Questions You Might Ask Before Choosing a Business Data Processing Course

The actual degree offered by universities in this area of study varies from school to school. You might graduate with a Bachelor of Professional Administration, a Bachelor of Administrative Science, or a Bachelor of Administrative Management. It's all nomenclature and semantics. Like Management Information Systems, this pursuit prepares the graduating student for a more general end-use application of the training, rather than just the manipulation of equipment and systems. Professionals with whom I've spoken urge that those considering entering this four-year field of study make sure that they will be trained in at least three computer languages, with advanced classes in two of them. Languages most often suggested are COBOL, RPGH, and BAL. Other courses that should be included are systems analysis, fundamentals of data base and telecommunications, business management, and as many accounting courses as fit comfortably in the schedule.

It's always amazing to me how people are willing to enter into jobs or universities without taking the time to analyze whether the company or the college is right for them. I suppose it has to do with the buyer-seller relationship; in both cases, the individual is being accepted by management or admissions people and does not feel worthy to make judgments of such institutions. In some cases, of course, money and geography will determine what colleges are reasonably available to the student, but if there is an opportunity to compare colleges, I urge you to do so.

Here are some questions you might ask before making a decision:



Ask the college administration what computers are available for hands-on use. Make your own tour to ascertain that the answer is accurate.

Try to determine to what degree the data processing department is keeping up with the state of the art. Look for an abundance of technical manuals and trade journals. Chat with the teaching staff, and formulate some questions to lead them into a discussion of what continuing involvement they have with the field.

The fact that a data processing department at a university is filled with exotic equipment doesn't necessarily mean that you'll have unlimited access to it. Determine what restrictions are placed upon student use.

Talk with one of the guidance counselors and make sure that the scheduling of courses will not make it unduly difficult for you to take all those that you feel are necessary.

The back of virtually every college admissions brochure contains a list of faculty and their credentials.

While a healthy smattering of advanced-degree teachers is good, you might also pay particular attention to any professional and business credentials faculty members possess. Computer science taught from a purely academic perspective often falls short in preparing a student for the practical realities of a data-processing career.

Randy Pace and Warner Coffman, data-processing specialists in our St. Louis franchise, add another reason to seek out a school in which at least a good number of the professors are connected with industry. Not only does it promise a more up-to-date approach to teaching data processing, but it puts you in touch with people who have connections with businesses in your area. Get to know these professors; they could become a good source of job leads upon graduation.

• Ask other students any questions that will enable you to judge the reliability of the answers you've received from faculty members and staff. I don't mean to imply that university officials would be deliberately dishonest with a potential student. It's just that a faculty's perception of a university's facilities and procedures is often different from that of its student body.
  
  
• Ask graduates of the school whether they thought that the training they received and their degree from that particular school were helpful to them in entering the data-processing industry and in helping them achieve career growth in it.

Ask especially about the placement office at the university. Does its staff really make an attempt to place students in industry, or is it more of a counseling service that results in few actual placements? But remember, finding a good job will, in all probability, be your responsibility.

Finally, even though their education was good enough to get them a job, did it give them sufficient knowledge to succeed in their first job?

• Ask local industry how many graduates of the university you're considering attending have been hired. Try to get some candid evaluation of how local industry leaders view the training of graduates from that university.
  

I don't mean to suggest that you should limit yourself to these questions. What I do hope to get across is a sense that the decision you make regarding a four-year college involves exactly that-four years out of your life, four years in which your future in your chosen career will be substantially determined. There are fields in which the simple possession of a degree almost insures at least some initial success in entering the field. Not so with data processing. The quality of your education, while perhaps not so crucial a factor in finding your first job, will play an increasingly important role as you progress in your career. I'm not referring to "college ties," although certain professions tend to select job candidates from certain schools. The Harvard Law School network is well known, as is the network of graduates of such engineering schools as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. For most of us, however, choosing a school because of a certain ring to its name does little to determine what kind of success we'll have in the future. That is much more dependent upon the individual's initiative and desire (as well as prudent career moves) than upon a degree from a prestigious university.

But those four years provide the educational foundation for everything you will do in the future, and to enter into such a prolonged course of study without doing your homework is, at best, not very smart.