ST. PETER, Minn. — In the simple chapel of Gustavus Adolphus College, Rebecca Carlson ponders the future as she and 600 classmates prepare to descend from the hilltop campus and enter the job market. Or not.

Her first thoughts are spiritual after spending four years at the little Lutheran college: “What are my deepest passions and how does that meet the world’s great need? Who is God calling me to be?”

But like graduates at colleges across the nation, her mind quickly turns to the secular challenge of stepping off campus and into the worst economy in decades.

“It’s frustrating, because I had thought about AmeriCorps years ago, before the economy tanked and everyone went flocking there,” Carlson said. “Hopefully, they’ll still have room for me.”

In two weeks, the largest graduating class in Gustavus history will receive their diplomas. Nationwide, the most graduates in a decade are about to compete for a supply of jobs that is far short of the demand.

Just 19.7 percent of 2009 grads who applied for a job have one so far, down from 51 percent at the same point in 2007, according to a new survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

Those employers say they plan to hire 22 percent fewer graduates than last year. Another survey by the group shows the average starting salary dropped 2.2 percent from the same time last year.

Students cite their own numbers: “Out of my seven roommates, one has a job lined up,” said financial economics major Ben Musgjerd. “Four years of school doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get a good-paying job anymore,” said theater major Ella Bonner. “I have 14-and-a-half days to find a job. Or an internship. Or anything, really,” communications studies major Andy Leer said.

Their unease — and occasional optimism — echoes across campus, in majors from management to music.

“What can I do with a major in ... ?” reads the sign in the college’s career center, above handouts color-coded lavender, bright green and magenta for different majors.

Leer sits in Cynthia Favre’s office, leaning in as the center’s associate director shows him job-search databases. He leaves with a rainbow of fliers.

A communications studies major, Leer is nervous. After interviews for several marketing and sales jobs, he doesn’t have a single offer. “As it comes closer, my focus is widening,” he said. “I’ll take anything that will have me right now.”

Favre says Leer is typical of students struggling toward that first post-college job. She surveys seniors each year, the day before graduation. Generally, a third have jobs, a third plan on summer work and a third “have no clue.”

She’s guessing that the proportions may not change this year, but that those who say they have jobs may include more in situations that still insulate them from the permanent job market — teaching English abroad, joining Teach for America or going to graduate school. Nationwide, applications to all three are up.

A decade ago, a tornado ripped through campus, toppling the chapel’s steeple and blowing out its stained-glass windows.

The oldest and best-known building — the formidable Old Main — survived. Now it houses religious studies, political science, classics and a black-and-white dog named Tilda.

In the classics department, beneath a mural of the Parthenon, fledgling job hunter Ahna Gilbertson practices a sermon she will deliver the next day. “I have a confession,” it begins. “I secretly love High School Musical.”

After four years at Gustavus getting her classics degree, she’s engaged in a job search she dubs “career potluck.”

Although “finishing a Greek translation just feels so good,” Gilbertson is ready to leave academia. “I want to serve the community and be in the community,” Gilbertson said. She has applied for a one-year stint in AmeriCorps VISTA working with the elderly in Foley, Minn.

Her choice is not about the economy, Gilbertson said. She simply found her calling.

In a computer lab tucked into Olin Hall, Tom Wick helps students install programs.

He’s not fretting about the future as he finishes his work-study job. Unlike most of his friends, he has accepted a job.

Not too long ago, a graduate like Wick with a computer science degree might have left school with multiple job offers. But after he searched and interviewed in the Twin Cities, it was Wick’s mom back in Buffalo, Minn., who found a job listed in the local newspaper: software developer for Rural Computer Consultants in Bird Island, Minn.

He’ll get paid a little less than he might have in Minneapolis, but feels “extremely fortunate to find the kind of job I was looking for, in the field I’m in, close to home.”

His friend Jake Holsten, who also works in the lab, hasn’t been as lucky. So this fall he’ll take an extra semester, adding a management major to his psychology degree.

“It’s so horrible to go out in the work world right now,” Holsten said. “Might as well get more experience.”

The Lund Center whirs and clanks as students run, bike and lift weights in mid-afternoon workouts. Katie McGowan greets them and helps them check out basketballs.

She’s days away from graduating, without a plan. It’s not for lack of trying.

McGowan began looking months ago. The company where she interned in January planned to offer her a marketing position, she said, but then had a hiring freeze. They recommended another company, but it also suddenly froze hiring. The previous day, she had driven to yet another interview and was hopeful, but “super nervous.”

Four of her five roommates are in the same boat, she said. Even a year ago, before the recession deepened, roughly half of the nation’s college graduates were moving back in with mom and dad, according to a survey by Monster.com.