Hi,
Among the 6 colleges we’ve toured so far, UVM is my daughter’s favorite. Though she initially did not want to get up early to visit it, she really liked the student vibe there, the size (not too small, not too big) and their campus, all fit her criteria for a mid-size school in the Northeast with a welcoming, collaborative and supportive culture. She comes from a private, rigorous small HS, and will be applying to the College of Arts & Science as “undecided”. I am happy she found at least 1 college she is excited about. Yet, wondering how good the advising and academics are at UVM since she has no idea yet what she would like to major in, or do professionally one day. My daughter went to a College Fair this week and specifically asked that question to the Regional AO at the UVM table and received a vague answer. My husband is also concerned about her internship and post-graduation job prospects outside of Vermont if she does not go to graduate school. He would prefer if she attended college closer to a large city. Not sure whether this is a valid concern or not. Thank you for your help!
If you’re a Facebook user, you might consider joining the UVM Parents Group page. You can request to join if you have a perspective student. You can post your questions there, as well as read through all the other posts. I’ve found the information that has been shared to be very helpful. UVM is also at the top of my D23’s list.
Thank you for this information!
I cannot offer the insights of someone who has experience with UVM, but since your post has sat here for a couple of days with no response, I’ll offer my comment.
Princeton Review does some of the most extensive surveys of college students. Although student satisfaction is very high among UVM students (top 20), they specifically mention student advising as an area of concern that was expressed in student complaints even though all students are assigned an academic advisor. So, I think your husband has legitimate concerns in this area. Also, student:teacher ratio is 18:1, which is not low.
In UVM’s favor is the fact that 40% of their classes have fewer than 20 students and 2/3 of the classes have fewer than 30. But like any large flagship there will be some large lecture halls. UVM offers options to mitigate this. All freshman are encouraged to enroll in the First Year Seminar. In addition, all students have the option of enrolling in the Liberal Arts Scholars program, which offers 4 connected seminars, designed for highly motivated students with strong academic backgrounds. An undecided student who opts for some small seminars in freshman year will have the opportunity for greater faculty interaction at least in those classes.
A second thing that UVM does to assist students in developing a focus for their learning is by organizing student residence halls around shared interest learning communities. Community activities within each dorm are developed around the themes that are the shared interest in each dorm, for example sustainability, or arts & creativity, or outdoor experiences. The previously mentioned Liberal Arts Scholars Program is the theme for one residence hall and seminars are residentially based. Admission is by application. Another learning community is the Honors College which has special advising services and research opportunities; admission is by invitation for freshmen. Such an Honors College is one way to make a big school smaller and have greater access to faculty. In general the common themed learning communities should help students develop a focus through informal discussions with other students because they’re living with others with whom they already have a lot in common.
What these programs offer is support for students in the early stages of college when they are deciding on course selection and a major. As far as the issue of internships, which is your husband’s concern, proximity to a big city is not necessary. My GD will be working in an internship in NYC this summer, but she doesn’t go to college in NYC. However, students at big state universities as a general rule have to be self advocates and take individual initiative to seek out and pursue opportunities. In UVM’s favor is the fact that at 10,000+ students, it is one of the smallest state flagship universities in the country by a lot. Not as big a crowd to get lost in. One of the things that people are paying for in those more expensive private schools is greater support services and increased faculty access.
Hopefully this will serve as a starting point and someone with more personal experience with UVM will see this thread.
I think @Bill_Marsh gave you the best info re: the opportunities available to make UVM feel smaller and more personalized. Both LASP and the Honors College are very well-respected.
My ds is a rising junior at UVM, having transferred from an even larger state flagship (UMass Amherst). He’s had a mix of small and large classes, and he has found all of his professors to be accessible and supportive. Advising is an issue, though. He came in with a combo of AP, dual enrollment and transfer credits, and ultimately felt like it was easier to figure it out himself than rely on the advisor he was assigned. That said, at the most basic level it’s not hard to figure out how to fit in your gen ed classes, and their website has a very helpful and easy to use “degree audit” feature. It even allows you to run “what if” scenarios on the impact of changing your major or adding a minor. He has found his profs in his major to be the most helpful and supportive in terms of his focus area and informal advising overall.
As a parent, I’m thrilled with UVM. My son has never been happier. It’s the perfect size for our DS and he adores Burlington. When he needed to access his accommodations with disability services at one point this winter, the dean we dealt with could not have been more supportive or attentive. Ultimately, I think like all state flagships, there’s a level of independence and self-advocacy kids need to get the most out of it, but it’s modest size relative to the average state flagship makes it ideal.
