Monday, April 09, 2007

Fort Wayne college graduates

I went back to college a couple of years ago. I graduated from IPFW with a bachelors in business and a specialty in accounting in May of 2006.

I have heard a lot of Harrison Square supporters talk about how the best college students leave Fort Wayne. I know that many do leave Fort Wayne; however, I thought I would list people that I am friends with at IPFW and whether they are staying in this area or if they are leaving. I am just listing those people that I know fairly well that had a very high GPA.

Myself, I am staying in Fort Wayne
Brent, he is staying in Fort Wayne
Doug, he is currently working in Fort Wayne, however, he has accepted a position that will cause him to move before the end of the year. Lets count him as leaving.
Austin, he is staying in Fort Wayne.
Sarah, she is staying in Fort Wayne.
Anthony, he is staying in Fort Wayne.
Brett, he is currently working in Fort Wayne; however, he has accepted a position and is moving to North Carolina this Fall. Lets count him as leaving.

So out of seven students that I know fairly well, five are employed in Fort Wayne and chose to stay in Fort Wayne. Two are currently in Fort Wayne but accepted positions that will take them from Fort Wayne.

Six of the above seven people were Accounting majors and one a Finance major. The average GPA of the above people is 3.8 or higher. 5 of the 7 have chosen to stay in Fort Wayne.

The demand for accounting graduates is very large right now. I would say that everyone could have moved to about any City and got a job in Accounting...

The majority of these students are not leaving Fort Wayne...

Mike Sylvester

24 comments:

Change Fort Wayne said...

Couple of questions. What are the average ages of these students? Are they 'traditional' students? Meaning did they start school at 18 and go full time? Since you are in your thirties, already established in FW, and have a family - you are less likely to pull up roots and head out of town.

I will argue that its not about 'keeping' the best and brightest in FW. But enticing them to come to FW from somewhere else. FW needs a constant inflow of people so we do not become an 'inbred' town.

This is the problem with Crawford's Brain Drain fund. While it has a great intent, the winners have all been from local colleges - most have lived here for some time. I think we need to use the fund as tool that company's can use. Apply for the fund so companies can couple it with a job offer to people from other areas.

Change Fort Wayne said...

Sorry - keeping the best and brightest is very important as well.

LP Mike Sylvester said...

Change Fort Wayne:

Good question about age. The ages are about 22,22,23,39,32,29,26. Only three of the seven are traditional college students. The other four are all military veterans and served 4 - 8 years in the military.

Mike Sylvester

Change Fort Wayne said...

How old are the ones that are leaving?

Scott Barnes said...

I lived in Fort Wayne from the time I was born until I graduated High School. After serving nearly 5 years in the U.S. Army I came home to pursue a degree in Education from I.P.F.W.

Perhaps the most valuable things I’ve experienced are the many different social and political opinions I encountered while living in South Carolina, Texas, Arizona, California, and two deployments to the Middle East.

I feel many people in this country, and especially Fort Wayne, simply follow the social and political ideology of their parents and don’t think enough on their own. I fear that many don’t realize how great of a city Fort Wayne truly is.

While I love Fort Wayne and hope to work and raise a family here in the future, I would also wish that those in our great city be a little more open minded to new ideas and change. I’m not asking everyone to believe all the same things that I do. I am just hoping that more people would reevaluate and challenge their own beliefs.

The bottom line is we need a city of thinkers. Attracting intelligent, motivated workers from outside of Fort Wayne would encourage this. It would also help keep our college graduates in town. I believe it’s possible to balance old fashioned values and ethics with progressive and modern ideas. If we appear to be unwilling to change as a city, many of our best and brightest will continue to leave.

LP Mike Sylvester said...

Change Fort Wayne:

The ones moving are 26 and 32. Both are ex-marines...

Mike Sylvester

Robert Enders said...

Most college graduates are non-traditional students. They live off-campus and have to work to support themselves. Many have spouses and/or children. It is difficult for them to accept work in another part of the country.

Robert Enders said...

I'll agree with Scott that many people in Fort Wayne are intolerant. That is my own biggest complaint about this city. That needs to change, but that change is going to take a long time. People tend to want to live around like-minded people.

But Fort Wayne is become more and more diverse. Many refugees from Burma and Bosnia now call the Summit City home.

LP Mike Sylvester said...

Scott Barnes:

You bring up several great points.

Mike Sylvester

Andrew Kaduk said...

