Senior Year: Academic Specialization and Career Decision-Making
Specialization continues throughout the final year, and the Senior Program serves as the “capstone” for the specialization.
During the senior year, the student clarifies goals and commits to achieving those goals.
The course of action taken depends on whether the student has chosen to seek employment or to pursue graduate study; many seniors continue to consider both for at least part of the final year.
The senior seeking employment:
- prepares a search campaign, targeting employers, making contact with them, and learning to interview through career development workshops, resource information, and mock interviews which may be videotaped and discussed;
- writes a senior resume in an individual or group session with career development staff;
- opens a credential file for recommendation letters supporting employment or future graduate/professional school application;
- participates in CHALLENGE, an eight-college liberal arts job fair that provides access to employers interested in employing students with liberal arts degrees;
- accesses current job openings through the Internet, the Job Hotline, job bulletins to which staff subscribe, and alumnae/alumni job referrals; and
- interviews and evaluates offers.
