LACs with notably strong career services? How to tell?

Hi everyone,

My S25 is in the process of cutting down his application list, which is mainly LACs. One thing he’s realized he really wants is an excellent career center, one that actively facilitates internships/networking/first jobs. As we’ve visited campuses, we’ve found that at some schools (Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, Connecticut College), the tour guides had had lots of career center experiences even as sophomores/juniors, had gotten advice on laying out a career path, finding internships, etc. These students felt that they were getting help with how to turn their poli sci/American studies major into an actual career. At other schools (Bard, Clark), the tour guides knew almost nothing about the career center or had only very general insights (“they have this platform called Handshake.”)

I realize that a single tour guide is not a representative sample, but I’m not sure how to get better information (most of the college career centers have websites that look fine, to my eyes). Thirty years ago, I went to a highly-ranked LAC with a very mediocre career center—most of my class went straight to graduate school, took jobs with the 3-4 consulting firms who came to campus, did Teach for America, or nannied for a couple of years before returning to school. There was very little help with crafting a meaningful career with a liberal arts degree. I know a career won’t just be handed to him & he’ll have to do the work himself, but I’d also like him to have better advising than I got.

He will probably be a social sciences major of some kind but doesn’t yet know what kind of career he wants. Any insight into career services for any of the following schools?

Wheaton (MA)
Clark
Bard
Muhlenberg
Dickinson
Kalamazoo
Wooster
Oberlin
Vassar
Wesleyan
Haverford
UVM (I know, not an LAC)

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Try googling their career centers, then search for post-graduation career outcomes. It should look something like this:

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These data won’t necessarily speak to the strength of the career center though.

My D attended a school in OP’s list that presumably has a good career center, but alas that was not her experience.

The alum network is great and she does have a good job so no complaints about that…but she made that opportunity happen on her own.

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I think it’s hard to tell, career outcomes can tell you some things but you never know who got jobs from family members or their existing network.

I think you can definitely go visit the career center and ask about what they offer. If the alumni network is good then all you really need is a way to connect with them. I wrote letters to like 10 different alumni from my LAC and most of them contacted me in some way.

Follow their career center on instagram. At least the WIliams one is following tons of students during their internships. Also agree with looking at outcomes and resources on their websites.

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I don’t know how to define “notably”, but here are some current Best Practices in Career Development/Services. Not every college will have every thing… but if they have none of these things, to me it’s a sign your son will need to do more digging.

1- Career specialists covering off different areas. So the person who advises on fellowships (Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, etc.) isn’t also the only med school/health career advisor who also covers Comp Sci and Education. Having someone with deep knowledge and contacts is really helpful.

2- Active faculty involvement. So if there is a “Summer in DC” program for kids interested in government, the person who runs it might be an administrative type… but there should also be listed one or more faculty members who are heavily engaged in making sure the students get meaningful jobs and internships. A professor who regularly testifies before Congress (on various issues- sustainability/energy, minimum wage, health policy, urban development, food insecurity, whatever his or her area of expertise is) will likely know a LOT of people. And it’s a good sign that these professors are actively involved in the internship program.

3-Transparency around job fairs, “resume drops”, the dog and pony shows that companies put on when they come to campus. These are greatly reduced since Covid, and are significantly less important than they used to be- but if the answer is “only Econ students get to attend the banking presentations” or "you have to be a junior majoring in statistics to apply for an internship in market research-- to me, that’s a red flag.

4- Something more robust than Handshake and Linkedin. Many people who tout “every job and internship is on Handshake these days” don’t understand that when you post on Handshake- you get to specify which schools you want included. And going through Linkedin day after day to try and find alumni who work in jobs you think are cool- only to reach out to them and never get a response- that’s pretty much a waste of time.

A solid Career operation will maintain an active and engaged alumni community who opt in to the “do you want to help our students and alums?” The help can be as modest as editing resumes or as aggressive as “It’s been great talking to you. Can I pass your resume on to someone on our recruiting team?” If the Career operation’s attitude is “here’s a password to access the alumni directory” that’s a red flag. Not every alum wants to be helpful. And some don’t bother to keep their contact information current because they don’t want outreach from the development office!

