With so many colleges to choose from (nearly 250 in Pennsylvania alone), it’s important to look for a community of active learners — a place where you can pursue a high-impact education with global and career-related experiences — a place where you can think deeply and act boldly. Here are five traits of a college that can help you do so:
A 21st-Century Academic Offering
Eighty-five percent of the jobs that will exist in 2030 haven’t been invented yet. To succeed, you need to be creative, adaptable, and well informed. Lycoming College prepares students to lead the next generation with customized, cross-disciplinary programs and thousands of major/minor combinations. Additionally, Lycoming has made investments in programs exploring the century’s most important questions: neuroscience, biochemistry, entrepreneurship, astrophysics, and energy studies. An innovative, creative, yet rigorous curriculum rooted in the liberal arts instills Lycoming graduates with the deepened intellectual curiosity, expanded worldview, and critical thinking skills employers are looking for in the digital age.
High-Impact Experiences
Students who participate in internships, research, or global study are more likely to be accepted into graduate programs and find jobs. Lycoming’s Center for Enhanced Academic Experiences (CEAE) fosters partnerships with faculty, alumni, and organizations in order to connect students with hands-on learning experiences locally, nationally, and internationally. Through individualized guidance from a career advisor in their academic area, students have studied reliable drinking water and sustainable coffee farming in the Dominican Republic; translated poetry with faculty; interned at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History; explored the history of mathematics in Italy and Greece; and participated in Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs). The CEAE also provides subject-specific career advising, professional skills workshops, and graduate school application guidance, ensuring students graduate with a clear path to their future.
Big Resources
A college’s endowment, when stacked against its student population, can give you a good idea of the resources available. Lycoming’s endowment ranks among the highest per student in the country, enabling them to award more than $31M in financial aid annually, invite world-renowned scholars to visit/teach, and invest in premier facilities/technology. Over the past six years, Lycoming has added a new science center, planetarium, biochemistry suite, 120-acre biology field station, gateway center, and renovated academic center as part of its commitment to putting advanced learning opportunities at every student’s fingertips.
Extraordinary Outcomes
When considering the return on your college investment, it’s important to look at graduate outcomes—both long-term and short-term. Look no further than Lycoming’s nearly 16,000 alumni, who have found success across all industries: executives of Fortune 500 companies; public servants of local, national, and international government; Pulitzer, Oscar, and Emmy Award winners; doctors; lawyers; teachers; and more. But Lycoming graduates don’t need to wait years to find that success. In fact, 98.6 percent of the Class of 2018 were employed or in a graduate program within 6-12 months after graduation. Because of the built-in opportunities for research and hands-on learning from day one, Lycoming students have a high rate of success getting into graduate, law, and medical schools, with many students receiving scholarships to do so; young Lycoming alumni and even current students are no strangers to receiving awards as prominent as the Fulbright and Goldwater scholarships. Perhaps most notably, Lycoming was recently ranked #25 for Social Mobility among U.S. News & World Report’s National Liberal Arts Colleges list, which measures two factors assessing the graduation rates of Pell-awarded students.
An Active, Supportive Community
While academics, learning opportunities, facilities, and outcomes are all excellent indicators of a respectable college or university, one of the most important traits which cannot be overlooked is campus culture. As a solely undergraduate institution serving just 1200, Lycoming College is able to provide every student with a truly individualized, active college experience. With a 12:1 student to faculty ratio, professors are more than just scholars — they become mentors for life. They frequently include students on their personal research and publications and have even been known to invite students to their homes for dinner. On campus, the already tight-knit community is strengthened through more than 80 student-run clubs and organizations, 17 NCAA Division III intercollegiate sports teams, an Outdoor Leadership & Education program, plentiful opportunities for service, and affinity housing communities.
Find a place that makes you confident in your pursuit of knowledge and bold in its application — a college that prepares you not only for your first job, but for a lifetime of professional growth and personal fulfillment. Visit Lycoming College: lycoming.edu.