Minding the Gap
June 20th, 2016Taking a gap year, although still relatively rare in the US, is a more frequent topic of conversation since Malia Obama announced her plans to defer college enrollment. Some Shrop Ed students have asked us about the possibility, too, and we feel that as long as a student has a plan in mind for structuring the year productively, the gap year can be enormously beneficial. Deans of admission will want to know your plans when reviewing a request for enrollment deferral so if you’re considering the option, you’ll want to act fairly quickly to put all of the pieces together.
We invite you to read this article on the American Gap Association’s website, and let us know if we can help.
The Value of a Liberal Arts Education
June 13th, 2016For many years there has been a great debate over whether a liberal arts degree is as valuable as a career-ready degree such as engineering or computer science. The major you declare does have an impact on career opportunities available, but so do the “soft skills” learned while in school. With a little ambition and drive in addition to the analytical, reasoning, interpretive and communication skills learned in a liberal arts degree program, students are much more marketable than one may think. Liberal arts students are often life-long learners and their own best teachers.
David Kalt, founder of reverb.com, has found great value in hiring people with liberal arts degrees. His opinion is that students studying the liberal arts are often great critical thinkers, well read, and overall well-rounded. Kalt believes that these “soft skills” are difficult to teach in the workplace, yet the specific skill sets needed on the job are teachable once hired.
Many of you know that the Shrop Ed philosophy espouses that what students learn in a liberal arts program is an amazing preparation for life. We believe it helps broaden a student’s worldview and deepen their appreciation for life by educating the whole person and not just training for a specific job. In this global world we live in, it is important to see the world from a different perspective and to learn about other cultures and their way of life. Having a broad knowledge of the world we live in leads to flexible and creative thinking which is exactly what employers are looking for in this global and fast-changing economy that we live in.
Article published June 1, 2016
Written by: David Kalt
As the demand for quality computer programmers and engineers increases, conventional wisdom assumes we need more students with computer-science and engineering degrees. Makes sense, right?
I’ve been preaching this exact message for the past 10 years as I’ve fought to recruit the best programmers. Recently, though, I’ve realized that my experience has proved something completely different.
Looking back at the tech teams that I’ve built at my companies, it’s evident that individuals with liberal arts degrees are by far the sharpest, best-performing software developers and technology leaders. Often these modern techies have degrees in philosophy, history, and music – even political science, which was my degree.
How can this be?
Read more at The Wall Street Journal >>Tagged: Career, Liberal arts
Selingo: Sprinters, Wanderers, Stragglers
April 11th, 2016Times have changed and for many, the launch into adulthood is taking much longer than it used to. In the early 1900’s teenagers fresh from high school could receive and maintain a solid long-term job, leading to adult responsibilities right away. Now, with a bachelor’s degree becoming the new normal, students go straight to college, graduate and – sometimes too late – realize that the job market is highly competitive.
These days, a student’s level of success isn’t measured by the degree he or she holds, but how effectively those four college years are used to get ahead.
Author Jeffrey Selingo separates young adults into three groups: sprinters, wanderers and stragglers. This incredible article takes a deep look into the choices of three young adults during this important time to reveal how their decisions affect their long term goals.
Published April 5, 2016
Written by: Jeffrey J. Selingo
At the age of 18, G. Stanley Hall left his home in the tiny village of Ashfield, Mass., for Williams College, just 35 miles away, with a goal to “do something and be something in the world.” His mother wanted him to become a minister, but the young Stanley wasn’t sure about that plan. He saw a four-year degree as a chance to explore.
Though Hall excelled at Williams, his parents, who were farmers, considered his undergraduate years a bit erratic. He didn’t think he had the requirements for a pastor, but nonetheless enrolled in Union Theological Seminary in New York after graduation. The big city was intoxicating, and living there persuaded him to abandon his religious studies. After securing a loan, he set off for Germany to study philosophy, travel and visit the theaters, bars and dance halls of Berlin.
Read more at The New York Times >>Tagged: Career, Choices, College, Personal characteristics
Career Skills and the Liberal Arts
February 29th, 2016Liberal arts graduates have highly developed analytical, reasoning and communication skills and are poised to adapt to new developments over the course of their lives. In effect, the liberal arts teach us how to learn in a variety of spheres … which our fast-changing world demands.
Today’s article link sheds light on how colleges are pairing tangible skills with the breadth and depth of the liberal arts, using Bates College in Maine as a primary example. With the liberal arts under attack by so many, more liberal arts colleges are likely to take similar routes, focusing increasingly on employability. That’s a very good thing!
Article published February 23, 2016
Written by: Carl Straumsheim
Computer science might not be the first field that springs to mind when thinking of the liberal arts, but at some colleges, interdisciplinary computing is seen as one way to connect the department to other disciplines on campus.
Bates College, a liberal arts college in Maine, may be the most recent example. The college, which enrolls about 2,000 students, doesn’t offer anything resembling a computer science program — not even a concentration. Given the chance to create one from scratch, the college will in 2017 introduce digital and computational studies, an interdisciplinary program that fits the label of neither computer science nor digital humanities.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed >>Tagged: Career, College, Liberal arts, Opportunity, Personal characteristics
