The concept of “pre-professional colleges” is something I had never heard of until I started reading CC. As far as I can remember from my college days, this concept was used for being “pre-med”, but not in the context of an entire college or an entire school/major within that institution. Now it seems to be.
I see the phrase on CC quite frequently, and I admit to not fully understanding what it means. Can folks give guidance on it?
For example, I’m personally interested in things like:
What does it mean?
Are pre-professional colleges the opposite of liberal arts colleges?
Is there an updated list as to which colleges are pre-professional?
Aren’t schools within colleges like engineering, nursing, and business schools pre-professional? Is that the extent of it?
Are there different admissions criteria used for pre-professional schools vs. other types of schools? For example, do pre-professional colleges/majors look for certain ECs in making an admission decision that show promise for that particular profession.
What are some of the drawbacks of a pre-professional college? For example, one thing I immediately see is that if a student realizes they don’t like the pre-professional program, what do they do? Transfer? That’s one area where I am lost: is the pre-professional moniker in relation to a major or is it wider than that? I’ve seen posts on CC where it seems to be applied to an entire undergraduate university like Penn.
Like I said, this is a new phrase to me. The collective CC insight on the meaning and implications of pre-professional institutions would be most helpful.
I think it denotes a school where students expect to get a job upon graduating ( not grad school) and take at least some courses towards that goal. Wharton is the best example. Usually a heavy emphasis on internships and career readiness
That’s what I would have thought, Wharton being a great example.
But I’ve seen recent posts (as recently as today) indicating that all of Penn undergrad is “pre-professional”.
Perhaps I’m reading too much into it or just reading it incorrectly, but I had the distinct impression that folks here were using it in reference to almost the teaching mindset of that institution, as well as the student focus.
I have found that in places with a large number of kids on a pre-prof track, the mindset inevitably spills over to the rest of the kids. History majors are aware of the Wharton kids dresssing up for career fairs, so they do too. Everyone talks about the recruiting timeline and tips. Relatively few kids ever enter a phd program, so for many of them, the Wharton tips are valuable. The liberal arts majors naturally start focusing on what their classmates focus on as interviews begin and resumes reviewed
Schools that have a large population in your list would likely be considered pre-professional. I would add Nursing and other health programs to your list. Also consider schools like George Washington that have a strong in term internship culture to have a pre professional vibe.
But, solely by way of example, I found this thread making the point about a student deciding between Brown CS and Penn CS. People are making the “pre-professional” distinction for Penn. I would have thought, by definition, ANY CS major at ANY school is “pre-professional”: UPenn vs Brown for CS
I think of “pre-professional” students as those whose undergrad studies are leading them towards a specific/defined career goal. This would include students who plan to work after undergrad (such as the example of Wharton students above) as well as those who expect to attend grad school for a chosen profession (ex. medical school, law school etc.). Of course others may view the term differently.
A college is more likely to have a “pre-professional” atmosphere if it has:
More students in overtly pre-professional majors (engineering majors, business, nursing, etc.).
More students in liberal arts majors with pre-professional goals (e.g. math, statistics, or economics majors aiming for finance jobs, or pre-med or pre-law students).
Greater emphasis on pre-professional preparation, such as high participation in co-op programs.
Overall, most US college students are pre-professionally oriented. Cost, debt, and credential pressure tends to do that.
Agree with @happy1 and @mynameiswhatever - a campus can have a
pre-professional ‘feel’ or ‘vibe’. When used with places such as Penn & Emory (which often pop up her as ‘pre-professional’), the implication is that a meaningful proportion of the UG cohort see themselves as ‘pre-’, eg pre-law, pre-med, pre-finance.
Yes, that’s what I would have thought. It’s just that I’ve seen references on CC to a school being pre-professional. Perhaps it’s just a vibe-ish thing.
The difference is that the pre-meds and pre-law types are not actively looking for summer career type employment, and accordingly dont have the linked in profiles, coffee chats, etc that those going directly into the workforce seek.
I think people use it in 2 contexts. The first is a description regarding the focus of the school as evidenced by its departments. Colleges with business/accounting, engineering, nursing, architecture, etc… schools or majors and often with well established internship/co-op programs are often labeled as “preprofessional”. The other context is the reputation/perception of the school and its student body in terms of students being very focused on careers after graduation, usually in the private sector. A school that is “pre-professional” in the first context is most often “pre-professional” in the second (think Penn) but there are many “pre-professional” schools in the second context but not the first – think of the LACs that have a reputation for being feeders to consulting and IB.
Having read the entire book, I don’t think the author proved his case with respect to specific schools. Nonetheless, the book in general put forth reasonable, although not especially original, challenges to some common assumptions.
Some LACs may have more of a pre-professional flavor than others. WLU apparently cultivates connections to Wall Street. CMC seems to have a business flavor in economics. HMC has many engineering and CS majors. Some highly selective northeastern LACs may have Wall Street and/or consulting pipelines as well.
I think one characteristic of a non pre-professional school is robust general education requirements.
CS is an interesting one. Many students likely view it a pre-professional, but I am not sure if all universities think the same way. Historically, it was no different than something like Chemistry. Especially in the schools where is wasn’t in engineering.