Vocation/Careers

Not so long ago, a reasonable high school student might well have concluded that you don’t need a college education anymore – some skill and ingenuity at the computer keyboard, and you could make millions before your 25th birthday.

Before that, it was the MBA, and before that, the law degree – and, intermittently, “get an engineering degree!” pops up out of the cultural soup (or your dad’s mouth) as the Fountain of Perpetual Prosperity.

Whatever else the dot-com debacle did, it proved, yet again, that there is not and never will be a set of credentials or skills that will guarantee you smooth professional sailing for life. The only thing certain is that things will change – and change again.

The job market's ever-accelerating rate of technological, political, social and economic change calls for long-rather than short-term thinking. Today’s “hot” skill will almost certainly be tomorrow’s relic. To thrive throughout the twists and turns of the global economy, you need a set of broad-based abilities that will enable you to take advantage of a variety of professional challenges. A liberal arts education, like that offered at America’s Lutheran colleges, is far from impractical: it helps students develop analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills, plus leadership and teamwork, that will last a lifetime.

Percentage of graduates who said my college was very effective at helping me develop:

Writing Skills

Speaking Effectively

Teamwork Skills

Leadership