Choosing a College

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Clarissa

June 23, 2015

By the way, a great measure of whether a school (or a department) is worth attending is what happens after graduation. If professors just forget about their students’ existence two minutes after the graduation ceremony, make no effort to place them in jobs, don’t forward information on employment opportunities, don’t speak to local employers about the graduates, etc. – that’s not a good school.

Our graduation ceremony took place in early May, and since then, I’ve been doing a lot of this kind of work. Everybody should try to locate a recent graduate of their department (this is super easy to do through LinkedIn) before choosing a college to attend and ask how often the school has been in touch for anything other than requests for money.

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4 responses to “Choosing a College”

Z

June 23, 2015

I have actually had a couple of department chairs advise me that this is not a good use of my time. Our responsibility ends at graduation, I was told, because the point is to drive graduation statistics, up, period. But good schools also run placement statistics, and I would even argue for placement statistics regardless of formal graduation status. Not that I think the U is there for mere job training, but it is very interesting to see what people do after and-or as a result of school.

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1. Shakti
  
  June 23, 2015
  
  That’s a really asinine argument that your department chairs make even from a business point of view. Happy students who graduate and get good jobs with the help of their professors stay involved with the school. Involved students are more likely to be alums who donate earlier and in larger amounts and who boost the school more powerfully than any slick video out of the development office. I mean, why the fuck should anyone pay for room and board and a university name anywhere when there’s no difference between a class with a professor and a class with Robo-Pearson-Scantron after you’ve absorbed the knowledge in your head? And besides, doesn’t everyone keep arguing that professors have no clue about anything outside of the ivory tower? How can they argue that if professors actually do help with placement stats?
  
  Based on this post’s question, I cannot recommend my alma mater as a source of connections or as having a good career department.
  
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  1. Clarissa
    
    June 23, 2015
    
    People who don’t care about a student after graduation probably didn’t care before. I get attached to students, I want them to do well. It’s so wonderful to have them come back and tell us how they are doing.
    
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2. Clarissa
  
  June 23, 2015
  
  The only reason I’m doing this is because I really like my students and want to help. I’m not a machine, and the administrators who want to treat me like one should just get stuffed.
  
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