But dreams are on hold for two graduates of 1998
Cap, gown and survey, please.
As members of the graduating class prepared to head into the world beyond College Hill, Career Services began collecting information about the decisions they were making and the directions they were taking.
Although the survey results will come later, anecdotal information pegs entrepreneurship as a trend this year, according to Sheila Curran, director of career services. The interest was fostered by the Entrepreneurship Program, offered for the first time this semester to students who wanted to learn how to start a business. The program, which attracted some 160 students, provided information about how to develop a business plan, form a business team and finance the plan. Some of its students are now pursuing the ventures, said Curran.
Also, as in recent years, positions in investment banking and consulting attracted large numbers of students this year, said Curran.
Business and education have consistently been the top two employment choices in the past few years. Of the graduates who took jobs last year, 46 percent were in business, compared to 45 percent the previous year. The second most popular career interest has been education, at 15 percent last year, compared to 18 percent the previous year.
Public service also attracts Brown graduates. Last year, Peace Corps, Teach for America and AmeriCorps were all among the top employers of Brown graduates, about 6 percent of whom entered public service. That sector remained popular this year, with 20 Teach for America positions offered to seniors, said Curran.
Overall, about 36 percent of last year's class took jobs after graduation. Twenty-five percent went on to graduate studies and fellowships, 8 percent gave in to wanderlust and traveled, and 12 percent continued searching for a job. (The other 19 percent did not respond to the survey.) The five most popular destinations for graduates were New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, California and Washington, D.C.
Call her story "Rocky Road."
Amanda Kracen '98, thought she and classmate Melissa Lioz would be scooping gourmet ice cream in Missy and Mandy's American Ice Cream shop in Dublin now. Instead, a year after they graduated from Brown, and months after they headed to Ireland to start the business, their dream has begun to melt away.
Despite a business plan, financing and ice cream recipes, the two have not been able to shake a law that applies to foreigners. They must put up more capital than they have - $400,000 compared to their $50,000 - to start the business.
The law is designed to protect the country from unscrupulous foreign business owners who would sink into debt and leave the country, said Kracen. But she and Lioz had no such plans.
Kracen first spotted the need for gourmet ice cream as an exchange student during her junior year. The Irish were quite fond of the creamy concoction, she noticed, but the only product available was individually-packaged bars.
Others in Ireland have volunteered to finance the business if Kracen and Lioz agree to run it, but the Brown alumnae want to be both owners and operators. "We've met with politicians and written letters to everyone and anyone," said Kracen. The last avenue - an appeal to the Department of Justice - is pending.
In the meantime, Kracen is working for a public relations firm and plans to remain in that job another two years even if the ice cream plan goes sour. Lioz left Ireland earlier this month because her visa expired, and is looking for new job opportunities through Brown's Office of Career Services.