Life After College

It's a well-known fact that very few of today's professionals will retire from the same career field in which they started. The leaders of tomorrow need to be adaptable, resourceful, and creative thinkers. They need to be articulate and persuasive when speaking and writing, be able to analyze data and synthesize information, and have honed their leadership capabilities. Employers and graduate schools actively seek CTCL graduates because they are able to anticipate and flex with change, think critically and clearly, communicate with accuracy and passion, and get things done.

While many families believe that an easily recognized name-brand school or large research university will guarantee success, the reality is that students from CTCL schools frequently outpace graduates of those institutions in the workplace and in graduate school. That's because CTCL schools provide a liberal arts and sciences education that gives students the skills and experiences they need to learn and keep learning in a rapidly changing world.

Small campuses like those found at CTCL schools bring tremendous opportunities for engagement and participation. It's harder to be anonymous at a small school, but easier to be challenged and recognized for your accomplishments. There are so many opportunities to meet interesting people, attend events, and get to know faculty members.

At small schools, students from varying backgrounds and with different life experiences interact regularly in classes, in residence halls, over meals, and in clubs, creating a more effectively diverse community than a large school can offer. Professors develop close relationships with their students (ones that endure long after graduation) and because of that are able to closely advise students about course work, internships, and future plans, as well as write personal, detailed recommendations for graduate schools and employers.

CTCL students leave college with confidence, experience, and a strong sense of vocation. They're ready to conquer the future because they've been challenged and have succeeded in meeting those challenges. The experience provides students with the poise and perspective that have become a hallmark of the education offered at these colleges that change lives.

Please read on for some examples of the paths CTCL students have followed after graduation.

• Austin College is one of the top three producers of Fulbright awardees in the State of Texas. In 2011, six students received Fulbright grants. Students regularly are accepted into the highly competitive Teach For America program and have a record of success with other awards and programs.

• Approximately 40 percent of Austin College graduates attend graduate or professional school in the first year after graduation, with impressive acceptance rates to medical and law schools. Within five years, that rate rises to 63 percent. Several graduates continue study in Austin College’s own Austin Teacher Program, providing the Master of Arts in Teaching. Other recent students can be found completing an M.B.A. at Harvard University or at Vanderbilt University, pursuing a degree in economics, as just two examples. Students planning careers in ministry, law, engineering, and medical careers have very successful admission rates to professional schools like Tulane University, University of Texas Law School, Harvard University, UT Southwestern Medical School, Baylor Medical School, Princeton Divinity School, Columbia University, and Washington University in St. Louis.

• Beloit College has a distinguished reputation in preparing students for graduate study. Beloit ranks among the top 20 selective liberal arts colleges in proportion of graduates obtaining doctoral degrees. And, in anthropology alone, more students who earned anthropology Ph.D.s in the last 40 years graduated from Beloit College than any other 4-year liberal arts college according to data from the National Science Foundation.

• Each year, more than 50 percent of Birmingham-Southern College graduates go straight to graduate school, which is considerably higher than most public institutions. BSC annually ranks No. 1 in Alabama and among the nation’s best in graduates accepted to medical, dental, and health career programs, and the college also ranks high nationally in graduates accepted into law school. Others go straight into the workforce, often taking advantage of the network of alumni across the United States and in nearly 50 foreign countries and the job connections that often result.

• 98% of Centre students are either employed or engaged in advanced study within 10 months of graduation.

• Cornell College provides full-time staff to advise pre-med, pre-MBA, and pre-law students in conjunction with pre-professional advisory committees. Nearly two-thirds of Cornell graduates pursue post-secondary degrees at institutions such as Boston University, University of Chicago, Harvard, Washington University, and Yale.

• Notable Denison University alumni include former CEO of Walt Disney Company, Michael Eisner, actors Steve Carell, Jennifer Garner and U.S. Senator Richard Lugar.

• 100% of Earlham College students said they felt "at least as prepared" as their peers from other colleges after graduation.

• 27 Eckerd College students have been awarded Hollings Scholarships – more than any other college in the U.S. The scholarship recognizes the top 100 sophomores in the country who are preparing for careers in environmental, marine, oceanic and atmospheric sciences. Eckerd has produced 4 Fulbright Scholars in the past two years. Eckerd College has also been recognized for the high number of graduates who pursue advanced degrees.

• Overall, 94 percent of students who graduate and receive recommendations from Emory & Henry College’s rigorous pre-med program are not only accepted into medical school, but to their respective first choice, some of which include Emory, Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt, VCU (Medical College of Virginia) and the University of Virginia. Additionally, nearly 35 percent of E&H graduates go on to graduate work immediately, with 85 percent of those students from the pre-law program gaining access to their top law school selection. Recent selections include Duke, Emory, Georgetown, NYU, University of North Carolina, University of Virginia, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Washington and Lee, William & Mary and Yale.

• Guilford College alumni are thriving around the world. They are teaching English in China, playing professional basketball in Europe, serving with AmeriCorps, and attending excellent medical and law schools and other graduate programs in a variety of academic areas. Guilford internships frequently propel students into exciting career opportunities in corporate, governmental and non-profit settings.

