I regularly see posts speculating on the value of a liberal arts education in today’s world. I thought it might be useful to offer a parent’s perspective of an LAC, (which could be Bates or somewhere comparable.) This summary reflects my child’s experience at Bates as it relates to developing skills needed for life after college.
Undergrad prep:
-Popular major, high GPA.
-Commitment to community service for course requirement.
-Tutoring positions. Had to take qualifying Short Term course.
-Peer writing advisor for professor.
-Test grader for prof.
-TA for prof.
-Offered summer research position with Bates prof.
-Awarded grant for summer research position she found at another university.
-Explored jobs at Bates Career Center early in Senior year; offered Money in Bank Position (MBP) that fall.
-Multiple interviews at prestigious Pay Peanuts Place (3P) for several jobs related to long term goals, but no luck. (She contacted Bates alumnus at 3P to get insight. Other Bates alumni frequently alerted department to available positions at 3P.)
-Also had a summer internship and casual jobs during her college years.
If there’s a running theme, it’s that she cultivated good relationships with her professors and reached out to alumni. She got great recommendations and advice. She pursued opportunities and worked hard.
Post grad is obviously recent:
-Realizes MBP not related to long term goals, so she continues looking. (Fellow new hires at MBP from HYPS-type schools.)
-Covid halted progress on potential leads. MBP due to start in fall.
-Through a non-Bates contact, lands a resume-building summer job; option to continue in 2021. (Informs them at outset that it will only be for summer.)
-Bates alumnus sends email to department about new position at 3P. Immediately sends resume.
…And
-Is working (remotely, for now) at 3P, in position relevant to goals, with grads from HYPS and other excellent LACs. She is delighted.
I mention HYPS because it’s indicative of the quality of education Bates gives. At 3P, her boss (from HYP) told her that he loves Bates grads and that his first new hire was a Bates grad. She was hired at these jobs because she has developed great critical thinking skills.
Much depends on the individual and their ability to seek out opportunities, but I think she would say that the environment at Bates truly helps students develop their potential.
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How could I have forgotten to mention that her thesis was also important in helping her prepare for her career path?!? It’s a big project for which she had to manage her time and do a ton of research. In her case, she feels her thesis helped her secure all three jobs mentioned above.
Almost all Bates students do a thesis. It is a crucial component of the Bates degree. Senior Thesis | Academics | Bates College
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What is Pay Peanuts Place? I googled it and can’t find anything. Are you just using that name as a stand in for a company name so you don’t have to name it? I’m confused.Lol.
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Yes, Pay Peanuts Place is definitely not the real name of where she works. 
It’s very prestigious though, I can assure you.
Money in Bank Position is also not the real name of the other job she turned down. She doesn’t regret not having that money in the bank. Her current job is giving her the experience she needs for her next goal.
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I think it’s interesting that your D seemed to take advantage of the career center mostly senior year. I had the impression that students need to be planning two years ahead these days for their job after graduation. S19 has a decent number of friends who already have their internships for summer 2022 (which will be the summer after their junior year). Maybe that’s only in certain industries?
Congrats to your D! She certainly rocked the process and used her resources!
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She did use the career center before her senior year.
The MBP job she was offered was directly through the career center. AFAIK, most students are not typically offered post-grad jobs before their senior year. She was also approached by a Big 4 accounting firm in the fall of her senior year. I think that’s a pretty typical time frame, but I don’t know.
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My impression, based on your post above which details her focused drive and ambitious schedule, is that your daughter would be a huge success regardless of school attended.
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DId you want to reveal her major? Popular major - psych?
I’d rather not, thanks. It’s popular though.
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@homerdog. There are a couple of industries where the summer before senior year internships are effectively a probationary period for a post graduation job. And there are a few companies that have followed suit on this. So yes, that’s happening. And companies that traditionally hired a lot and got jammed up by covid are now hiring aggressively, and I am assuming not just for the most immediate future!