I don’t have too much insight on career/internship outcomes as my ds is only a rising sophomore, but he has been very happy at UVM. He has changed his major already, and found that pretty seamless- although he is still very uncertain as to career path, which seems not unusual among his peers although there are plenty who are more focused. He did the LASP program which is great for intellectually curious kids and he got to know some of his professors quite well. Although Burlington is small, and somewhat remote the school attracts kids from all over which is nice- he had roommates from Michigan, California, New Jersey etc. It does tend to attract a certain kind of kid- outdoorsy, wholesome, liberal leaning… I went to a small fairly rural school but did some cool internships the summers- including one in DC, I hope ds will pursue something like that as he gets further along but I don’t think going to school in/near a big city is necessary for most career paths.
Thank you all for your very thoughtful replies. We knew about the Honors College but did not know about the LASP which may be a good option for her. I believe she wants to apply Early Action.
Anyone will tell you that Burlington is remote, right? But life doesn’t end at the border.
Only 90 miles away, an hour and a half drive or 3 hours by bus, is one of the biggest cities in North America. Montreal is a metro area of 4 million people and it’s a bi-lingual city. And there are internships available for Americans in Montreal. You have to start early to get them because there are more hoops to jump through, but they’re there.
Depending on a student’s area of interest, there are also interesting opportunities for internships in the North Country. UVM is well known for the strength of its programs in climate, sustainability, and environmental studies. A one hour ferry ride across the lake is the nation’s largest project in resource protection and sustainability in the nation’s history, which has been underway for more than a century and a quarter. The Adirondack Park has developed from protecting 600,000 acres in its original form in the 19th century to protecting more than 6 million acres today. This brings many opportunities for internships.
In addition, the population of the Adirondacks quadruples in the summer. Again, depending on a student’s area of interest, there are many opportunities for summer jobs and internships in a wide variety of areas in the Adirondacks during the very time of year when students are looking for internships.
And there are opportunities in Vermont. People think skiing and mountain sports when they think about life in Vermont, but the biggest employer in Vermont is high tech with a quarter of the jobs in Vermont and growing. And it’s not a new phenomenon. IBM was once the biggest employer in the Burlington with a headquarters in Essex Junction. Montpelier, the state capital, is less than 40 miles from Burlington, a 40 minute drive and an hour by bus. It’s very small by state government standards in a state population of only 600,000, but like the other New England states, Vermont is a laboratory in democracy with opportunities for studying and interning that don’t exist in bigger states precisely because it is so small.
Check out the Washington Center Academic Internship Program. UVM College of Arts & Sciences partners with The Washington Center to provide semester long internships in DC for A&S students of all majors, which include courses while in DC and a full semester of college credits. As @CTCape pointed out, UVM’s size means that a student is not fighting impossible odds to obtain these internship opportunities that others are facing at state flagships of 20-50,000 undergraduates. There are similar semester-in-the-city opportunities in both Boston and New York City. There is information about internships on the UVM website.
One other note is that desirable external experiences vary with a student’s major and interests. One possible area of interest for A&S students is medicine and health care. The UVM Larner School of Medicine is literally right there on campus with the research hospital across the street. Harvard Medical Scool is not on campus. It’s across town in a city that’s time consuming to get around. This is true at many, many universities. Great to have a world class research hospital affiliated with your university but if you can’t access it, it’s not of much value for undergraduate opportunities.
Finally I wouldn’t overlook opportunities in the nonprofit sector for an A&S student. Vermont - and Burlington in particular - is one of the top ten states in the country for employment opportunities in the US. Burlington is top ten towns or cities for nonprofit job opportunities per 100,000. This also means internship opportunities.
Best of luck with your search.
Great info thanks. My D will be applying for Fall 24 as a Poli sci major. This info is really helpful as internship opportunities and DC experience is important to her.
My ds is a poli sci major. Happy to answer any questions!
For a Poli Sci student student with interest in internships and DC experience, look at Union College in Schenectady, NY as a possible school to add to your list. A small liberal arts college, Union offers a fabulous 10-week “Term in Washington”. (Union is on trimesters, so each term is 10 weeks.) The Washington term includes a 30-hour per week internship in DC, a poli-sci course focusing on foreign policy, and an American Studies course focusing on Washington, DC as an urban space. See the link for details:
https://www.union.edu/political-science/experiential-learning/term-washington-dc
Since Union is in New York State’s Capitol District there are additional opportunities for internships in state government.