Last time, we took a look at the results of a survey that tracked how college graduates are dealing with the realities of life after graduation. We saw some interesting statistics that revealed real-world circumstances vs. the idealistic visions of college students. In other words, for those grads surveyed, we saw that some, who had acquired employment, were far from happy with their incomes and job satisfaction. Others felt that college had not adequately prepared them for certain work, and a few were somewhat neutral about their situations. There were additional key findings too, which bear examining, so take a look.

The reason I've noted this post as "Part 2" of my previous post, is because I have come across related data that could be of possibly greater interest to college students. Zippia.com is a new Web site dedicated to helping recent college grads with their careers. This is primarily about expectations.

What college students, and particularly aspiring college students (high schoolers) need to consider is what they expect their college educations to do for them. This is the ongoing battle between idealism and the realism that I mentioned in Part 1: the realities of "preprofessional" education and that of "learning for learning's sake."

What is Zippia? Here's how they describe it on their landing page:

Starting that first job or changing careers can be daunting – especially if you don't know what's out there. Zippia wants to help you make these choices confidently. Our market-leading Career Map allows you to explore millions of options, showing you roles that fit your profile and experience. And once you know what you want, we'll provide you with actual job opportunities.

That piqued my interest, so I decided to give it a test drive, which resulted in some surprising results. Here's what happened:

The big section at the top of the page is headlined with the all-caps statement: GET THE JOB YOU REALLY WANT followed by "Career Insights Personalized For You."

Below that is a search window. Above it are three buttons: CAREERS JOB - OPENINGS - COLLEGE GRADS. I selected the last option and pretended that I was a fresh college grad with my undergraduate degree in Music History, which I actually obtained in the distant, dusty past. So, in the search window, I typed "music history." A drop-down menu showed me one related option: "Music History (Music)," so I chose that. Next, I clicked the search spyglass.

A wealth of information appeared, including this helpful information, which includes Growth and job Security grades (showing only 10 listings):

THESE ARE THE 50 MOST COMMON FIRST JOBS FOR MUSIC MAJORS