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Make no mistake: University of Rhode Island students Christina Mastrangelo, Brittany Barney, and Nicole Graham are career-minded women.

A few of their courses, however, are perhaps a little . . . less than practical.

And there are some crucial things they'll need to know that they can't learn in school -- like how to choose a health plan, or how to file their taxes.

That's why they showed up Tuesday night at URI's University Club for a seminar entitled "Translating Day 1 at Work."

The two-hour crash-course, created by a company called Cap & Compass, included everything undergraduates might not pick up on a college campus: 401k funds, dinner etiquette, tax forms, and proper work attire.

"I definitely learned stuff they're not going to teach you in a class," Barney said later.

The minds behind Cap & Compass are Jesse and Nicole Vickey. According to their promotional literature, the husband-and-wife team graduated from Duke University, spent a few years in the corporate world, and then decided to form their own company to teach college students the things they wished they had learned themselves.

Together they wrote a book titled, in Gen-X punctuation, life after school. explained. They also developed a series of seminars to teach soon-to-be graduates how to navigate the working world.

On Tuesday, the students who gathered at the University Club included freshmen like Barney who were already planning for the future, as well as much older students who'd already spent some time in the real world and were preparing for Round Two.

Andy Ferguson, the 26-year-old stand-up comedian the Vickeys hired to teach their seminars, first lead the group through the rules of a business dinner.

The major point: Follow the boss's lead, and don't try too hard to impress. But he also touched on the proper use of dinnerware.

Jeff Tagen, 24, said he doubted he could benefit from the etiquette portion of the evening. Tagen had already worked professionally at an information-technology company, but lost his job to downsizing. He took shelter in an undergraduate education, he said, but hopes to re-emerge into the IT world soon.

"I don't think I'll ever be in an actual situation where it'll matter that I can signal I'm done by putting the knife and fork in the 'four o'clock' position," he said. "But it's good to know."

The students enjoyed a buffet-style dinner before moving on to the second section: the first day of work. Here, the Vickey's advice was simple: overdress. For men, they suggest a good wool suit, gray or blue; for women, suits that come on a single hanger, so that everything matches. The point of office attire, they write in life after school. explained. is not to stand out, but to blend in.

Using PowerPoint, Ferguson showed the students the different types of health plans they might have to choose from, how they operate, and which one you'd want to belong to if you happened to be afflicted with polydactylism and have to get rid of that extra finger.

He recommended a Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plan, more expensive than an HMO, but also more flexible, allowing its members to see any doctor or specialist without a referral.

Ferguson moved on to cover the finer points of 401ks, explaining what they are, and why they're good for you. (They allow your money to grow tax-free -- so if you start investing in your 401k early you'll end up with more than if you invest later).

The evening's handiest tip, most of the students agreed, was for filling out W4 tax forms.

The form asks the newly employed whether they'd like to overpay or underpay taxes taken out of each paycheck, or whether they'd like to pay an accurate amount. You make your choice by marking 2, zero, or 1.

Most people, Ferguson explained, choose a 'zero' to overpay their taxes, looking forward to the pleasant surprise of a government refund. This, he said, is a mistake. It allows the government to earn interest on the extra taxes, without repaying the interest.

Of the subjects covered in the seminar, said biology/psychology major Nicole Graham, that was the most useful. She'd never realized, she said, "How much you can save by not putting a 'zero' on your tax form."

Christina Mastrangelo, too, said she found Cap & Compass's course worthwhile.

"It gave me a head's-up on what I should be thinking about" for the future, she said.

At least, the students agreed, it's more useful than a course on bowling.

 
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