Back to Campus '85

No one is quite sure when it all began. Some people point to recent pop music-- Cyndi Lauper's Money Changes Every-thing, Madonna's Material. Girl--as the best barometer of the changing mood on campus. Then again, it's been more than 20 years since the Beatles remade Money (Thai's What I Want). In music, as in pop culture, what comes around goes around.

This time, though, there's some new spin on the ball. The college kid who wants to get good grades, land a job with a big company and make megabucks is now old news. The real success stories of the mid-Eighties aren't those who join the big companies but those who start them. The numbers of student entrepreneurs (such as the ones featured on the following pages) are growing rapidly.

And colleges themselves have jumped onto the band wagon. The number of universities with courses or research centers devoted to entrepreneurship has grown from six in 1967 to more than 150 today. As recently as 1981, no school offered an undergraduate major in entrepreneurship. Now at least five colleges--Arizona, Babson, Baylor, Southern Cal and Penn-- do, and others are expected to follow soon.

We've put together this year's Back to Campus Guide with this stress on success in mind. In addition to our profiles of students who have had a degree of success before they've gotten their degrees, we offer a success survival handbook--chock-full of tips on everything from presenting yourself effectively during a job interview to how to order the right drink. We even give you some tips on how to spot a successful woman. Consider that extra credit.

The Campus Success Handbook

what you need to know to make it in the material world

Where the Bucks are

Who's making the big money? While the average starting salary for all 1985 graduates is $20,470, engineering majors are pulling down almost double what a liberal-arts graduate makes. Here, if there's still time to change your major, are average first-year salaries by field of study (figures from Recruiting Trends, Michigan State University).

Electrical engineering $28,086

Mechanical engineering 28,004

Chemical engineering 27,827

Computer science 26,690

Physics 25,411

Civil engineering 22,789

Financial administration 19,506

Accounting 19,262

Marketing/sales 19,157

Business administration 17,782

Social science 17,640

Personnel administration 17,181

Education 17,082

Hotel, restaurant and institutional management 16,871

Communications 16,299

Liberal arts 15,124

Human ecology 14,827

But don't panic yet if an engineering degree isn't in the cards for you. If you're willing to put in a few years' time, compensation in other professions can catch up with experience or an advanced degree. Our business sources tell us the top professions in terms of financial compensation are (1) investment banking, (2) medicine, (3) securities trading. Average salaries reach $100,000 in those fields. Professions in the $50,000-to-$75,000 range include pilot, dentist and financial planner.

Where the Jobs are

Want to know where to go for the best job opportunities? How about Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada? The Southwest region of the U.S. had the highest availability of jobs for 1985 grads. Next-best regions were the South Central, the Southeast and the Northeast. That doesn't say much for the Big Ten, does it?

Ten tips for a Successful Interview

A high G.P.A. alone won't land you a job. But chances are, a successful interview will. This is one time you can't rely on your natural charm and good looks, either. Here are some things you can do to make the right impression.

1. Always ask your references' permission before you give their names out. It's proper form, and it allows them to decide what to tell prospective employers.

2. Research the company prior to the interview, so you can ask intelligent questions. Your placement office may have the company's literature on file, or check the library for its annual report and news items in trade publications.

3. Never ask about salary first. Show the employer what you can do for him before you ask what he can do for you.

4. Be prepared to talk honestly about a low point on your transcript. Instead of making excuses, show what you've done to make up for mistakes.

5. Project positive body language--sit up straight, lean slightly forward, make eye contact often.

6. Go easy on cologne or after-shave. You want the interviewer to remember you, not your fragrance.

7. Personnel directors tell us that the first thing they spot is grooming: shoes shined, suit pressed, nails clean.

8. Keep your look as professional as possible; leave your textbooks in the dorm.

9. Take extra copies of your résumé.

10. Write a thank-you note to the interviewer the same day (don't forget to proofread it). This will keep your name fresh in the interviewer's mind.

The Right Drink

Out for lunch with a prospective boss? You probably know this isn't the time to get loaded on zombies. But what's the proper drink to order? At New York's prestigious "21" Club, the most popular drinks at business lunches are martinis, bloody marys, Scotch, white wine and sours. We can't argue with success.