"Most college graduates are non-traditional students."

Perhaps you should re-phrase, because if you're talking about commuter colleges like IPFW, ITT, Ivy Tech... you're right. At the rest of the colleges (IU Bloomington, Purdue Lafayette, Butler, Ohio State, Michigan State), they are absolutely "traditional students."

I'm sure at places like Notre Dame you won't find too many "married mother of three, 37-years-old" undergrads.

Craig said...

AWB has stated on numerous occasions that he is going to have me deported to Ontario, so I guess you can count me as "leaving."

Craig said...

Mr. Kaduk:

As a full time student of IPFW I can attest that "traditional students" is a slippery term. Most, if not all of the full time students I know also work at least part-time.

For every "married mother of three" undergrad I know I know at least 5 who are single w/no children.

Andrew Kaduk said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Andrew Kaduk said...

I would expect traditional students to have a part-time job.

I would also expect them to be in their late teens to early twenties, single (unwed), and childless.

So really, Craig's observations are just about what I would expect.

I would, however, expect his ratio to be more like 100:1 or even 300:1 at bigger state schools.

Robert Enders said...

I meant that nationwide, most college graduates are non-traditional students.

Robert Enders said...

Here are the stats regarding non-traditional students.
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2002/analyses/nontraditional/sa01.asp

There are a number of attributes that would make a student non-traditional, such as living off campus or attending classes part time. That site shows the percentages for each attribute.

Andrew Kaduk said...

I am not shocked by those numbers at all, but I sure wish they had built and interactive pivot table that would allow me to better qualify the data by sorting age groups and filtering out places like IBC, hairdressing schools and such. For example, the ability to sort by "undergrads at the top 50 business schools" would be interesting.

Robert Enders said...

I keep hearing that a master's degree is the new batchlor's degree. Which must mean that my IPFW BA in poly sci is the new GED. Ok, I just insulted myself and my alma mater. Let me back up...

Mike, you have a BA in business. While you are a success story, (I am such a buttkisser) can you tell us the odds of succeeding with just a BA in business? It is my understanding that a business degree in and of itself won't get you far. You need something besides that, don't you?

Andrew Kaduk said...

It depends, Robert. I know individuals who have very little education who are successful businesspeople...but most of them got involved in an industry and stuck with it. More advanced degrees allow one to jump around between industries without losing ground on the payscale, because with enough education, the learning curve for certain positions (sales, marketing etc.) gets much better. People with no education at all may certainly go into business for themselves without the harsh eyes of peer scrutiny beating down on them...

In Mike's case, passing the CPA exam puts him on top of his game. A masters degree would allow him to be considered for a CFO position at some big company, but that's about the only advantage it would garner for him. Well, except maybe an elevated sense of self-worth, but Mike's never struck me as a guy in need of ego-stroking.

LP Mike Sylvester said...

Robert:

I would say the Andrew summed it up fairly well...

I know a lot of poeple who make a lot of money and have little education; however, an advanced degree does make one more portable.

Mike Sylvester

Robert Enders said...

Ok, but aren't some degrees more useful than others? My sister has a BA in art from IU. She now lives in Indy. I love my sister very much but that degree has not seemed to have enhanced her ability to contribute to the economy of our state capital. Last time I checked she was working in sales, which she could have done without the degree.

On the other hand, someone with an engineering degree can become an engineer. A good question would be is exactly which degrees do those who live this city and this state posess? Can you come up with a dollar amount of how much the city should be willing to spend to attract a philosophy major versus a engineering major?

Andrew Kaduk said...

From the looks of the Money Magazine data from 2006, Fort Wayne shouldn't be picky. 53% of Fort Wayners haven't even completed a college course...much less a degree.

Anonymous said...

I heard Mr. Kelty tell a group of young people to go out and see the world after graduating from college. He didn't seem to think brain-drain was a problem. In fact he said,"You will always keep a part of Ft. Wayne in your hearts". Hmmm I want our young, innovative and energetic people coming back and helping us get out of this rut Ft. Wayne seems to be in.

Anonymous said...

Fort Wayne keeps roughly 80% of IPFW graduates, but most of those are commuting students who dont stay on campus and get the real college experience, so they dont know anything other than Fort Wayne. Its those 20 percent who are going on for more schooling and never coming back.

So When Matt Kelty tells them to go out and check out other places, these students are coming back because they get to see what else is out there, and in MOST cases, these are the brighter, more intelligent students.

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