But I can say from my own kid’s experience that there is plenty of recruiting going on senior year for post-grad positions and good ones at that! The reality is that not all kids who pursue the uber-competititve jobs will get them, some kids don’t want to work in those industries, and some smaller firms that may hire every year just can’t absorb so many UG interns so don’t rely on that for recruiting. Iow, there is a lot of quality on both the supply and demand side.
I also think that having friends who have jobs lined up early can make a kid feel very behind in the process. For some, this can be a good kick in the pants to take advantage of the career center. For others, it can create anxiety.
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This is a good point. My daughter wasn’t one of that group. She was very proactive about job hunting well before most of her friends. Of her group, she was the second one to be offered a “real” job.
The first one to be offered a “real” job actually got the job in the summer of his sophomore year. He interned at an investment bank and at the end of the summer was offered not only an internship at the same IB again for the next summer, but also a two year guaranteed job offer after graduation. He ended up turning it down after the second summer and chose a different path.
Meanwhile, all of D’s friends now work full time, or are/will be in grad school, or are doing various scholarship programs.
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Anecdotally, I know quite a few ‘20s who were holding accepted offers in the fall of senior year who found themselves jobless on their agreed start dates because of covid. I certainly wouldn’t factor that into future decision making, but at least among DS’ friends, this group was particularly disadvantaged because they had not been in conversations with prospects employers for a year or more.
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“…found themselves jobless on their agreed start dates because of covid.” I hope that never happens again.
My D knew a few kids who found themselves jobless due to covid after graduation. In fact, D lost out on a once in a lifetime opportunity because of covid. She had earned a place on a highly competitive summer program and would have started her MBP job right after.
I am a big believer in “where one door closes, another one opens.” Covid enabled so many people to reassess what they wanted to do and be. For D, after the summer program was cancelled, the prospect of the MBP job made less and less sense to her. She actively started looking at alternatives and realized she needed to do something different. Her idea of her future self didn’t align with the big bucks career. She feels she had a lucky escape. She says now she was fretting about “golden handcuffs”, lol.
D’s friend lost a job due to covid. She instead got a part time job at a bridal salon. She actually loved it. She worked with happy brides who were doing something lovely. She has a full time job now, but worked at the salon until March and felt very uplifted by helping all these brides.
Another friend didn’t have a job lined up when covid hit. She took a chance on an Americorp job that took her to Montana for a year. She is there for a few more weeks. She definitely had a Pay Peanuts job, but made great friends and has had an amazing time. Heck, these kids are young, they should be doing things that make them happy!
There have been a few good points about the pandemic. Opportunities are there if people look for them.
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Nice to see that your D is doing so well!
I am confused- your D originally had a job that was canceled due to Covid, and then received an offer at the Pay Peanuts Place that she loves? And after a period of reflection she realized that this Covid related job change was actually a positive event?
You are right that Covid allowed people to reassess what makes them happy. I see a lot of relatively recent grads whose jobs are still remote, with no plans to open the office. One mom just told me that her son (engineering) will be working permanently from home. While some are ok with this, many others are not happy and were looking forward to the traditional work experience. I suspect that there might be some real self reflection going on in terms of career/job happiness and what one wants.
Luckily there are a lot of “gap year” type positions that give young adults time to think about what is meaningful to them. And many times these jobs are springboards into graduate programs and companies that place a lot of value on these positions. The pay? Eh- it depends on the position. Some are much better than others.
Good luck to your daughter as she navigates it all!! She seems to be doing great!
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Not quite. The long story: she took a job offer at MBP that was due to start in fall. The job was never cancelled. She was not 100% in love with that job, so, as mentioned in my OP, she pursued other leads at 3P but didn’t land those. When her summer program was cancelled, she found a short term job with an option to continue into 2021. Then, during summer 2020, she heard about her current job.
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Thanks for clarifying. Best wishes to your daughter- these years flew by!
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The years do fly by, but early job choices can have a significant impact on one’s future job options.
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Proud parent update here, but also to reiterate that Bates produces highly qualified grads.
D has just been accepted to a grad program with a 5% acceptance rate at one of the world’s top universities.
Further evidence that her Bates education continues to serve her well.
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