it.
Sharing friendships with and learning from wise and caring mentors is vital. So is learning how to practically integrate what you believe/know into every area of life. If you are a college senior, then consider applying to our one-year graduate fellowship. There's not a better way to spend your first year out as a young professional.