TO THE EARLY BIRD . . . .

Fully as important as the actual placement of seniors is the service rendered by the Placement Office in aiding students to make a vocational choice--not only among the various opportunities in industry itself, but also more generally between business and entirely different professional occupations. The quantitative significance of this function is strikingly indicated by the fact that almost 53 per cent of the seniors registering last year with the Office had no ideas or intentions concerning an occupation.

If the Placement Office is to perform this function efficiently, it is of the utmost desirability that students intending to seek its aid register early in their college careers--even in the sophomore year. The services which the Office can then render them are of a somewhat intangible nature, but nevertheless of great value. It can, first of all, start them thinking seriously and correctly about a choice of career. Because of the complexities of a vocational decision as well as its importance toward a productive and happy life, it requires, not merely a snap judgment in the senior year when the student has other worries and problems besetting him, but recurrent consideration on spare Sunday afternoons and off evenings throughout all the college years. Yet most students are prone to procrastinate on such matters unless impelled by objective and sympathetic advice such as the Placement Office can give them. In a general way the Office can guide the student in an analysis of his interests and his qualifications. More specifically it can refer him to sources of information which will give him a more definite knowledge of the facts of various occupations and jobs.

There is also opportunity to help the early registrant--and only the early registrant--in adjusting his college career so that he will better qualify for a position on graduation. This means impressing him with the importance of maintaining a satisfactory record and of the desirability of participating in extra-curricular activities. Early and long acquaintance with the Placement Office results in a personal contact without which it cannot render its maximum service to each individual.