<p>What is the student body like at Connecticut College? I've heard it's kind of an artsy student body- is that true?</p>
<p>11senior, the student body is fairly evenly split between an artsy student body, and what could be described as a preppier more athletic student body, with many students interested in elements from both archetypes. As a result, artsy students may complain the school is too preppy, and preppy students sometimes complain that the school is too artsy. In my opinion, I thought it was a great balance and it is easy to find one’s niche and to gain exposures to people with various interests.</p>
<p>i have heard that the payscale of many conncoll graduates is very low, so much so that the graduates go to another bigger universities for another degree…im actually an ed applicant for the class of 2015 but my parents feel that conncoll shouldnt be even on my list ! as im an international, i cant even visit to talk to the guys over there…all i have heard from my seniors is that conncoll n LACs in general r only gud if u intend on going to a better grad school …can anyone explain abt this-both the money thing n the grad school bit? im scared like hell…help plz!</p>
<p>“i have heard that the payscale of many conncoll graduates is very low, so much so that the graduates go to another bigger universities for another degree.”</p>
<p>This is the first time I’ve heard of this. I transferred from New York University to Conn College, so and I know very few people who transfer to larger schools. People going to “bigger schools for degrees” isn’t because of Conn lacking, it is because graduate school offers more specialized focus and a great credential–most good American colleges have most of their alumni attend graduate school. </p>
<p>It really depends on what you want to study. In the U.S., most professionals have to attend grad school. The exception is business. If you want to get a high paying job as an investment banker, liberal arts colleges are prime pipelines into banks. Conn usually has a few a year at Citibank, Credit Suisse, and Eaton Vance. The president of Conn was formerly a senior VP at solomon brothers and has effectively lured bank recruiters to campus. Other LAC’s like Middlebury send tons of students to investment banks. One thing that you should keep in mind his how self-selecting salaries can be. Harvard has a lower career salary than Worcester Polytech–it isn’t because Harvard students don’t have the same or even greater opportunities, but because many Harvard students choose to become professors or other lower paying professions, while WPI students become higher paid engineers. </p>
<p>As strange as this may seem, at Conn, and at many LAC’s, many of the brightest students choose to go into lower paying professions. A number of students at the top of last years graduating class went to Columbia and Harvard for to receive master’s in education to become teachers, rather than going into a more lucrative field. The culture of Conn is a more “feel good,” idealistic, culture, and not a hyper-competitive get-rich culture–though if you want to pursue that, it isn’t hard to achieve from Conn.</p>
<p>Two last points: Unless one goes into banking, accounting, computer science, or engineering, starting salaries won’t be high, regardless of where you went to school. With accounting and engineering absent from almost all LAC’s, it is expected that starting salaries will be lower compared to business and engineering schools. mid-career salaries, however, are very similar. If you’re concerned, go to wikipedia.com and check out the alumni from all of the NESCAC liberal arts colleges which include four U.S. presidents, the current heads of JP Morgan and Barclays, and many more influential Americans… surely LAC education did not limit them.</p>
<p>Last point, both a positive and a negative about LAC’s is that many students come from well-connected families. While that may create what is called “an old boys club” it also means that you become close friends with many well-connected peers when you attend a NESCAC college, including Conn. Alumni help each other out, and friends help each other out. While this may be unfair, it is a (unspoken) benefit to being at a small school where you form close relationships with folks in the northeast “establishment.” I won’t digress into the cultural downsides of this.</p>
<p>What do you plan on studying? What do you want from your career? This may be a good start before I ramble any further.</p>
<p>i think i’d go for non-technical line (if not comp sci) …maybe i’ll double major…
i dont want anything lavish from my career…its just that i have heard negatives things abt conncoll …anyways im up for ed i guess…</p>
<p>CamelMan, thank you for always providing such thoughtful and helpful responses. You are a great advertisement for Conn.</p>
<p>Do you think a west coast student who plans on returning to the west coast after graduation will lose all those potential benefits of connections? It’s Conn’s reach pretty much limited to New England/New York? </p>
<p>My D loves Conn, and recently had a fantastic interview. She’s more on the artsy side than preppy side, so it’s good to hear that you don’t see it as super-preppy.</p>
<p>I would imagine there would not be the same sort of connections because of the limited number of Conn students who head out west in comparison to larger schools or west coast schools like oxy and the claremont colleges. There are some students I’ve met who attended west coast prep schools (bishops, head royce, brentwood, cate, etc) before Conn and then headed back west. But probably two-thirds of Conn graduates end up in Boston or New York.</p>