Ong: OCC program remains superfluous

We all know what the Outside the Classroom Curriculum is, and we all wonder whether it’s… We all know what the Outside the Classroom Curriculum is, and we all wonder whether it’s really worth the effort. And we all joke that our OCC transcript is only going to show employers how many football games we’ve attended. The University appears indifferent to these reservations, however, since it hasn’t fully addressed the issues underlying them.

The OCC program began in 2008, and since then it’s been marketed as so easy to participate in and so beneficial to your resumé that you’d be stupid to ignore it. After all, marketing suggests, your prospective employers won’t. Angels will sing, and your resumé will ascend on the wings of the OCC transcript above those of prospective hacks. But so far, no data has been provided to substantiate the curriculum’s benefits; program coordinator Scott Hoffman plans to release OCC graduate employment statistics by the end of the year.

Now, OCC’s requirements have been streamlined, and an OCC Honorary Society, which provides members exclusive audiences with employers, performers and dignitaries has been established, as we reported in previous weeks. The program even received a name-drop from health care company Medrad, Inc., in this week’s Pitt News Employment Guide.

But despite all the recent changes and upgrades, the University still appears to be gift-wrapping its own hot air. The overhaul does not address the real problem with OCC, because the problem is OCC itself — it’s a superfluous, redundant label for the activities we already do to build our resumés. It’s a curriculum for extracurriculars. The program’s 10 goal areas — leadership development, career preparation, communication skills, global and cultural awareness, sense of self, service to others, Pitt pride, wellness, appreciation of the arts and initiative and drive — focus on concerns most students already address during their undergraduate tenure. Accomplishments that make you an appealing hire should be on your regular resumé, and any one-off activities, like attending a conference or going to a football game, probably don’t matter to employers.

Speaking of one-off activities: Even though the University claims to have removed most of the extraneous credit opportunities, many of them are still there. In fact, the “Pitt pride” goal area is full of silly requirements. Not to say attending bonfires isn’t enjoyable — it’s just not worth putting on a resumé. As for the “sense of self” category, I can maybe, possibly see an employer appreciating a self-aware applicant, although I am never going to pay to use a service like Ancestry.com to get OCC credit.

With regards to the honorary society, however: Whoever came up with this … you got me on this one. You just had to go there, and I don’t blame you. Nothing creates value out of nothing like membership and privilege. I suppose if I want a private date with employers and dignitaries, I’m going to have to participate in the program — a small price to pay to be part of a select group. If most people participated in OCC, however, that group would not be so select. But that’s not the case, and those of us who don’t have our reasons for not doing so — reasons that include not having the time for a 20-hour leadership seminar or the money to pay for it (Emerging Leaders, for instance, costs $60). It doesn’t seem fair to deprive students of these benefits because they’re simply too busy.

But for those of us who can afford to complete OCC, why not do so? For this, I don’t have a good answer. Although I’m not sure if completing the program is worth anything, I am sure it wouldn’t hurt. It might be fundamentally flawed, but an extra line of text on your resumé is almost never detrimental. If the OCC ends up getting you a job, that’s great.

Despite all its flaws, I think the University had good intentions when it instated this curriculum. At the same time, I want Pitt to be responsible with our tuition money. I want it to put forth an honest and enthusiastic effort to educate and prepare every single one of us for the world. And that’s where I have a problem with the OCC. With the the marketing, the silly goal areas and the honorary society, the program now appears to be a thinly veiled effort to ensnare more prospects and gain a little more prestige.

I sincerely hope I’m wrong. I want a job when I eventually get out of school, and if OCC can do that for me, I might forget the fact that it’s seemed to be a redundancy for the past three years. If the program has not proven its employment benefits in the next two years, however, I want the University to show its commitment to the student body. Shelf the OCC, and use its shortcomings as lessons learned to make a more efficient Career Development Office.