<p>Suppose you have a student who gets accepted to a liberal arts school and an average state university. Suppose that the student is hopelessly introverted and shows little potential to improve and almost no desire to work on improving his personality type.</p>
<p>The liberal arts school is more prestigious than the state university, and the student chooses to go there precisely for that reason, even though he understands that at the state university not only the courses are more to his liking but a person with his personality type might also feel more comfortable.</p>
<p>I’m sure most of us will agree that the student is better off choosing the university that offers the program that’s more to his liking, the state university, but assuming that he chooses the prestigious school, will it hurt him in the future when he is out looking for a job and the people who are interviewing him realize that he doesn’t come across the way they had envisioned him when they read the name of his alma mater on his resume? Whereas, if he had gone to the state school, would there have been less of a surprise factor that would have played negatively during interviews?</p>
<p>It is possible, isn’t it, that the guy will end up in a position where he gets invited to interviews for jobs that aren’t a good fit for his personality type but gets invited to few or no interviews for jobs that he might actually like, since people assume that those jobs too technical and too boring for a person with a liberal arts background?</p>
<p>You are over-strategizing this. Interviewers at good companies are not likely to pigeon-hole schools in the way you are suggesting. So focus on finding the best school where you think you’ll fit and can get the kind of education you want. </p>
<p>You’ll find introverts and extroverts at all kinds of schools. At selective liberal arts colleges, it’s true that you’ll often find yourself in small classes where you are expected to contribute to discussion. This does not mean that every kid has to be a gregarious class comic or “talking head”. The kind of person who makes a few quiet, thoughtful remarks may get more respect than someone who dominates the conversation. </p>
<p>In science, technology, engineering, and financial analysis, solid technical skills are of course highly valued. Better yet is to have the technical skills, combined with ability to analyze and communicate about business and scientific problems from a broader perspective. Introverted v. extroverted has little if anything to do with it. In these fields, a thoughtful introverted person can be an excellent leader. Although a little sense of humor and ability to work cooperatively with others go a long way, you don’t need to be a big party animal to succeed.</p>
<p>Huh? I’ve never heard this logic, and I think it’s bass half ackwards.</p>
<p>I think that liberal arts colleges are ideal for an introverted student because they won’t get lost in the shuffle and are less likely to remain anonymous. At a LAC, the student will be forced out of his or her comfort zone and forced to interact. He or she is more likely to really develop his or her self-confidence and some people skills. One need not be comfortable to be functional.</p>
<p>"Huh? I’ve never heard this logic, and I think it’s bass half ackwards.</p>
<p>I think that liberal arts colleges are ideal for an introverted student because they won’t get lost in the shuffle and are less likely to remain anonymous. At a LAC, the student will be forced out of his or her comfort zone and forced to interact. He or she is more likely to really develop his or her self-confidence and some people skills. One need not be comfortable to be functional. "</p>
<p>You are talking about introverted students you might become gregarious if given the opportunity to spend 4 years in the right environment. My discussion concerns hopelessly introverted students. Students who will still be very introverted the moment they graduate from college.</p>
<p>Still, you are blowing this out of proportion. No reasonable employer will look at your school and already set some personal expectations of the person. Your employer isn’t looking for his new best friend, he’s looking for the best able person for the job. Why would he care so much whether you’re introverted or not and came from an LAC? There are both types of people everywhere.</p>
<p>No I’m talking about hopelessly introverted students who need to learn how to function around other people, as uncomfortable as it may be. At big state U, you can be anonymous and just take your classes. At a LAC, its much harder to do that. </p>
<p>At the end, the hopelessly introverted student may still be hopelessly introverted, but has to eat and thus will have to interact with other people to get a job and a livelihood. Being forced to learn those skills is a good thing, IMHO</p>
<p>In many technical fields such as Information Technology, progress is not made entirely by lone heroes. It is made by teams. Learning to collaborate with others on a team is not the same as being “gregarious”. </p>
<p>If you only spend 4 years sitting anonymously at the back of large lecture halls, or quietly turning in problem sets each week to a TA for grading, you won’t develop these skills. So I agree with CRD that a LAC is a better environment for an introvert to develop them. Accept that you are a “hopeless” introvert but give others a chance to accept that, too.</p>
<p>“shows little potential to improve and almost no desire to work on improving his personality type.”</p>
<p>“Improving” is a bit of a value laden statement. How about becoming more sociable? Changing? Growing? Some people can improve by becoming more introverted.</p>
<p>"“Improving” is a bit of a value laden statement. How about becoming more sociable? Changing? Growing? Some people can improve by becoming more introverted.</p>
<p>Lost me though on the logic. "</p>
<p>Your first guess is correct. In this context it means becoming more social.</p>
<p>I’ve read some of your previous posts and it seems like you want to learn how to improve the way that you interact with people. You are correct that there are social skills that can be learned. </p>
<p>These involve developing your “Emotional intelligence”. As a manager, I’ve had the privilege of taking some “Leadership” courses. They all involve learning how to identify different personality types - your own and other people, and then develop strategies to communicate, motivate and influence them in different situations. There is real intellectual content here worth learning. It doesn’t change who your are, it just provides you tools to evaluate people and in the context of that evaluation deal with them professionally, or socially. </p>