5- A “professional” operation which is sort of the “I know it when I see it”. Their people are getting paid for a 12 month a year job. Getting an “I’m out of the office” email on the day before July 4th is not a problem. Getting NO response for two months because “it’s summertime” is not professional. Some organizations are putting together their fall recruiting calendar now… imagine reaching out to a college to finalize a date in early October for an interview/presentation (it’s long lead times when there’s travel and various employees to coordinate) and not hearing back for months? So some degree of professionalism. The person on parental leave has someone else covering their area. etc.

This is a start. Feel free to ask specific questions!

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No particular knowledge of the specific schools the OP listed, but I can describe what we saw at my kid’s LAC –

robust programming starting with 1st years and which evolves as students mature and get more focused;
specialized counselors across a range of interests, including different types of post-grad work, grad school, professional schools;
resume and cover letter prep, mock interviews and other job application prep, with sufficient availability to be useful;
lively alumni interaction, with events on campus/virtually;
access to various certification programs, such as Bloomberg etc.

My kid took advantage of those plus the usual help with internship and job apps, help with networking etc.

Edited to add: in terms of programming, my kid’s Career Development Center programs went from 1st year career exploration, to a career “boot camp” to brainstorm skills, interests and how to communicate those in resume, cover letter and interviews, and on to specialized junior and senior programming. I also liked that Career Development went to where the students were – in the dorms, the athletic center etc. rather than waiting for kids to come to Career Development (even though it was in a central building).

At another school, I was impressed that academic support and career development were “housed” next to each other so that there could be cross-pollination, students going to one could easily stop by the other.

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Another factor is does the student take advantage of any/all programs the LAC has in place.

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Agree with @happy1

I think a lot of people look to LACs because they think the structure of the school will be more ‘hands on’ with students. I’m not sure that is a accurate picture per se. It really does come down to how much the student puts in - at every level.

All three of my kids went/are going to LACs. We love LACs in our house and my two older children love their schools (S24 starts this fall).

D20 and D23 have had a lot of support and assistance at their schools; tutoring, mentoring, career services, etc. They have also been very proactive throughout their time at school.

Both have watched as friends and acquaintances have had less positive experiences at their schools, sometimes with the same person in a department.

If you spoke with D20 - you’d think her career services department was extraordinary. If you spoke with her first year roommate, you’d think it was dismal.

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My kid didn’t end up enrolling, but my husband (who went on the visit) was incredibly impressed with Muhlenberg. Each student is assigned a career advisor in their first year, with the idea that they maintain that relationship all four years. It seemed like a very active program, as opposed to what I remember of career services from my undergrad days (where it was there for students to seek out).

My Oberlin-bound kid has a meeting with their summer advisor next week. I think this is part of the career center? That person they’re meeting with is not the same as their academic/first year advisor.

This Town & Country article on colleges that offer strong alummi networks includes LACs such as Bucknell, Claremont McKenna, Hamilton and Richmond:

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When you look at outcomes, remember not all fields are the same. One school may be great at placing jobs in finance or government but not so good in some STEM related areas. A good question to ask career services is the list of companies that come on campus to recruit in the field(s) your kid is interested.

For D, her friends in finance had a lot of on campus recruiting events/opportunities. For her STEM field, she had little to no help from career services or on-campus recruiting events. She worked LinkedIn, her profs and alumni she could find through LinkedIn.

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Thank you all—this gives me a much clearer sense of what to look for/questions to ask. Appreciate this community!

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This may be somewhat simplistic, but I suggest you/your student take a very careful look at the websites for these schools and see what they are offering and promising in this respect. Career/internship support seems to be one of those things, like study abroad, that almost all schools talk about on tours, etc., but what they actually deliver varies. If you can arm yourselves with knowledge about what they say about themselves, you’ll be able to ask specific questions and get a better sense of the actual situation. Also, although it sounds as though you are looking to cut back the list rather than add schools, I feel I would be remiss not to suggest that you take a look at Denison if you are already thinking about schools like Wooster, Oberlin, Dickinson, etc., as this is an area where Denison really shines.

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