Bethany College – April’s President’s Letter
Friends:
Sandwiched between family vacations and student work schedules this summer will be the inevitable road trips to visit institutions of higher learning for families whose sons and daughters are approaching college age.
Summer can be a good time to visit a campus. Faculty and students who are around typically have more time to spend chatting with prospective students and answering their questions. On the downside though, students may not get a realistic view of what the campus is like when school is in session, and some institutions may compensate for deferred maintenance of buildings and classrooms by investing in more affordable landscaping. It’s definitely a good idea to return in fall, when students can actually attend classes and stay overnight in student residences: the best source of current and realistic guidance about a college comes from current students and young alumni.
As I talk with families who are considering our campus for their sons or daughters, one refrain that I frequently hear is the concern about the value of a college degree. Many of our students will be the first in their families to graduate from college, and for almost all, higher education will represent a major investment. Parents and students themselves ask about prospective majors and employment opportunities. “Will I be able to make a living as a ________ after graduation?”
Neither I nor any other college official can truthfully answer “yes” to such a question because in a volatile global marketplace, today’s “hot” careers can quickly cool. Who, for example, could have predicted the urgent need for college graduates knowledgeable about terrorism and Middle Eastern affairs before 9/11? We do know, however, that over a lifetime, a college education on average translates to more than a million dollars in earnings over the average salaries of high school graduates.
Further, while we cannot begin to assess an individual student’s opportunities for career success, we can provide feedback from employers of our graduates, who continue to seek young men and women who can communicate successfully, who possess strong analytical skills and who can exert leadership when needed. While American employers tell us that they need graduates who can read, write and speak well, with strong computer literacy and basic math skills, they are not as much interested in technical skills as in some of the “soft” skills that liberal arts colleges are so successful at inculcating.
It’s no surprise that small institutions produce a disproportionate number of national leaders, because at colleges of national distinction such as Bethany, students have a greater opportunity to become actively involved in student life and to develop the self-confidence that translates into later career success. Again and again, when I talk with alumni and their families, they tell me that the most important skill they gained at liberal arts colleges was the knowledge that they could rise to new challenges and to succeed.
While liberal arts education has never really gone out of style, too often, we as educators have not properly translated its benefits to students and families. There are many persistent myths that we have let stand; one of these is the false impression that a liberal arts education and career preparation are mutually exclusive. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Students also tend to graduate on time from smaller colleges and universities in higher percentages than from larger institutions, based primarily on higher levels of support from faculty and their fellow students and upon a greater sense of community. Transfers from larger colleges say that they learned and grew from the opportunity to talk with their professors outside of class, to know them on a first-name basis.
When it comes to college selection, there’s no such thing as a “one size fits all” choice. In my own family, my elder daughter has thrived as a student-athlete at a small liberal arts college and is now pursuing a doctor of pharmacy at another small school, while her younger sister will graduate from a large public institution next spring. Both changed their minds many times during the college selection process, and no doubt, your son or daughter will, too.
In the end, the student’s “gut feel” is often the deciding factor. Armed with factual information, national statistics and first-hand involvement with current students and alumni, your student and family will be better able to make an informed decision. Happy trails to you!
Cordially,
Scott D. Miller, Ph.D.
President of the College
Tags: Bethany, college, liberal arts
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.