She's narrowed the list of potential schools to six - Minnesota, Brown, Boston U, Stanford and Yale. She plans on majoring in pre-med or biochemistry.

After graduate school, she'll enter something in medicine. Immediately.

Junior Mady Olson sees the light at the end of the tunnel. Although she has standardized tests to take, applications to fill out and essays to write, her career plans after college graduation have been no small consideration in her college search.

University of Mary director of career and testing services Kevin Allan said rightly so.

"It's one of several factors like class size or cost," he said.

However, her expectations of the span of time between a degree and a job may match those of many high school students, but not Allan's experience.

"Statistically, three to six months is average," he said. "Not unless she was doing things way ahead of graduation or in a high-demand major. I had to do a survey of the 2006 University of Mary grads and by the time I had reached them all, it had been one year. Ninety-five percent are employed or going back to school."

Olson said she believes a degree from an Ivy League or more selective university adds to a resume.

"Honestly, a degree from Stanford or Yale would mean a lot more on a job application," she said.

Allan disagrees.

"The No. 1 factor is what type of skills are they teaching. It's not so much the name. It doesn't impact that much in this area, unless it's an alum that's a president of a company."

The overall outlook of the post-collegiate job market in North Dakota is in many ways different from the national one. North Dakotans have watched the outmigration of college graduates for years and proposed college tuition initiatives with mixed results. Allan acknowledges that University of Mary graduates face challenges finding work if they want to remain in Bismarck.

"The process tends to take longer if you're limiting yourself to staying in Bismarck," Allan said.

Olson said career-wise, there's more to highly selective schools and Ivy League schools than brand names.

"There are more research opportunities," she said. "There's broader cultural diversity. There's other things you could pursue."

Allan places less importance than Olson, not only in where students get their degree, but what they get it in.

"A major is a part of the puzzle," Allan said. "But so is having experience or skills like communication, writing and critical thinking."

In response to MonsterTRAK's 2007 Entry-Level Job Survey, 28 percent of more than 900 national employers said they would be hiring more recent college graduates than last year. 55 percent of more than 2,000 surveyed 2007 college graduates said they were confident about the job market. It's promising news, but it could all change by the time Century High School students leave college and enter the job market.

"There's always going to be an ebb and flow, a swing in the economy," Allan said. "Different majors can show strong demand. The job market undergoes revisions."

Allan encouraged high school students to take Olson's lead and take active steps now to make the transition from high school to college to a career an easier one.

"Start exploring careers now," Allan said. "Get involved."