I was just reading a report in the Oregonian about the most important concerns to new college graduates.   Talk about a difference from the dot-com attitudes I graduated with.  Here’s their responses (according to the Oregonian)

51% of new college grads said they were going to jump right into the job market and not take time off

Order of importance when selecting a new job:
#3 = location
#2 = salary
and their #1 criteria when selecting a new job = the benefits package (quality of health care and 401k/retirement)

Another shocking statistic – around 30% of 18 year-olds in Oregon don’t even have a license and the trend of going later and later until getting one is growing (but that might be due to some newer/stricter licensing requirements).  I guess when you’re a teen – $4/gallon gas isn’t affordable.  Heck, at $0.99/gallon when I was a kid – it wasn’t cheap.  No wonder kids now a days aren’t driving.

That’s about exactly the opposite of what it would have been when I graduated in the height of dot-com craziness a few years back.   I would have put it at:
20% said they would start working – the rest were going to backpack Europe or travel to Tibet for enlightenment for a few years – or just smoke some hash.
Order of importance when selecting a job:
#1 – salary
#2 – salary/bonuses and stock options
#3 – living in the Bay Area/Silicon Valley/Somewhere cool (Pac. northwest)
#4 – salary – show me the money