Extracurricular activities for the Upwardly Mobile

Forget break dancing. Here are some hobbies that can help your career take off.

Gourmet cooking. It comes in handy when you want to throw a cocktail party--or get through life.

Golf. You want to be able to say yes when the C.E.O. invites you to his club.

Winetasting. Knowing a good Burgundy from a mediocre Beaujolais will help you make the right choice.

Squash. Men in high-pressure positions find this great for fielding frustrations.

Scuba diving. With its high-tech equipment and exotic locations, scuba is right up there with skiing as the preferred vacation sport.

Earning Credit

Establishing financial credit while you're still earning college credits is easier than it used to be. The best way is by getting a credit card or a charge card, and American Express is practically giving its plastic away. If you're a graduating senior with a clean credit history, a job offer paying at least $10,000 annually will qualify you for a green card. Special student applications are being distributed on campus or are available from the company.

If you're an underclassman, you can get into the act by having a creditworthy guarantor cosign the application. You take it from there.

Three Courses you should Take

Statistics. With computers everywhere, quantitative analysis is valuable even for liberal-arts majors.

Public speaking. Talking in front of a group is one of man's greatest fears. Work on making it an asset.

Business writing. The ability to facilitate written communication will enhance the feasibility of an individual's upward movement in any professional environment. If you've read this far, we'll buy you a beer.

Required Reading

Samuelson's Economics will take you only so far. For true views of success, read these books:

What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School, by Mark H. McCormack

Megatrends, by John Naisbitt

In Search, of Excellence, by Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman, Jr.

Iacocca: An Autobiography, by Lee Iacocca and William Novak

How to spot a Successful Woman

No successful man should be without a successful woman. Finding the right woman isn't always easy. We offer some sure-fire advice.

• Her earrings match, and there's only one per lobe.

• She knows that Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings.

• She doesn't think that G.N.P. stands for good-natured person.

• She's not (concluded on page 151)Success Handbook(continued from page 144) sipping anything pink.

• She doesn't chew gum.

• Her nails and eyelashes are her own.

• If she's a Democrat, her father's a Republican.

• She won't challenge you to a chugging contest.

• She's not the one in fish nets.

• She's not still wearing a Mondale/Ferraro button.

Who went Where

Steven Jobs, founder, Apple Computer, Reed.

Peter Ueberroth, baseball commissioner, San Jose State.

Ted Turner, entrepreneur, Brown.

Bob Woodward, journalist, Yale.

Steven Ross, chairman, Warner Communications, Paul Smith's.

Bob Woolf, sports agent, Boston College.

Robert J. Birnbaum, president, New York Stock Exchange, New York University.

James Michener, author, Swarthmore.

Charles L. Brown, chairman, AT&T, University of Virginia.

Grant Tinker, television executive, Dartmouth.

David Mahoney, chairman, Norton Simon, University of Pennsylvania.

Franklin Thomas, president, Ford Foundation, Columbia University.

Alexander Julian, fashion designer, University of North Carolina.

Henry Kissinger, former everything, Harvard.

The Hot Major

Ask anyone: The hottest field for the Eighties is computer science. So where are the top schools to major in C.S.? According to The Gourman Report, a respected source of college rankings, the best schools are MIT; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; University of California, Berkeley; University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; and University of Wisconsin, Madison. Slippery Rock State didn't rank.

New Waves

Thanks to the wonders of modern electronics, the secrets of success can be learned from your TV set. National College Television Network, a new satellite television system now reaching 100 campuses, features Business Week's Guide to Careers, a show giving practical advice on getting into the business world. If that's a little too cerebral, the network also has programing such as The Adult Cartoon Show and New Grooves, a music-video show.

How to get a Bigger Pay Check

If you begin work in the summer, you'll make only about half your annual salary by December 31. So why should you have 1985 tax withheld at the same rate you'd pay if you'd worked all year? Ask your employer to figure your withholding rate with the special part-year method (based on your real calendar-year earnings) and you'll have a little more in each pay check.