<p>Wondering how satisfied Whitties are in career services and landing quality internships during school and jobs upon graduation?</p>
<p>D is currently a sophomore, and she was awarded a Whitman stipend of $2100 to work this summer at a great internship that ties into her major. She found the internship on her own, but the stipend means she can afford to take it. I’m not connected enough to know how much the alumni help current students with internships and jobs, but I am also curious to know that.</p>
<p>Thanks, kolijma, I wasn’t aware of Whitman sponsoring internships with a stipend. That’s great, congratulations to you D.</p>
<p>There has been a concerted effort to increase funding for summer internships over the past 2 years and I think students have a pretty good hit rate at getting set up for internships if they work with the Student Engagement Center (covers both career planning and community involvement internships). There is also a long history of active alumni support so I’m pretty sure that if a student is proactive about a specific kind of internship they would be connected to options through the alumni or career offices. There is also a set up for students to do summer research projects with faculty.</p>
<p>Some helpful re: the above-mentioned summer/research grants:</p>
<p>[Internship</a> Funding](<a href=“http://www.whitman.edu/content/career_internships/internship-funding]Internship”>http://www.whitman.edu/content/career_internships/internship-funding)</p>
<p>[Faculty-Student</a> Research Opportunities](<a href=“http://www.whitman.edu/content/provost/development/faculty-and-student-research]Faculty-Student”>http://www.whitman.edu/content/provost/development/faculty-and-student-research)</p>
<p>My daughter’s experience with Career Services was very mixed. The quality of the help she obtained was inconsistent, which she found frustrating, which made her reluctant to consider them a go-to resource… She had a great internship in the summer after her junior year, but she got it on her own. I think there is little (or virtually no) on-campus recruiting for jobs after graduation, in comparison to what you would see at a larger university. It’s a small school and it’s well off the beaten track. It’s true that Whitman alums are very loyal and if you are able to make a good connection, it can really pay off in terms of leads for internships and jobs. I think it’s relatively easy to get help from the Alumni Office with connections.</p>
<p>^, yes, this is what I have heard, as well and is a concern. Certainly it is difficult to get recruiters to come out to Walla Walla, but how much of a priority is the administration making it?</p>
<p>I don’t know the answer to that, however I think the administration is truly committed to students, student well being and student success. I think this issue goes beyond Whitman. I don’t know how much recruiting goes on at other small LACs like Whitman, which don’t have business or engineering schools, computer science, or other professional programs. Liberal arts students at colleges that have those kinds of programs have more on-campus recruiting opportunities by default. Maybe highly regarded LACs in more urban areas that are near to those larger schools get some additional opportunities because they are in the neighborhood. If that kind of on-campus recruiting and path to a job after graduation are really important to someone, I think that pursuing a liberal arts degree at a school like Whitman is not the right path.</p>
<p>If on campus recruiting is a critical variable, then defiitely UW or UCs would make more sense. That said, every Whittie I know went off either to graduate school where they wanted to be or moved to a city where they wanted to be and now are working. This is not true of multiple kids I know who went to more prominent/bigger schools (no doubt with recruiting) but are now home with their parents and working retail or restaurants while still looking. (I am sure I do not have a fair and representative sample either. My point is just that kids do seem to graduate from Whitman with good skills for getting into paid employment that they want to be doing, even in this economy.)</p>