Even in their careers, grads continue the exploration they started on campus
Brown graduates apparently do not subscribe to the idea that whatever they are entering into will be the same thing they'll be doing 25 years from now or even 5 years from now.
"Nobody's going into this or that for life," said Sheila Curran, director of Career Planning Services at Brown. "Essentially they are continuing the exploration that they started here at Brown."
It is an exploration that requires them to exercise skills that are stressed in Brown's academic program such as independent and critical thinking, and analytical and research skills, said Curran. Those skills also are important to the transition a graduate makes during his or her lifetime through seven jobs and more than two careers.
What they do immediately after exiting the Van Wickle Gates varies greatly from year to year, due largely to the fact that Brown does not accept students on the basis of filling quotas in specific programs or departments, said Curran.
For the last two years, the number of students entering graduate study and fellowships has been slightly larger than those going into the working world, however the opposite was true in 1995, according to a survey by Career Planning Services.
Of those entering graduate study last year, 64 percent opted for additional education, while 25 percent went on to medical or dental schools and 6 percent to law schools.
In the past few years the number of graduates entering business - the largest career choice - has steadily grown, from 35 percent in 1995 to 45 percent last year. The numbers entering the second largest career choice, education, have also risen, from 13 percent in 1995 to 18 percent last year. Careers in other fields such as technology and health have fluctuated during that time.
But the figures are somewhat deceiving because they are compiled from a survey filled out voluntarily by students before graduation, when many are still exploring their options, said Curran.
Whatever their decision, what is most important for the graduate is that they are excited about their choice, said Curran. "What we are preparing students for is productive, successful, but most of all satisfying careers.
"It was much more lockstep in the old days, there were far fewer options available to their parents," said Curran, adding that now "the sky's the limit; it's unbelievable the amount of options they have."