“It’s Not What You Know, It’s Who You Know”, right?

In many ways, we share this nugget of conventional wisdom with students often in the form of encouraging them to network, network, network.  But, is it true?  A recent book, “Aspiring Adults Adrift”, raises questions.  The book is a follow up to a blockbuster study of students in college, “Academically Adrift”, and follows the fortunes of these students after graduation.  In a recent New York Times, the following quote caught my eye:

“Students who were interviewed in depth by Mr. Arum and Ms. Roksa put great stock in collegiate social experiences that often came at the expense of academic work, emphasizing the value of the personal relationships they built. But only 20 percent found their most recent job through personal contacts, and of those, less than half came from college friends. “

A key predictor of post-college success? Not your network, but the extent to which the student’s critical thinking improved during college.  And there are some important factors related to that improvement:

• Spending more time studying on your own
• Taking classes where professors had high expectations

But, relationships and networking are not unimportant.  Other research shows that strong personal relationships with both faculty and fellow students can be critical for graduation and retention. As described in this article from the Chronicle of Higher Education, the book “How College Works”, notes how these relationships play a role in helping students find their way through college.

In fact, some of these relationships can be critical for future success, too.  As the article linked above notes:

“The 2014 Gallup-Purdue Index found that having “a mentor who encouraged my hopes and dreams,” “professors who cared about me,” and “at least one professor who made me excited about learning” made students far more likely to be successful later in life.””

So, how to make sense of all this?  It looks to me like building strong peer social relationships helps students complete their degree and may get them some initial opportunities. A friend can help you get that first job opportunity–whether you succeed at that job, get promoted and achieve lasting success requires much more!

To get your money’s worth, and find deep and long-term success requires you to build your critical thinking skills, best achieved by taking challenging courses, making sure you take the time to study, and mentoring relationships with professors and others that go far beyond socialization.

As Dr. Barron said, don’t drive this blue and white sports car 20 MPH. To go places, you need to do more.  Are you seeking out challenging courses and putting time into studying for them? Are you building a relationship with professors and alumni mentors? These are the keys to that sports car.