The distinction was introduced specifically in reference to reply # 13, in which six âof the elevenâ NESCACs were referenced in relation to a liberal arts colleges ranking.
OP hasnât been back, but the initial question was wrt ranking of NESCAC in business career outcomes, as well as LGBTQ+ life.
Letâs stop pulling out generally meaningless rankings, which obviously OP could have done themselvesâŠthey are looking for more nuanced information than typically found in rankings.
Was that really necessary? If a poster mistakenly calls all NESCAC institutions âcollegesâ, must a correction be proffered? This will be my last offering in this thread, but I believe the forum at large is better served if immaterial errors are ignored.
After all, the original poster was simply looking for rankings of the NESCACs. In reply, many sources were offered. One poster mistakenly aggregated all NESCACs when referencing an LAC ranking source. Would this thread suffer if no one pointed out that error? I apologize in advance if this response appears contentious. Consider this my misguided effort to make this a better place.
There was no factual error. @andawaywegocorrectly stated that there are 11 NESCACs. However, close readers with an interest in the topic â but who are unfamiliar with the structure of the NESCACs â may have wondered why Tufts didnât appear in that particular ranking.
The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) ranked Trinity No. 10 among U.S. liberal-arts colleges in terms of the amount of money graduates earn in the decade and beyond after leaving school compared with the net cost of earning a bachelorâs degree there.
In all honesty, I donât know if a LAC is the best place for somebody who wants to pursue a business degree. Itâs true that, of the NESCACs. at least Williams, Ameherst, Tufts, Bowdoin, Middlebury, and Bates have good reputations as business schools. However, there are many better places for an undergraduate in business. As people have mentioned, one of the most important parts of business school is the network it provides, and LACs are small.
Williams may provide a superb education in business, but there are only about 500 Williams graduates a year, and maybe 40 of them will be go off to work in the financial world. On the other hand, Wharton will have about 600 graduates a year who are all business majors. Most business schools at reasearch universities have much wider and larger alumni networks, which is critical at getting internships during college, and getting a job after college.
I am a HUGE fan of LACs, but I do not think that they are the best place for somebody who wants to go into a career in the financial world.
All NESCACs, and almost all of the most âprestigiousâ LACs are very LGBTQ-friendly.
@MWolf I have to disagree. If one wants a business degree in something like marketing or accounting then LACs donât offer that but, if one wants to go into "business"or finance, those NESCACs are great launching pads and many companies think liberal arts grads are even more prepared for the work force than kids coming from an undergrad business school. Plus, NESCAC kids are all very good students and employers know that.
As for the NESCACs having fewer alums, maybe so but they are dedicated to helping graduates from their schools. If a Bowdoin alum sees a Bowdoin student reaching out for a job, they will certainly get an interview. Small schools like these have very loyal alums who give back to their schools in many ways compared to many larger schools with business schools. IU Kelley alums will probably see all kinds of IU Kelley resumes but probably doesnât feel as much affection towards them as a small school alum would feel towards a student from their school.
Weâve seen it in action many times already at Bowdoin. Those kids reach out to alums with amazing success and there are thousands of very successful Bowdoin (and all NESCAC) alums out there. I would venture to say that a majority of Bowdoin kids get their internships and first jobs through alumni.
I wouldnât attempt to make a case out of one example, but isnât Gold Sachs â whose CEO graduated from Hamilton â representative of the financial world?
Williams does not have a business major. It is a pure liberal arts college. But many current seniors there, many of whom are economics majors but some of whom are majoring in other liberal arts disciplines, had their jobs for next year all lined up by this fall, at places like Goldman Sachs, Bain, Boston Consulting Group, etc. Many of the top investment banking and consulting firms come to campus every year to recruit students, give students internships after junior year, and, if the internship goes well, offer them a job for after graduation. These types of careers are extremely popular with Williams students nowadays.
And with Williams students long ago. Here is a true story from ancient history. When I was a college sophomore at Williams many, many years ago, I went to the Career Center. I said I did not know what I wanted to do, but I wanted to help people. The counselor said, âWould you prefer investment banking or consulting? We have a lot of alumni connections in both.â I replied, âNeither. I have no interest in a career in business.â She waved at the shelves and said, âThen we have a whole library here you can explore to find a career.â And she walked away!
While it appears career services have improved since then, those two fields are still especially popular at Williams.
Iâm going to jump on the bandwagon and disagree with @MWolf too. We were at an info session at one of the top lacs and the admissions speaker was making the case for a liberal arts education. He told the story of one of the big Wall St banks coming to recruit at the school. He asked the recruiter what kinds of kids he was looking for. The reply was that this bank was looking for excellent communicators and strong writers. The rest of it they could teach on the job. Liberal arts schools do a great job of turning out strong communicators and people who can write and analyze well.
This may not be exactly what OP was asking, but in line with the point made by @homerdog, I used to work for Bain & Co (strategy/management consultingâŠnot the venture capital arm), and we recruited undergrads primarily from Ivy League and NESCAC (and similar) schoolsâŠwe were not looking for undergraduate business degrees. In fact, we came closer to intentionally avoiding it. History worked fine for us. English. Philosophy. Engineering. It didnât matter - we were looking more at the quality of the overall education, the GPA, some evidence of ability to deal with numbers (if not through their major then it could be from their SATs or from the way they handled numbers in their case interview), etc.
The idea was that we would train them/educate them in relation to business specifics on the job and then support their candidacy to MBA programs for more business education later if desired. So in regards to management consulting (thatâs the only thing I have experience with so this answer is specific to that particular business area) at a top strategy firm, I wouldnât worry about how well regarded a school is for business, specifically.
merc81, you seem to have very good insight surrounding the NESCAC schools. Following up on the original posterâs question, how would you personally rank these colleges solely based on reputation, prestige, and overall reputation (first half of their question)? Perhaps youâve already done this on a previous posting, but Iâm just too lazy to look!
Banking and consulting are a small fraction of the opportunities within a business focus. Yet itâs the go to on CC. Nescac schools are literally good for anything youâd like to accomplish in life. Even business careers in those tidewater industries like big and start up tech, biotech, sustainable solutions, media etc.
I know this is late but I was looking at rankings and found that the Forbes 2019 ranking seemed pretty interesting. Here is there ranking (FYI this ranking is based on ALL Universities, not just LACâs)
So hereâs a puzzler: Given the opinions of the mavens in this thread and the supporting opinions of the rankings cited, WHY is TUFTS not considered by College Confidential as a top university or college?
Even Trinity and Colby are listed as âtop.â I mean, these are great colleges, but the omission of Tufts is glaring. Also included on the âtopâ list: Colgate, Kenyon, Vassar. Is CC saying Tufts does not compare to them?
I get it that Tufts is considered a small university, not an LAC. But still, on the university âtopâ list: Tulane, Rice, Emory, Georgetown. IS CC saying Tufts is out of their league? Hard to comprehend.
I have asked the admins of CC this question numerous times, and have never received an answer. Iâm thinking colleges have to pay to be on the list. That has to be the only explanation. I know Tufts does not play that type of game.
Does it make a difference? Not really. But it can influence people. Itâs a perception thing. BUT I truly want to know the story behind this. Itâs so glaring that there must be a backstory.