#212 How to Choose a College That Delivers Career ROI, with Jeff Selingo

Flourish Coaching

Feb 3, 2026

In this episode, Lisa and Jeff discuss:

Why college prestige alone no longer guarantees strong early career outcomes — and what matters more instead
How internships, micro-credentials, and co-ops now function as proof of employability
How parental decision-making and assumptions about higher ed are shifting post-2008
Where higher education still falls short in delivering hands-on learning and the durable skills students need

Key Takeaways:

Since the 2008–2009 recession, UCLA data shows the primary reason for attending college flipped from “learning” to “getting a job,” shifting students toward business/STEM and prompting colleges like Denison and Wake Forest to invest in career centers and experiential learning. Families benefit from a career-first college planning approach.
Research with Burning Glass Institute shows skills + internships sharply reduce underemployment across every major, making internships the strongest hedge against post-grad drift. Students who wait will be at a disadvantage.
Co-op campuses (Cincinnati, Drexel, Northeastern, RIT) embed mandatory work experience, but students still need agency to secure roles, and early credentials can accelerate access to internships.
As AI reshapes the workforce, liberal arts colleges must intentionally layer durable skills and hands-on learning, with programs like Denison Edge illustrating how institutions can bridge academic learning with employer skill demands.

“[Liberal arts colleges] need to lean into the durable skills that will last a lot longer than the degree.” – Jeff Selingo

About Jeff Selingo:

Jeff Selingo has written about colleges and universities for more than 25 years and is a New York Times bestselling author of four books. His latest, Dream School: Finding the College That’s Right for You (September 2025), draws on more than two years of research and a survey of some 3,000 parents to give families permission to think more broadly about what signals a “good” college and then the tools to discover their dream school. He is also the author of Who Gets In & Why: A Year Inside College Admissions, named one of the New York Times’s 100 Notable Books of the Year in 2020.

A regular contributor to The Atlantic, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, Jeff is a special advisor to the president and professor of practice at Arizona State University. He writes the biweekly newsletter Next and co-hosts the podcast Future U. He lives near Washington, D.C., with his family.

Episode References:

Dream School, by Jeff Selingo: https://a.co/d/fiNRi1i

Get Lisa’s Free on-demand video: THE CAREER IDENTIFICATION COMPASS: How To Be Certain Your 15 To 25 Year Old is On The Right Path to Launch With Confidence–Not Confusion: flourishcoachingco.com/