SLAC and job prospects after graduation
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Anonymous
| DS will be a senior this year and we are giving SLAC's a hard look. I would love for him to go to a small school where he will get individualized attention. Does this actually translate into getting a job after graduation? Would it be more helpful to a have say a BS in Biology or Business from a bigger state school or BA in Biology or Business from a SLAC? It seems to me that getting a degree from a SLAC will be seen as a stepping stone to graduate school, not an actual job. I'm not familiar with SLAC's so I'm throwing it out there to East Coasters that know more about this than I do. |
Anonymous
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Not someone who attended to a SLAC, but does have family members who are recent grads. From what I've seen, what will help your DS the most as far as job prospects after graduation are the internships that he did in college. I would do must best to investigate (if possible) the kind of Co-op programs the schools have.
For the Bio degree, if he doesn't want to be an entry level lab tech then he's looking at additional schooling anyway, most likely either going all the way to the PhD level or into some kind of healthcare track. |
Anonymous
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A BA from anywhere is probably not going to be enough to get a good job in these fields. The atmosphere and form of education is very different at a SLAC from a big state school. Your DS should go where he will learn best and thats going to be particular to him.
Now if you're asking about cost, thats another thing. |
Anonymous
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Most SLACs don't offer undergraduate business degrees - due to the LA part of SLAC. My view is that job prospects are more dependent on major than school. A computer science or engineering major probably has better immediate job prospects than an English major regardless of school. Of course fewer SLACs are going to offer engineering, computer science or business as majors, or have the depth that a larger school has in those particular field.
I went to a SLAC and was pretty unemployable upon graduation. However I was quite employable after grad school. So you do need to take a longer term view. |
Anonymous
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If premed or going to be directed towards scientific research, SLAC is fine or better, given the attention one gets, and summers etc are times to get internships at hospitals, research universities, NIH etc. Will have to go to medical school or grad school regardless, other than working as a entry level lab tech, no matter where you went to school.
Engineering/computer science not as likely to be getting the opportunities and possibly the optimal education at a SLAC (I have one kid at a top SLAC and one at a top Ivy, so based on some knowledge of their coursework, opportunities and experiences). Business is a pretty bogus undergrad degree anywhere, and in our experience a top SLAC has lots of networking with alumni etc that result in jobs in finance, consulting, if that is what is desired. |
Anonymous
People with an undergraduate business degrees in accounting, information systems, finance, and marketing from state universities can land excellent jobs right out of college, and then continue on to get a graduate degree later. Most businesses would rather hire someone with an undergraduate degree and work experience vs. someone with a masters and no work experience. The major accounting and consulting firms hire tons of new graduates every year, most of them from state universities where they know they have received a good foundation in business practices. I do not think a business degree from a SLAC provides anywhere near the education that one from a better non-SLAC does. |
Anonymous
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There is no "one size fits all" answer to your question OP. Regardless of school, there is no guarantee or even likelihood of employment in many fields after undergrad.
An earlier poster is correct that someone majoring in IT or engineering is more likely to get ajob with a BA. But that is not a given. My DD got a great job on Wall Street from a BA in English from an Ivy. Her BF who went to same Ivy with a BA in Mechanical Engineering didn't have a job right away. The difference? She applied to scores of places and he didn't apply at all. To properly answer your question, you can look at career pages for any of the schols you're considering. Most will at least have % of employment for majors in various fields. |
Anonymous
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it depends on the SLAC.
The key is you have to network your ass off and get internships. My younger siblings went to SLACS and I went to a state school and slacs opened up doors into elite finance and consulting way more. Regarding Biology, unless your son wants to be a labtech or teacher, you need more schooling no matter what (unless he's doing bio for the sake of pre-med). Regarding business, most 'business oriented' students at SLACS major in econ or some form of ppe. They network through alumni networks and whatnot to gain internships into finance or consulting firms. |
Anonymous
yeah tell that to wharton undergrads. 
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Anonymous
| My brother got a great job with a computer and information science major from a SLAC. My other got a great job with a chemistry degree from a SLAC. I didn't have many prospects with an English degree and went to law school to pay for my sins. |
Anonymous
| Depends on the field, the LAC, and the student. Businesses recruit grads from strong LACs in all sorts of majors -- Wall street is full of grads from some LACs who majored in history, english, philosophy, you name it. But like anything else, there are many LACs and you can't expect the same employment results from one in the middle of the pack that you'd see at Amhearst. Also, other threads point out that some LACs are far less job/placement oriented than others. All seem to offer good foundations for grad schools, but sounds like more variation in job placement emphasis. |
Anonymous
Wharton is an MBA grad school at Univ of Penn. Not an undergrad. |
Anonymous
Not true actually. http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/undergrad/ |
Anonymous
Not only does Wharton have an undergraduate degree, but the presence of the Wharton undergraduate degree looms large in UPenn as a whole. Its their crown jewell and has affected the undergraduate culture for better or worse (I think worse). |
Anonymous
For accounting now it's required to have 150 credit hours to be eligible to sit for the CPA exam. Usually candidates satisfy this requirement with a one year MS in accounting in addition to the undergraduate degree. So OP's DS is still looking at some grad school if he goes down this path. |