Nearly 68 percent of Auburn students don't graduate within six years.
In these economic times, that could be troubling, said Rick Enkeboll, academic adviser.
Enkeboll suggested that to graduate on time and make the most of their college education, students should combine their studies with extracurricular activities.
"The big thing I'm liking right now is more involvement and engagement," Enkeboll said. "You're not here just to study, you're here to become a more complete person, and in order to do that, you'll get involved with stuff, you'll do better, you'll have better self-esteem, and you'll get out of here faster."
Katie Mantooth, career counselor, said involvement is important as well, but students should also think about the future.
"I think that through involvement, developing skills, identifying what your skills are, figuring out what your leadership style is--it's all those things that give you real examples that you can then articulate in a resume or in an interview down the line," Mantooth said.
She said most college majors are for education and skill acquirement, not necessarily to guide students to a particular career.
While majors like chemical engineering and accounting have a specific job associated with them, Mantooth said majors like English and communications lead to many different job fields. It depends on what the student has done to narrow such a broad major.
"It's important to spend some time reflecting on what you've done, in the classroom and out, so that you fully know: What are your strengths? What are your skills? What knowledge do you have that you actually possess to offer an employer?" Mantooth said.
Enkeboll said students should take advantage of every opportunity possible.
"Use the resources available," Enkeboll said. "Go to career fairs, go to all these interview fairs, have lots of options. Just because you have a degree in this doesn't mean you have to do that. You have to go out and look."
He said students should start attending these events and thinking about their careers freshman year, but that many students don't do either until later.
"The average college student changes their major four to five times," Enkeboll said. "A lot of them just don't have any idea what they want to do."
Sometimes indecision can cause students to get off track in their studies, Enkeboll said. But that doesn't mean that the student's degree is wasted.
"If you never finished, you can always come back because you might find, if you go out and work for a couple of years, and you might say, 'Well, I really want to do this, but I can't do this officially until I have that degree,'" Enkeboll said.
He suggested taking Success Strategies 1050 for underclassmen to stay on track, and left some words of wisdom for this year's graduating class.
"Open every door possible," he said. "Just don't settle for the first thing that comes along. Look, and dig, and don't expect anything to be handed to you."
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