<p>When you have time to read, try</p>
<p>“Emotional Intelligence 2.0” - Travis Bradberry
“How to Win Friends and Influence People” - Dale Carnegie</p>
<p>Then maybe figure out if there are courses in your school that you can take that would help you develop these skills. </p>
<p>Introversion is a natural human characteristic, as is extroversion. Neither is necessarily wrong or right, but we’re all exposed to varying situations, some of which may favor someone who can BEHAVE in either an introverted or extroverted manner regardless of their natural style. The way in which you’re able to behave doesn’t have to be an absolute.</p>
<p>I tend to naturally be an introvert - a day full of interactions with others drains me (and as a college administrator, I deal with people all day long). My wife is a flaming extrovert. The more she interacts with others, the more energized she gets. Our elder daughter takes after my wife and our younger daughter takes after me. But we can all function capably in social situations. It comes naturally to my wife and D1; D2 and I have had to work at it. Similarly, I’m right-handed, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t use my left hand. I can even write with my left hand - I just don’t do it as well as I do right-handed, and it takes me longer. But with enough practice, I bet I’d get almost as good lefty as righty, though it may never feel completely natural.</p>
<p>I’d guess that an LAC would furnish more abundant and richer opportunities to practice and improve a behavior that doesn’t come naturally, including social interaction (I’m assuming here that the social challenges are not a product of a autism spectrum disorder). The familiarity, intimacy, and typically high-touch nature of an LAC would IMO be an asset.</p>
<p>BTW, my introverted second daughter - the one whose perfect day would be reading in her room? She was the outstanding high school actress in our region and our state’s Junior Miss. As a Junior Miss contestant, she swept all the categories, including interview, performing talent, and self-expression. Her alumni interviewer for college loved her and became her good buddy. And after all those “performances” - carrying out a behavior style that’s not her norm but one she was able to master with practice - she came back home, grabbed a book, and headed into her room to recharge.</p>
<p>@gadad I really liked your story about your daughter. I’m an introvert myself and consciously forcing myself to be in more social situations and do things I normally wouldn’t. Her story is very encouraging.</p>
<p>The concept of this thread is deeply confusing to me. So you’re saying that liberal arts colleges will have a reputation for more gregarious, outgoing kids, and state schools will have a reputation for more introverted kids? I’m guessing that I, like many employers, would not jump to the conclusion that a Reed alum would be more outgoing than a UCLA kid. My intuitive sense was actually more of the opposite (and this is unfair generalization, but I was thinking the bookworm kids would go to Reed, and a larger percentage of the ‘extrovert’ population would go to UCLA).</p>
<p>In both situations…yes, you could remain deeply introverted and anonymous and blend into the background, but it is not a benefit for either. I think it’s thinking way too far ahead (and overanalyzing it) to wonder whether your choice of college will determine what personality an employer will expect. At most, they will look for a certain caliber of intellect and dedication in what your alma mater is.</p>
<p>In any job you (the you here is generalized) will be forced to overcome introversion to some extent. It’s not an asset if you can’t make the extra effort to reach out to collaborate with others and interact with them. Even if an employer began an interview with the expectation a potential hire was very introverted, I don’t think that would make him or her any less disappointed when the potential hire is difficult to talk to and communicate with.</p>
<p>Not at all. What I meant to suggest is that at an LAC students meet and interact with the same people frequently, and walking into a room of people to practice interacting is likely to be easier when those people are familiar instead of strangers.</p>
<p>BTW, about half of Americans describe themselves as “shy.”</p>
<p>That sentence wasn’t specifically directed at you, but I do appreciate the clarification.</p>
<p>I’m not surprised at that statistic. I imagine a lot of people I generally think of as ‘confident’ have as many self-esteem issues and perpetual anxieties as the stereotypical “shy kid”—they’re just better at ignoring them.</p>
<p>four years later he will come out a polished, confident, well rounded, brilliant star Princeton graduate ready to take on the real world with an energy rarely seen in human beings and hundreds upon hundreds of classmate friends.</p>
<p>I’ll play devil’s advocate and argue that the socially inept student, contrary to what ClassicRockerDad suggested, is better off attending a state university, since state universities, unlike liberal arts colleges, tend to have a diverse student body. At a liberal arts college, if you don’t look or act like the majority of the student body, you stand out from the crowd, and if you have social problems and you want to improve your social skills the last thing you want is to stand out from the crowd. Developing social skills is much easier when you blend in with the crowd, not when you stand out from the crowd.</p>
<p>^^^ That’s a good point. Some LACs may be more dominated by one predominant social type while others may be more diverse and accustomed to embracing differences. Many of the LACs which are Southern and have a primarily Southern student body will be heavily Greek, preppy, and embrace a culture that emphasizes “country club” dress and mannerisms. I’d agree that for a student who’s insecure about his or her deviation from that mold, somewhere that more eagerly celebrates diversity (not just racial diversity) may be best. Macalester, for instance, has students from all over the world who are drawn there in part by their enthusiasm to experience cultural differences.</p>
<p>^ cultural differences may be celebrated at Macalester, but there is a thread entitled Mildly Disturbing Conversation in the Macalester forum, which seems to indicate the school culture’s lack of tolerance for differing political points of view means that political diversity is decidely not eagerly celebrated.</p>