• Hendrix College is one of only 40 institutions of higher education in the country that is eligible to nominate its graduating seniors for the Watson Fellowship, a $28,000 grant for one year of independent study and travel outside of the United States. Since 1985, 27 Hendrix students have been named Watson Fellows. Hendrix has also graduated 6 Rhodes Scholars, 16 Fulbright Scholars, 21 Goldwater Scholars, 2 Jack Kent Cooke Scholars, 2 Truman Scholars, 4 Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholars, an American Graduate Fellow, a Howard Hughes Fellow, and a Marshall Scholar.

• Hiram alumni include James A. Garfield, 20th president of the United States; poet Vachel Lindsay; Bill White, former president of the National League of Baseball; Emmy winner Dave Bell Sr.; CNN news anchor Jan Hopkins, and Lance Liotta, chief of pathology at the National Cancer Institute.

• Hope College graduates have been accepted to American University, Case Western, Columbia, Cornell, New York University, Northwestern, Notre Dame, and UCLA.

• 99% of Kalamazoo College students who apply to dental and veterinary schools are accepted; up to 95% applying to medical and law schools are accepted.

• Lawrence University students find themselves all over the map—geographically and experientially—when they graduate. About a third of them are attending graduate, medical and law school right after graduation at such places as Georgetown University, Mayo College of Medicine, Purdue University, University of Wisconsin, Yale University, and Boston College Law School. Another significant number of students start working right after they graduate in a mind-boggling array of professional fields at such places as Hiroshima Prefectural Government, The Clinton Foundation, Baltimore City Public Schools, Mediterranean Center for Arts & Sciences (Italy), Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Peace Corps, and Humana. Finally, within the conservatory of music, more than a third of our students pursue their bachelor’s of music in music education. Our music education majors who have chosen to teach music after college have traditionally enjoyed a 100 percent placement rate.

• 68% of Marlboro College students attend graduate school. Most frequently attended institutions include Antioch New England, Harvard, Columbia, The University of Vermont, and Yale.

• Do you know what you call the youngest person to argue a case before the Supreme Court, a person who has a best-selling book written about him, an endowed professor at Harvard University, a cutting edge biochemical researcher, a founder of a Fortune 500 corporation, a director of an international arts festival, an Emmy winner, or a Pulitzer Prize winner? At McDaniel, we call them alumni. From a recent survey, 42% of recent graduates are enrolled in graduate school and 42% of students are employed full-time. Of that 42%, 73% are in a job related to their McDaniel major, and 31% had obtained their job through networking at McDaniel.

• 80% of New College graduates eventually go on to graduate or professional school. New College has produced 65 Fulbright Scholars (35 in the last 5 years), 22 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellows, 13 Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship winners, 1 Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Scholar, 1 Rhodes Scholar, 1 Marshall Scholar, 1 Gates Cambridge Scholar

• Three Ohio Wesleyan University students were recently chosen as free agents in National Football League and Major League Baseball drafts.

• In addition to the second-highest number of Rhodes Scholars from a liberal arts college and 97 National Science Foundation Fellowship winners, Reed College also has two Pulitzer-Prize winning alumni: Edward Cony (1961) and Gary Snyder (1975).

• Southwestern University's outstanding career center helps more than 75% of the senior class find the right career or graduate school each year. Students begin thinking about their futures as early as freshman year, and can use the center to learn more about internships, study abroad, interview, and résumé skills, and using Southwestern's alumni network.

• St. John's College is listed in the top 30 colleges in the nation in the number of graduates who go on to receive Ph.D. degrees.

• 96% of St. Olaf College graduates report that they are happy in their careers.

• Ursinus College graduates were recently accepted to medical, law, and graduate programs including Columbia, Tufts, Boston University, Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, Rutgers, and Temple University.

• Wabash men dare to succeed in any field they choose to pursue. Many students enter the job market immediately upon graduation with approximately 75% of Wabash graduates entering graduate or professional school within 5 years of graduation. In 2011, Wabash grads took positions with Teach for America, Peerless Industries, Eli Lilly & Company, Apparatus, the U.S. Forest Service, Louis Vuitton, Merrill Lynch, and Valspar, among many others. Forty percent of the 2011 graduating class went directly into graduate, medical, or law school, with many of them pursuing Ph.D. studies. They attend graduate schools like Indiana University Medical School, Baylor School of Medicine, Notre Dame, Marquette, Ohio State, Columbia, and Florida State, and Wabash boasts a medical school acceptance rate of 80%+ and a law school acceptance of 95%.

• Wheaton College has 41 alumni serving as college, university, or seminary presidents. Over the past 25 years, one-third of Wheaton graduates in the natural sciences have completed doctorate degrees. In 2008, three Wheaton alumni were awarded Fulbright Scholarships to study and teach around the world.

• Whitman students are consistent winners in national competition for prestigious fellowships. In the past ten years Whitties have won one Rhodes, 49 Fulbrights, 12 Watsons and 4 Trumans. Famous alumni include former Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, Nobel laureate Walter Brattain, former General Electric CEO Ralph Cordiner, and current ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker.

• More than 4,333 Wooster graduates have gone on to earn a Ph.D, but Wooster's alumni achieve distinction and success in a wide variety of fields. Learn more here: http://bit.ly/aOgS0F