Goucher College

Date: Nov 18 2010
Major: Communications (This Major's Salary over time)
Let me say that for the record, I am very grateful for the education I received at Goucher College. The 18 students to one classroom is the best feature of the entire school. You have far more opportunities to communicate with you professors one-on-one, and you give your professors to learn about you as a student. This is a rare feature that you will never find at a bigger state school.

Another great feature about the faculty/staff is how they encourage classroom discussion. Although the professors love a good discussion, but if your political viewpoints leans more towards the right, be prepared to met with unnecessary animosity from your classmates. If there is a particular subject that you want to learn, there are classes for that, and the staff are always so open. I think this environment is why I succeeded so well academically. It is very cool that you are in such a small school, but the student body is very arrogant. I'm slightly more conservative than the average Goucher student, and I am very anti-drug, which did leave me a feeling of isolation from the social scene. Goucher is very good at promoting individuality, but doesn't practice it. It certainly doesn't help that the school president is just as pretentious.

The poorest feature of Goucher, is the fact that you go into the real world unprepared. Unless you choose a science major, you will find it extremely difficult to get a job in your major. I graduated last year, and I am STILL unemployed. I chose a Communications major, something a little more practical than some of the other programs. I sent over 200 resumes across the country from volunteer to full-time work. Of those resumes, only 3 places called me up for an interview, none of which hired me. In what is partially an act of desperation, I decided to go to grad school in a completely different field. I should have know something was up, when Peace Studies became one of the more popular majors, and the alum from that program usually end up in the same boat as I am right now.

I really did want a job upon completing my undergraduate studies, but in hindsight, I wish I would have known a degree from a liberal arts college would be nothing more than a diploma hanging on my bedroom wall in my parents house. I am two weeks shy of my 24th birthday and am sorely disappointed as to where my degree has landed. Fortunately I do enjoy my grad school career path, and cannot wait to further advance those studies.

If you are somebody who is very-career minded-make sure you have a plan as to where you want to go after your undergraduate. Even if you are an incoming freshman, plan on grad school. Having such a good relationship with your professors is a real treat, so take that up.

As far as the social scene goes, if you don't care about politics, or if you don't do drugs, it will be very difficult to fit in—I will be brutally honest with you. But Baltimore/Towson is a great town to explore, though unfortunately, Goucher students prefer to stay on campus and not explore the vast possibilities the city has to awful. So if you come here, take some time to explore the area.