Mark a survey and Inform Staff

Peer Review:
5.45.80.218:valid:Content Nonsensical, Duplicate Survey, High Vulgarity, High Grammatical Error, Probably Admissions, Content Useless, Malicious Intent/Faked, SPAM, :1
5.45.80.218:valid:Content Nonsensical, Duplicate Survey, High Vulgarity, High Grammati

Statistical Analyzer:

I was inspired to write this review of Goucher College after reading a New York Times article about the (lack of) success of 2011 graduates of a local private liberal arts college (Drew). This article made me reflect on my college experience and how much it really helped me. Did it help me? Was I the problem? What do I have to say about Goucher and where I am now? Because of these experiences, I'm not going to comment about stuff like the quality of food or housing (which are great, by the way).

One of the major problems with Goucher College is that it's only known locally and within academic circles. Try applying to a company with Goucher College on your resume. It's very difficult to compete with Harvard graduates. I read a blog by a Harvard graduate about how he was disappointed with the lack of jobs being handed to him. He was also only able to land a SALES position with Google, nothing higher level. Granted that's a great start in any company in this economic climate, it just shows how this economy has become what my friend (who was accepted to Harvard Law) calls the Great Equalizer. Harvard graduates are competing for the jobs that lower-level graduates were fighting for. So, my point is that it's very difficult to compete with a small name like Goucher College. So I guess the things that I should be reviewing are the things that Goucher College can help their students with that will get them jobs when they graduate (or at least a fighting chance at a job). I think the things that Goucher could help its students with are: internship experiences, work experiences, alumni/academic connections, networking opportunities, and the academics. I'll address how Goucher approaches each thing based on my experiences with professors and staff at Goucher.

Before I do that, let me tell you a little bit about my postgraduate experiences. I graduated in 2009 with a B.A. in Psychology. That was perhaps the worst mistake I could have made. Everyone and their brother studied Psychology, and so few people find success finding jobs in the field (with just a bachelors) that they change fields, which is what I will be doing in Fall 2013. The only work that I could find when I graduated was working part-time at the local TJ Maxx for minimum wage. That lasted for 6 months, then I went into a jobless depression for two years. My previous work experience included life guarding at summer camps, life guarding and teaching swimming at Goucher's pool, working in the post office and tons of volunteer/leadership experience with the Hillel organization on campus. How could I expect that with my background in a 'soft skills' field that I would find a legitimate job that would help me move out and on with life? After two years of unemployment, I found a job working with emotionally disturbed adolescents at a boarding school. That job helped me put some kind of experience on my resume and land a job with a local customer service call center. I worked there for three months, then I was hired to work as a behavioral health counselor at the local psychiatric hospital and to work at a newly relocated B2B marketing company. It's still telephone/customer service related work, but it's good office experience to put on my resume and a good way to pay for my expences. I would also like to say that there's no way that I could make it through this recession without my mom's financial support.

I did everything that I could to find a job, including networking at job fairs in NYC, contacting alumni on Goucher Connect's alumni database, and thoroughly looking through all of the job database websites. When I first graduated, I wanted to find a research assistantship that would give me experience to apply for a PsyD in clinical psychology. My plans changed after I couldn't find anything for two years. I enrolled with four different temp agencies. I sent out over 500 resumes and cover letters for jobs ranging from administrative assistat, to research assistant and everything in between. I even applied to be a corporate flight attendant. The hardest thing for me to realize was that even with all of the social networking, the temp agencies, the summer and year long work experiences, the leadership skills and the academic work, I was not going to find a job with my 'soft skills' background. If I could do it over, I would study something that was more marketable like accounting, engineering, or computer science. My advice to any undergraduate would be to study your major and computer science. Everything is about computers nowadays. If you can find a way to be a part of the computerization and replacement of humans, you'll be set.

The most important resource at Goucher College is the faculty. If you are in good contact and relation with your advisor and other faculty in your major, you're more likely to get good recommendations for internships, assistantships or jobs. I graduated three years ago, and I can still contact my advisor and other professors for recommendations. When I apply to graduate school this fall, I will be relying on those professors for their support and good words. I decided that I would not stay in Psychology because it is so hard to find anything without a masters or PhD/PsyD. I was lucky to find the behavioral health counselor job that I have now. No matter what your major at Goucher College is, connect with your professors. The professors are generally very good quality, and they care a lot about students finding work and exploring their field of study. But they are not going to help you find those opportunities, mostly because Goucher professors (and mostly professors at small private liberal arts colleges) tend not to be well connected within the industry or academic community.

Goucher College has alumni groups around the country (and the world), but most Goucher graduates are not in the top tier positions that can help you land your foot in the door. I searched through the Goucher Alumni network to find that there are not as many graduates in high ranking positions as I thought. I did get in touch with some Psychology professors, but no one could really reach out with any jobs or connections to other jobs. Also, the opportunities to connect with professionals from Goucher College are very few mostly because not many people attended Goucher. It's not like the ivy leagues or larger state schools where graduates are eager to help out new graduates find work.

I mentioned earlier that I was looking for research assistantships. It's so difficult to find a research assistantship on campus or off campus. The research assistantships on campus fill up so quickly, and the options off campus are few and far between because you're competing with Johns Hopkins University students. You might try to find something at University of Maryland or Towson University. And like I said earlier, Goucher professors are not well connected enough in the academic community to help you get an internship or research assistantship with a professor at another university.

The academics at Goucher are very good. However, I have a major complaint about the Psychology department: the Psychology department cares more about how you feel than what you know. I feel like they know that you're not academic enough to talk about knowledge, so you have to go with the topic of feelings. If I could do it all over, then I would study something else like sciences, mathematics or computer science.

Well, that's my lengthy review of Goucher. I hope it was helpful. Goucher has some other great resources, and some of the graduates go on to great schools like Oxford, Georgetown, Columbia and other top tier schools. Goucher can offer as much as you put into it. But you have to be focused and have a specific career path in mind. Find as many internships as you can get your hands on, and get as much undergraduate experience in your field as you can.

Good luck!