Tag Archives: MAJOR issues

Midd Kids are Special #1

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What’s so great about a liberal arts education? Every Midd Kid asks this question especially during their senior year when they see job posts that specifically seek out undergraduate students with a communications or business major. Well Midd Kid, let me answer your question.

WRITING SKILLS. Think about the 2 CW courses that we are required to take in order to graduate. Remember your FYS and how you had to write and rewrite essays during your first months at Midd? What about all those papers you have to write for class? Correct me if I’m wrong but, thinking back on my 24 classes (Chinese included), each class required some sort of writing, and each professor had their own specific writing preferences that Midd Kids had to cater to. Middlebury basically gives you 4 years to seriously hone those writing skills that businesses want!

Don’t believe me? Just ask Dalya F. Massachi from OpportunityKnocks.org.

Massachi wrote: Employers know that writing well will help you succeed in fundraising, marketing/outreach, advocacy, project management, administration, etc. No matter if you’re at the entry level or in senior management, strong writing skills are critical if you want to capture the interest and attention of your constituents and prospective donors. Virtually everyone working in the nonprofit sector has to do some writing at some point. And the better you can do that, the deeper and broader your impact will be. Your organization may produce great work or come up with outstanding ideas, but if you present those achievements or thoughts poorly they will not get very far.

Midd Kid, you are special. There are people out there who want you.

The New York Times: Making College ‘Relevant’

By Kate Zernike

THOMAS COLLEGE, a liberal arts school in Maine, advertises itself as Home of the Guaranteed Job! Students who can’t find work in their fields within six months of graduation can come back to take classes free, or have the college pay their student loans for a year.

The University of Louisiana, Lafayette, is eliminating its philosophy major, while Michigan State University is doing away with American studies and classics, after years of declining enrollments in those majors.

And in a class called “The English Major in the Workplace,” at the University of Texas, Austin, students read “Death of a Salesman” but also learn to network, write a résumé and come off well in an interview.

Even before they arrive on campus, students — and their parents — are increasingly focused on what comes after college. What’s the return on investment, especially as the cost of that investment keeps rising? How will that major translate into a job?

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