微信讲座实录｜普林斯顿前招生官谈博雅教育学院和综合性大学的特色与区别｜中英对照

Hello, I am Tracy Matthews. I worked for three years as an Admissions Officer at Princeton University, and eight years as an Associate Dean of Admissions at Swarthmore College. Currently, I work as a Former Admissions Officer at InGenius Prep, the admissions counseling service that has the largest former admissions officers in the world.

So now I want to talk to you about some of strength and characteristics of liberal arts education.The curricula at many US colleges and universities follow the of liberal arts model, which encourage students to explore the full curriculum of college, by taking a whole host of courses in the humanities, the social sciences, the natural sciences, and the arts.

Some colleges will have a distribution requirement of core curriculum whereby the student takes required courses or a set of courses usually in the first two years of college to explore the many courses the college offers, in order to not only make a thoughtful and informed decision on a major, but also to have a student graduate knowledgeable, certainly in depth within a major but also more broadly in a range of academic areas. A liberal arts education also prepare students to be critical and analytical thinkers and writers.

Now we will be talking about the differences between liberal arts colleges and universities. Most colleges and universities in the United States follow the liberal arts model, unless it is a college that has a focus on a specific area of study, such as engineering, business, or the arts. But there are differences between a college and a university. A college is typically smaller than a university, and only offers courses for undergraduates. Therefore, all the courses, facilities, resourcs and professors are focused on and cater to underduate students.College classes are typically smaller than universitiy classes, and there is an emphasis on discussion. Professors are more accessible; and research opportunities are greater.

A university, on the hand, is typically larger than a college, and offers classes to both undergraduate and graduate students. At a university, there are usually more resources, and facilities, and courses offered. There’s also an opportunity to take graduate level courses if you complete 5h3 undergraduate curriculum. And some universities offer dual degree programs such as a Bachelor of Science and MD program or Bachelor of Arts and JD program. But since universities are larger, the classes tend to be larger. You may be taught by a graduate assistant instead of a professor. And although there are more opportunities for research, sometimes these research opportunities are reserved only for graduate students.

Now I want to tell you a little bit about Princeton University. Princeton University is one of the eight universities in the Ivy League. Princeton University is located in Princeton, New Jersey, which is halfway between New York City and Philadelphia. It is a university. So it has both undergraduate and graduate students. The undergraduate population is approximately 5300 students; and the graduate population is approximately 2700 students.

Princeton university offers courses and majors, typically found in liberal arts curricula. So they do offer courses in the humanities, the social sciences, the natural sciences, and the arts. It also offers courses and majors in engineering. The graduate program offers no professional degrees, such as MD, JD or MBA. Princeton only offers Masters and Phd programs on a graduate level. One of the unique features of Princeton is that the professors and curriculum are focused on the undergraduate students.

Now I am going to tell you a little bit about Swarthmore College. Swarthmore College’s rank is among the most selective liberal arts colleges, such as Williams and Amherst. It is located approximately 10 miles outside of Philadelphia and offers all the typical liberal arts courses. Plus, it also offers a major in engineering, and has an honer program, which is unique among liberal arts colleges.

Swarthmore College has a student population of approximately 1500 students, who despite of the small size, come from all over the United States and from all over of the world including China. Since Swarthmore is a small college, there is more of a sense of community among the students. And since Swarthmore is a college that does not has a graduate program, Swarthmore students have all the courses, the resources, the research opportunities, and the professors’ time all to themselves. They do not have to share these things with graduate students.

So now I am going to answer some questions that were submitted. One of the questions is: if I graduate from a liberal arts college, can I find a job? The answer to that is YES! Certainly, you can find a job, after graduating from a liberal arts college. As I mentioned before, liberal arts colleges prepare students to think critically and write analytically, to graduate with a broad knowledge in many different academic subjects, with the focus in their major. As long as you build your resume throughout the year, and meet with the people at the career service office to help you find internships, jobs, and work hard in your major, and even outside of your major. You certainly can find a job after college, and after graduating from a liberal arts college.

I understand the question is: is it harder to find a job after graduating from a liberal arts college? Quite frankly, the answer is NO. It is no harder to find a job after graduating from a liberal arts college than it is graduating from a university. It all depends on your experience, your resume, and what you have done within your four years of college.

The next questions is: if I study STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), can I go to a liberal arts college? And which is better, for STEM, a college or a university? You can go to a liberal arts college, if you are interested in science, technology, engineering or mathematics. There are some small liberal arts colleges that do offer engineering, and all liberal arts colleges would offer courses in natural sciences, and also in math. And because liberal arts colleges are smaller, and there are no graduate students, there are actually more opportunities to do research in these areas.

The follow-up questions:

which is better for STEM, a university or a liberal arts college?

As I mentioned before, because there are no graduate students in liberal art colleges, it freeze up the opportunities for undergraduates to do research. But at a university, there are more possibilities of engineering majors, just because it is a university, and it may have an engineering school and certainly more opportunities within engineering. But saying that because you are with graduate students, sometimes the undergraduate research opportunities may not be as great or as many.

The next question: if I apply for a liberal arts college and an Ivy League university, is there different admission expectations? If you are applying a highly selective liberal arts college and an Ivy League college, the admission expectations are very very similar, if not the same. They are looking for high achieving students who have achieved academically within their schools; students who are active and involved; (students who) have shown leadership, achievement, and consistency and dedication to their extracurricular activities; students who are interesting and who have put in a lot of effort in their high school experience.

The next question: how will admission officers or what will admission officers thinks of letters sent directly to them, letters of interest, I assuming. Admission officers like that you are interested in their universities, and this can be communicated in various ways. I know that when I was an admission officer, students would email me and let me know if they are interested, especially after I meet with them, at a school visit, or they came to visit the university or college for a tour or an information session, or I interviewed them. But too many letters and emails, admission officers can also turn them off. So just be thoughtful about how you communicate with admission officers in the colleges. Too much can be not a good thing.

If you decide to reach to an admission officer via an email, what should you say in that email and how should you communicate with an admission officer? And I think the correspondent should include your name, your school, your academic interest, which you would like to study or major in at the school, and also expressing your interest in the university. And not just say I am interested, but letting the admission officer know exactly why you are interested in their institutions. If you have an interview at the school, thank-you note is very appreciated and it is another way that you can contact and keep contact with the admission officer.

The next question: what kinds of summer camp or summer opportunities would be valued by admission officers? Admission officers are not looking for a particular type of summer opportunity, just like they are not looking for any type of particular extracurricular activity. But they would like to see you are productive, you are involved, you are doing something that you are passionate about, and that you are interested in. It could be a job. It could be an internship. It could be academic program. It could be something you are exploring an academic or extracurricular interest. So you don’t have to do something specific, but you do have to be productive and doing something that demonstrate your academic or extracurricular interest, or passions.

Thank you so much for listening. Hopefully you gain some new information about the US admission process and I enjoyed talking with you and giving you information on Weixin. Take care and good night!