Colgate Prepares Students for Post-College Life
Colgate University’s new Benton Hall, the home of its Career Services Center, is located on the main academic quad with its sweeping views of the Chenango Valley in upstate New York. Its features include a soaring 25-foot ceiling, striking granite floors, and wood paneling. According to Kerry Hannon of the New York Times,
it also features, “…the steady buzz of student activity within its walls.”
The $16.4 million, 17,000-square-foot Benton Hall, which opened last summer, heralds Colgate’s investment in advanced technology for student services. The Center is designed to help students prepare for life after college through assistance with fellowships, internships, graduate school admissions, and professional careers. Colgate augments these services by maintaining a strong network of alumni who assist many graduating students by offering entry-level professional positions.
Colgate University is a private institution, founded in 1819, that has an undergraduate enrollment of 2,873 students. The bucolic campus of 553 acres is set within the small town of Hamilton, NY. Colgate’s ranking in the 2019 edition of U.S. News & World Reports National Liberal Arts Colleges is a tie for #16 with Hamilton College, another elite liberal arts college in the nearby town of Clinton, NY.
There were 9,950 students who applied for admission to Colgate’s Class of 2023 and of these 2,210 (22%) were accepted. Admitted students had an average GPA of 3.82 and middle 50% SAT range of 1400-1510. Of those applicants admitted, 85% were in the top 10% of their class and 95% were in the top 20%.
Colgate’s academic departments and 56 undergraduate majors are organized in four divisions: humanities, natural sciences and mathematics, social sciences, and university studies. Arts programs include studies in theater, visual arts, media studies, and music. Colgate has more than 20 off-campus study programs led by its faculty. Colgate gives credit for selected programs offered by other institutions and students may register for any class for which they’re eligible at Hamilton College.
Approximately two-thirds of Colgate undergraduates study abroad. About 95% of freshmen go on to graduate. Most alumni proceed to graduate school in law, business administration, engineering, medicine, science, or the arts and then to professional careers in those fields.
In recent years, it has become apparent to administrators of elite institutions that parents expect more for their children than just an education, however superior that education may be. They’re also concerned about the outcome of their children’s education. In response, finding ways to get students to connect early with career support services has become a principal goal at top-tier institutions. They cultivate connections in a number of ways, such as conducting an initial discussion of careers during freshman orientation, increasing the number of mentorship opportunities, and raising donor funds specifically for student internships. There’s also been a rise in the availability of online access to proprietary job-search websites and apps.
Today’s focus on educational outcomes has resulted in a realignment of college organizations. Schools now take the approach that career development can’t be left to chance. Many schools have moved the career development function to Academic Affairs from Student Affairs due to the growing awareness that it’s an essential part of the educational process.
Even so, getting students to engage in career development isn’t an easy sell. Undergraduates tend to focus on their studies and personal lives rather than on securing a suitable postgraduate job. Career development staffers need to grab the attention of students so they may help them realize that they have access to free expert career assistance, an opportunity that they won’t have after graduation.
IvySelect, as a college admissions consulting firm specializing in the Ivy League and similarly elite institutions, guides students in setting a strategy and executing a campaign for admission to the colleges that will fulfill their educational goals. In addition to many elite universities, we have successfully assisted students in gaining admission to top-tier liberal arts colleges including Colgate, Hamilton, Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore, Wesleyan, Vassar, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Haverford, Wellesley, Barnard, and many more.
