SoFi Blog

Looking for a life partner who is compatible with both you and your career ambitions isn’t always easy. Of course, there are plenty of online dating questions to ask before meeting—like what a potential date does and whether they enjoy their work.

And you probably already know how to check someone’s career out online. What does their LinkedIn profile say about their career path? How do they interact professionally on Twitter, and what topics do they engage with?

If you’re really looking for career compatibility, here are a few other things to keep in mind.

You completed your courses. You walked across the stage in your cap and gown. You graduated! Now what? Leaving the comforts of college life behind for official adulthood is an uncertain time, and those last few months of school come with a long list of question marks: Where do I want to live? How much will it cost me to get there? What should my first job out of college be, and how do I find it? How much am I going to get paid?

When you add the stress of living expenses and the impending end of your student loan grace period, succeeding as an entry-level professional can seem like an insurmountable task. But as the saying goes, “Work smarter, not harder.” To help you make a smart post-grad start, we put together a list of considerations, to-dos, and tips, because landing the right first job after college is more important than you might think.

Between personality differences, competition for promotions, and day-to-day stressors, navigating relationships at work is hard enough. Add political discussions into the picture—especially in today’s highly charged climate—and it gets even trickier. Now take it one step further: What if it’s your boss who has different political views than you?

Clashing politically with your boss can seem uncomfortable, but it’s not as hard to navigate as you may think. You don’t have to completely avoid discussing politics at work, and you don’t have to let those views get in the way of a healthy, productive relationship.

If you’re a woman who would rather do almost anything than ask for a raise at work, know that you are far from alone. In a survey* of SoFi members, women responded that they are twice as likely than men to stay at their job indefinitely, rather than have an uncomfortable money conversation with their boss.

This is a big problem, since not negotiating can cost you dearly over the course of your career, both in terms of earning potential and self esteem.

As a negotiation and career coach, I’ve worked with many women—and men—who found asking for more to be an overwhelming task. Many women in particular have shared with me that they suspected they were underpaid but didn’t know how to confirm, and even if they did, how would they convey this to their manager?

Since we know this is a hot topic for our members, we’ve partnered with Mika Brzezinski, co-host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe and author of Know Your Value, for a fireside chat to ask her to share her best salary negotiation tips for women.

As a kid, there’s a strong chance you dreamed about becoming a doctor. In fact, according to Fatherly’s Imagination Report , becoming a doctor is the number one dream of young girls nationwide. It’s also the number one dream career for children living in the West and the mid-Atlantic, and second in the Great Lakes, Midwest, Southeast, and Southwest, according to Fatherly.

And apparently a lot of those kids actually followed through on their dreams, as more than 51,000 people applied to med school in the 2017 to 2018 school year. Of those applicants, more than 21,000 actually got in. (And if you’re wondering what it takes to be part of the 40% who got accepted, the Association of American Medical Colleges revealed that the average MCAT score for applicants was 501.8 in the 2016 to 2017 school year and 504.7 for 2017 to 2018. The average score for matriculating students was 508.7 in the 2016 to 2017 school year and 510.4 for 2017 to 2018. In other words, MCAT scores aren’t trending down.)

Upon graduation, these medical school students turned doctors can expect an average salary of $294,000 a year, and more if they follow through with a specialty such as becoming an orthopedic surgeon, a job which commands an average salary of $489,000 . Or if they choose to live and practice in a state that pays medical professionals particularly well, like North Dakota, they can expect to make an average of $361,000.